10 Veterinarians Tell Stories Of Owner Intuition That Saved The Lives Of Pets

From Redditor u/JetsBackupQB:

I had a cat owner come in telling me he saw his cat lick a brick in his fireplace one time that day. It struck him as odd and asked me to look at him. The cat was eating, drinking, and otherwise normal. I noticed her gums were mildly pale and ran bloodwork. The cat turned out to have autoimmune hemolytic anemia. Was severely anemic and was a day away from needing a transfusion.

The cat continued licking the bricks until the anemia resolved. The owner saw the behavior once and recognized something was up.

From Redditor u/acartoontiger:

I see cases periodically where clients notice a relatively small behavioral change and bring their pet in. For example, the client noticed the cat didn't come to greet them at the door and wasn't too interested in dinner. Brings cat in, acute on chronic kidney failure with massive dehydration and azotemia.

If your pet (cats especially) is over 8 years old, you should be getting bloodwork performed at least once a year.

From Redditor u/svnsnkyducs:

We also see many pets act differently towards people and other pets who may have something going on. Had a standard Poodle licking a Newfoundland belly, turned out she is in liver failure. He just knew.

From Redditor u/Total_D*ck_Move:

I'm an ER vet. I see a lot of cases where the animal is a little off, or ADR as we say (ain't doing right). Occasionally it's something very bad, like the dog who is quiet and a little lethargic whose spleen has ruptured and dies quickly. I often tell my clients to trust their gut since they know their animals.

From Redditor u/svnsnkyducs:

Vet tech here. I ALWAYS assure clients that they know their pets best and follow their gut feelings.

We recently diagnosed a grade 2-3 heart murmur in my dog. She was laying on top of me and I thought her heartbeat felt "funny". Had a Dr listen to her heart, asked them to humor me as I tend to worry more than necessary. Sure enough, heart murmur, but one so low that you can't feel the changes. One of my doctors who specializes in imaging of the heart and diagnosis of multiple types of heart disease every week couldn't even feel it and thought I was out of my mind for thinking I could. I just knew!

From a former Redditor:

I was doing work experience with a vet. During one consultation someone brought in their tortoise and was convinced something was up. "Is he behaving differently? Is he off his food?" All negative answers, she said she couldn't put her finger on anything (I mean... he's a tortoise, I don't know what usual activity levels are but it's not like he's stopped playing fetch) and still eats his food just fine, but she was positive something was off. The vet said they could run some tests but it would be quite expensive and may well return no result, I could tell the vet was unwilling to take this lady's money for what she considered a perfectly healthy tortoise, with no weight loss, clear eyes and nose, healthy poop, etc.

Turned out the tortoise had some serious issues and needed some emergency attention. The vet couldn't believe the owner picked up on what must have been tiny differences in this tortoise's behavior. She wouldn't stop bringing it up for weeks she was so impressed.