How to deal with a sick animal ?

Any unusual behavior on the part of your pet should alert its owners: it's a message that something is going on...

Dogs and cats are particularly ritualized in their everyday behaviors, often “set to music” in response to our schedules, which dictate theirs.
In fact, it's in “routine” that our pets feel most secure and at ease; the usual, the predictable, reassure them.
Following the rhythm of our comings and goings, and entirely dependent on us, dogs create their own personal schedule, organized around our human activities, professional or otherwise. The same goes for cats, even if they can sometimes go out and be a little freer.
Any unusual change in our companion's behaviour, physical appearance or appearance should therefore attract the owner's attention.

If the animal has :
- a “downcast look”, no longer eating or playing...
- a lack of enthusiasm for going for a walk (for the dog)...
- deteriorating hygiene habits (for cats)...
- if it seeks to hide or isolate itself...
- if it is agitated, panting heavily, constantly changing position...
- whining, limping, shortness of breath, vomiting, coughing, spitting, diarrhea...
These are all behaviours that signal discomfort, pain or obvious malaise, and should therefore alert us.
Without rushing to the vet at the slightest whimper, it's important to be calm and discerning; to respond promptly if there's an emergency, or rather to take a little time to examine the situation.
Pet owners often feel at a loss when faced with their companion's illness, rather like parents with a sick baby who can't explain what's wrong or how they feel.
It's sometimes hard to tell what's going on when you notice a change: is it the harbinger of a serious illness, or “will it pass quickly?

Calling your vet and describing the symptoms you've noticed will be wise, and will enable you to act quickly and worry less.
These practitioners have taught us to have the reflex of taking our pet's temperature when it seems unwell.
The normal range for dogs and cats is 38°5/39°. Below 37°5 or above 39°9, there is cause for alarm and the animal should be examined as soon as possible.
Veterinarians have also taught us to spot certain symptoms that will guide us towards a more rapid diagnosis; they inform us, for example / that in summer, rapid breathing is a sign of a fever.
- In summer, rapid breathing, noisy panting and staggering gait can be signs of heatstroke.
- A downcast dog with no appetite and dark urine may suggest piroplasmosis transmitted by an infected tick.
- A large, prostrate dog, making vain efforts to vomit, may have a stomach upset (a complication often occurring after the absorption of a large quantity of food or water, followed by intense physical effort).
- A cat that can no longer swallow may have angina or an affection of the digestive tract (teeth, larynx...).
- An animal that drinks a lot, gets out of breath easily...a kidney disease or other illness.
- A limping animal may have sprained or fractured a bone (but before alarming yourself, it's a good idea to check for a stone, a thorn in the paw, an acorn between the pads!)
Once the owner has imagined the worst, the tension eases a little with the vet, with whom a relationship of trust has been established.

But visits to the vet rarely delight our companions. We want to treat them to see them heal, but they have no way of understanding the meaning of sometimes painful medical interventions.
How can an animal understand and appreciate that it is for its own good that it is being subjected to unpleasant treatment?
Some animals are uncooperative, and that's understandable!
They don't like to be locked up, tied up, muzzled, immobilized crushed on a table, poked or prodded in their natural orifices, etc... and the same goes for human beings, even if they are capable of explaining these necessities to themselves!
Animals, on the other hand, experience all this solicitude as an attack on their well-being and physical integrity.
From an early age, a few appropriate lessons can help them to cope better with these sometimes obligatory passages in this place of strong, unfamiliar smells.

You can start by :
- Getting the young animal used to being handled by different people at an early age, gently, standing up, lying down, with stroking; using a cheerful voice to gently obtain its calm, and taking care not to make it experience negatively any regular checking of its eyes, ears, paws...gradually obtaining its docility on the floor for these treatments, then later on a table, and rewarding docility with a small treat.
- Playfully accustom the puppy or kitten to entering, occupying and leaving its carrier, by playing with it, for example. Or leave it open near its sleeping place, so that it can discover it for itself: this way, the box is no longer associated in advance with fatal mistreatment.
- Familiarize the puppy with the muzzle from an early age, by making it commonplace and rewarding the animal with a treat at the bottom. The same can be done with an adult, by making him wear it for a short while, for no reason, or by playing with him and stroking him.
- Car transport should be associated with pleasant outings such as walks, and not just reserved for visits to the vet (this is often the case for cats, who already recognize the box as a sign of trouble).
Thanks to these few lessons, treatment at the vet's will already be a little easier.
Emotional distress won't be born in advance in the transport box; climbing onto the examination table, being handled, inspected, wearing a muzzle (if necessary)... all this won't necessarily promise torment, but gestures of kindness.
During these visits, an animal is well aware of the owner's heightened attention, concern and negative emotions, and it's obvious that our anxiety doesn't help him - quite the contrary.

There's no point in trying to reassure him, for example, when he's trembling, which has the opposite effect of confirming that he's right to be frightened!
In these and other circumstances, we help the scared animal if we trivialize the moment, and if he encounters nothing but our calm.
Once the diagnosis has been made, the owner must scrupulously follow the veterinarian's prescriptions. Care must be gentle and not excessive, without forcing attention on the sick animal.
Rather than using force to administer medication or carry out a treatment, be sure to approach the animal in a cheerful, encouraging voice.
There's no question of luring it to you with a treat, for example, only to capture it treacherously and then subject it to your manipulations. You won't build trust and risk delaying your companion's recovery.
On the contrary, take the time to make him come to you gently, and you'll be more likely to gain his cooperation, through the promise of your attentions and caresses.

Interactions based on trust always have a calming effect, whereas those based on deception are toxic and distressing.
If the animal is suffering, certain treatments can be painful.
Understand that he may turn on the hand that attacks him; anticipate this, and plan to protect yourself.
On the other hand, never neglect to caress with your voice and hand the animal that has been patient and docile when you have checked, for example, possible stitches, discharges or infections after an operation.
He's overcome his fear by trusting you, which will make subsequent care easier.
After recovering well from surgery, some animals are happy to play and jump again! It's up to the owners to curb these flights of fancy to avoid complications (the same goes for a heart patient!).
And if it's vital that our companions have “a place of their own” at home to rest, when they're ill they have an even greater right to peace and quiet. You don't necessarily have to move your pet, but rather reduce the noise and commotion around it, and ensure that children in particular respect its resting place.
In most cases, treatment will bring the condition under control. Despite all this care, the disease or lameness can sometimes recur.
Who hasn't had a bitch with “diplomatic lameness”? Although healed, the animal uses this stratagem to attract attention and this behavior brings him the affectionate solicitude obtained during post-operative care, or to make himself pitiful when scolded.
At other times, the same gastritis, diarrhea or dermatitis recurs.
Dogs and cats who live with humans allow themselves to be impregnated like an “affective sponge ”* by their environment, which includes their owners and their problems.
Emotionally on the front line, they share their worries, annoyances and conflicts.
They suffer from their anthropomorphism, their lack of understanding of the specificities of their canine or feline species.
The dog, a social animal that must be offered a clear hierarchical status for its relational comfort, is often awkwardly given the privileges of dominance by its masters, who then claim to demand its obedience.
In this untenable position, the dog displays disordered behavior, prey to contradictory emotions.
Ungoverned emotions always end up causing metabolic disorders**, and if these emotions are long-lasting, these metabolic disorders end up causing organic diseases.
The skin seems to be the most sensitive receptor for these bio-emotional changes. The digestive tract is also an excellent receptor of emotions...the urinary tract...the heart *** ... As a result, the animal scratches or licks itself nervously, coughs, limps, barks, meows, asks for the door, turns after its tail, urinates or defecates in the house...
Cats are more independent than dogs, and are able to distance themselves from human problems, unless they have a symbiotic relationship with their master.
Tzarine, a “Sacré de Birmanie” cat, lives alone with Brigitte, who is very anxious and cuddles her excessively. She licks certain parts of her body and tail, and this stereotyped licking goes as far as self-mutilation, leading to patches of alopecia.
Despite several dermatological treatments ordered by the vet, she has not recovered. On her return from work, the more Brigitte “pampered” and inspected the cat's coat, the more the Burmese mutilated herself.
Grooming normally has an anxiolytic function in felines. In the case of anxiety experienced by the animal, this outrageous grooming becomes a substitute activity to calm itself. Brigitte's excessive stroking and anxious attention and control of the cat's coat perpetuate her licking behavior.
Many ailments are therefore symptoms of dysfunction in the human/animal relationship, or of personal problems in the family (divorce proceedings, momentary conflict...).
Faced with any pet illness, the owner should re-situate this “complaint” within the relational system and ask himself the following questions:
- What has changed in the pet's environment?
- Isn't there a personal or family problem that's making me react differently to my pet?
- What is my attitude towards my pet?
- Am I too anxious about him?
- Am I too attached to him, or do I cuddle him too much?
- Aren't I relying on the maintenance of this attachment to help my animal become more autonomous and balanced?
- Am I not projecting onto him unconscious desires, fantasies that the animal can neither realize nor assume? (These influence the way of being with the dog or cat and interfere with the latter's affects and health) B. CYRULNIK explains this in “the Pupuce case ‘**** and in ’the replacement dog ”*** who takes refuge in illness because his master experiences it through his first, deceased, idealized dog.