As pet owners, when bad things happen to our animals, the natural response is self-blame. Why didn't we see it sooner? Why didn't we catch it earlier? We have failed them.
If we had just been a little more devoted, a little more attentive, they would have been immortal, because we would have saved them.
We know this isn't true. We know that isn't how the world works. But the thought is there, and it gnaws. It has terribly sharp teeth.
I think this very honest, very well-meaning reaction sometimes spills over into "I will now attempt to diagnose the pets of strangers, because maybe they don't know what to watch for. Maybe I can spare someone else the pain I've felt."
I completely understand and empathize with this reaction, but I am begging you, as one animal lover to another...don't.
Unless someone posts a video of their cat actually snarfing down a lily, their dog actually eating a chocolate cake, their bird actually flying into a closed window, please.
Trust us to know our companions in a way you will never know them from a still image or a single video, and to monitor them, love them, and be aware of them, just like you were.
We, too, are going to fail. We, too, are going to lose. I have lost so much sleep beating myself up over "could we have caught Alice's cancer sooner?", when even my oncologist says we couldn't have.
But please don't diagnose our friends and companions at a distance. It can feel like you think we don't care, and it can cause panic where no panic needs to be. We all have enough panic already. Trust me.
