Teed D.V.M. - Learning the Secret Language of Cats

It is perhaps bad manners to begin a book about cats without talking about cats. A cat demands that he be centre stage and certainly a book about cats should make him so. Because this book is written through the eyes of a veterinarian, I must set the stage for the cat, the main character, by fi rst briefl y showing you the genesis of at least one of the veterinarians that tend them. This is a piece of my journey into feline medicine and places beyond led by the mysterious cat.

Becoming a Veterinarian

Let me start by saying my virology professor in vet school announced during one of our fi nal lectures that he doubted any of us would fi nd true happiness in our chosen fi eld, that we would feel apart, and would have diffi culty fi nding meaning in our lives. I felt angry about his comment because I was accomplishing a life- long dream. Even though I liked this professor very much, I did not let him stop me from pursuing my passion. I did not change gears; I maintained focus even though it was not the first time Id heard this.

Between graduating with my BSc and entering veterinary school, I worked in an Agriculture Canada pathology lab. I spent my days looking through a microscope at all manner of bacteria: identifying them, growing cultures from tissue and food samples, and counting the resulting bacteria. I see the world a little differently because of that experience. I felt a sense of being outnumbered by a tinier population. Once I began my studies, I realized that our bodies and our cats bodies are in fact composed in part by friendly microbial populations, our normal flora, which assists us in thwarting unfriendly populations. My time spent with a microscope was the precursor to my more recent growing fascination for smaller and unseen things that make up our own bodies and every other thing in the entire universe.

A few of the veterinarians working at the pathology lab told me the field had been a disappointing career choice for them on many levels; they advised that I might consider research, or teaching, after obtaining my Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM). I smiled and nodded appreciatively but thought the idea was absurd. However, there was a virologist there (yes another virologist, perhaps virologists who study the infinitely small are a little more sensitive to the world at large) and her words caused me to pause. She had given up practice after just three years because she could not cope with the irresponsible pet owners. She came to her decision due to frequent owner requests for euthanasia, which she felt forced to perform on their pets due to pain, suffering, or neglect. She headed back to school to become a veterinary virologist. At the time, I just couldnt understand her reasons for giving up her practice and decided she must have had a unique experience in some closeted cruel area of humanity and that it wouldnt be like that for me.

Certainly veterinary medicine is a challenging career. It is important to fully evaluate your strengths and weaknesses, and also your expectations before deciding upon it. It is not good enough to be the one cats find. It is not good enough to just enjoy animals and want to help them. As many of you already have experienced, you can do that meaningfully in any number of ways outside of veterinary medicine while pursuing other lines of work. I am hoping the stories and experiences I have included in this book will help those considering this career to decide if it truly is for them. The perfect vet has a soft heart and a thick tough skin, and if you have fast reflexes, then consider feline medicine. The rest is nothing more than just hard work and a lifetime of learning.

I dont want to say that there is a particular brand of person that enters veterinary medicine, because my experience was that my classmates came from all walks of life, with different backgrounds and roads that merged to that particular place of learning. Some had lived on farms and worked with animals their whole lives, while others had parents who were vets and knew exactly what they were getting into. The rest of us learned as we went along what it would mean to become a vet. But, I do want to saybecause I think it is more or less truethat after some time many of us began to look alike. Of course, this is my own perception, and perhaps some veterinarians would disagree or even be offended by my ideas.

There is an intensity in many veterinarians that does not always match our outwardly easy-going friendly appearance. We dont always fit well into our clothes, needing a quarter- or half-size more or less than what comes off the rack. Even before some of us arrive at work in the morning we are wearing a thin coat of cat hair over our clothing and dog hair weaved through our fabrics. This can give us a disheveled appearance that we constantly fight against because it is at odds with our inner quest for perfection in our work and appearance.

We might feel more at ease in a body suit or fur coat (perhaps tabby) that would help us blend into the surroundings and offer camouflage, so that we may observe unobserved. In essence, we are observers and this skill helps us make our diagnoses. We also enjoy our clients, but this sometimes surprises many people. Some of us dont enjoy small talk and so we crave a deeper connection. Of course, some of us are outgoing and eager to chat, but we are often happy after some time to retreat to our treatment or surgery rooms to be among our patients. Those meditative silent tasks of working with our patients appeal to our natures. The veterinarians that I have the privilege to know have the truest, most gentle hearts of all hearts. Overall, if you asked them what character trait they prize most in a human I think they would say kindness and compassion, which are qualities we share consistently with our feline clients.

Astrology and Vets

I am sure you wont be surprised to learn that after years working with cats I might develop an interest in other mysterious or mystical avenues. For instance, over time I noticed that many of my veterinary friends and workmates that came and went shared the same birthday seasonthe same numbers. End-of-year birthdays seemed to be popular among us. I was not in the habit of asking clients when their birthdays were, but I wish I had. I would not be surprised if many of my cat-loving clients also shared birthdays late in the year. In addition, I also noticed that some of us share some very basic characteristics beyond our lifes work.

According to Gary Goldschneiders and Joost Elffers book The SecretLanguage of Birthdays (1994), I was born on the day of the great enigma. An enigma is a person or thing that is mysterious or difficult to understand. It also says that I have an abiding love for small children and animals; and within these relationships I use a full range of expression through strong intuitive gifts and non-verbal abilities. It says other things that Im not so willing to share (apparently I use silence as a weapon), but it seems I did not let the astrologers down, even if I did not know or care about it at the time. As a woman of science, these ideas are new to me and I find it fascinating how close to perfect the astrologers are able to list my strengths and weaknesses, especially in linking me to my lifes work and love of animals and cats. Looking at it from this far along the path where much of my life has already been played out, I find I can no longer discount it. I wonder if our death day signifies as much.

No matter Goldschneiders and Elffers claims, I am not so sure I qualify as an enigma, but a cat certainly does. In fact, in my experience, cats are very mysterious and difficult to fully understand.