Animals instinct

[Annie333]

Hello, a quick question, does anyone have animals that have picked up on their illnesses before they themselves have? I have a beautiful labrador that tends to sniff out my rheumatism. She sniffed out my pain in my knees and when feeding her, my neck. Does anyone else have the same incidence happen? Hoping everyone is as best as can be. :) Cheers Annie

[Lisa5911]

No altough i did have a beautiful cat who passed away in 2006, not sure if she had picked anything up on me when i had my first cancer dx in 2005 but i do remember her always never been far from my sight unless that was a animal adoring her master but i never thought of even looking at it that way. Lisa

[Jules_68]

Yes, we have 2 German Shepherds, they would always lick my right leg and foot.....hence kidney cancer right side. Since having my surgery there licking has subsided apart from the occasional hello.

[Annie333]

Hi Jules, Hope you are doing as best as can be 🙂 When we sold our labrador puppies, I had a nurse from an old people's home come and buy one. When she had her cat, her cat would walk into the old patients room and stay with the patient all night. By morning the patient would be gone. The nurse said her cat would let them know when the passing of an old person was going to occur. The cat would meow infront of the room until someone let her in. The cat would then jump on the bed and stay with that person until it was their time which was usually 24 hours. She wanted to see if dogs would do the same. Her cat unfortunately passed away. How incredible is that! Animals are incredible creatures 🙂

[Lisa5911]

Wow Annie that is amazing about the cat in the nursing home, it sure is a rarity isn't it. 😄 and stories like this are so uplifting and also a little nerve recking too i guess for the staff of that nursing home too.

[Braveb]

There has to be something to this. A study that used labradors to detect bowel cancer in breath and poo samples from people received quite a bit of attention a few months ago. You can read the BBC news article here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-12322790 I'm a zoologist and am convinced all animals (including us) have senses and languages that we are unable to understand because we don't speak their language or can't even imagine how they are doing it. We are learning more and more every day, but have a long way to go in understanding non-human animals: Mantis shrimp have been found to 'rap' to females in order to attract mates - they sometimes sing in... Crows are able to delay eating something yummy because they know something yummier might come along,...

[Annie333]

That is just incredible!! I love labradors and have 3 of them. I have always said they are a wonderful animal and know a little more than we give them credit for 🙂 I hope more monies are thrown into researching what we can learn from all creatures :) Hope you are doing as best as can be Ben Annie

[#8]

Hi Annie, i believe animals can, my mum has 2 border collies, they both used to lick my throat and sniff like crazy, We have 2 labs aswell, I only had 1 labrador at the time i was diagnosed but she did the same thing.It was same each time i was pregnant, they would lick my stomach, I do believe they can sense things 🙂

[SILLY]

I saw on tv where a dog could detect epileptic seizures in a boy, before they occurred. It was helpful to the family .

[#10]

My beautiful rottie developed a serious bone cancer a year or so after I things got pretty bad with my cancer. I remember when he got to the stage where living was a struggle and I had him put to sleep. After that our cat, which loves food more than anything and used to sleep on top of our dogs in winter, would not come around the back of the house where our dog used to sleep. Even for a bowl of food, he would just sit at the corner of the house and meeow. It took a few months before he would venture there. I took it that our cat could sense that our old dog was still around, reassuring me that everything would be ok and maybe in someway he'd helped me with his passing.