I had to laugh.
Mrs. B. and her daughter, Stephanie, came in this morning for Mickey’s SemiAnnual Examination. Complaints on his form for today were “check two lumps” and “holds his left front foot up.”
“How long has Mickey been limping?” I asked before starting the examination.
Stephanie chimed in first, “He’s doesn’t ever limp, he just holds his foot up when he’s sitting still.”
I chuckled.
Stephanie and Mrs. B. gave me a quizzical look.
“I wasn’t laughing at Mickey. Stephanie’s story just reminded me of something my beloved cat, Sally, used to do.
“Sally loved to sit on the counter across from the dinner table. That was one of her ways of spending time with us. She would sit on her haunches with her left front foot just off the surface of the counter. We would cock our heads, look at her and say, ‘Poor Sally, does her foot hurt?’
“Upon hearing that she would hold the foot up a little higher. Every time we would say it she would raise it a little higher.
“I radiographed that foot, palpated it every time she sat in my lap, I never did find anything wrong with it.”
I didn’t find anything wrong with Mickey’s foot, either.
See you tomorrow, Dr. Randolph
