(to keep the screeds balanced -)

And the very popular, "treating of symptoms" by the even more Popular: "a pill for every ailment we can find an unu$ed Name\ufffd to attach to" (like, "nonspecific colitis.. vaginitis.. ANY-itis" meaning -- We don't Know WTF ya got, but here's a Rx anyway!). We Don't Know, in Latin is ever so much more Professional sounding, though - no?

Now as to Hamlet (friend's cat) going on 7? years since his allopathic vet declared he had FIV and maybe a few months to live. Yeah.. it must be a crock, all right. (Yes he still has FIV, a 'syndrome name' about as useful as for the human variety) That means that, various symptoms manifest themselves, after periods of reasonably 'normal health'. These have been treated by various non pharm-chem remedies as correlate to the problems - but without any cockamamie fantasies that these treatments are a "cure".

Which twin has the Toni\ufffd ??
(ancient Murican ad for YAN female hair 'permanent wave' - wherein a Professional wave was compared with the bottled nostrum). So one might as well say, Which cat used the Professional / Which cat used the Fake ??

Cat A: Had FIV - Dead in 6 months.
Cat B: Has FIV - Takes a lickin and keeps on tickin.

Name yer poison, Pardner.



Oh yeah: at many points, the usual lab tests for kidney, liver, other vital functions - were done in the usual expensive way. Gotta have diagnostic data, when ya wish to eschew mumbo-jumbo! and do Real Science.

Main difference has been: what was done with the information next, and what was Not done (like the usual proffered Rx for this and that broad-spectrum antibiotic.. never mind that there was no indication of an infection, fever or any other reason to Use these powerful substances!) Another difference: the kind of food = Not from cans nor bags of crunchy (sugary + salty) "dry food". Like humans, cats *love* the shit that's not Good for them, too (except feral ones, whose diet depends on live food - til someone hooks them on the crap stuff)

Hell, maybe it's just magic (?) The fucking cat lives, still. (Allopathic vet, to give him credit.. did Not call it "spontaneous remission!"... talk about yer mumbo-jumbo.)

As for me, should I 'get' anything remotely serious - I'll look for a genuine Witch Doctor with a track record over.. my local homogenized white-coated HMO droid, Tee Vee trained via ER and his 3-minute "exam" - and then a trip to the PDR (Physician's Desk Reference) of Popular Rx Drugs\ufffd du jour.



Ashton Neutral Observers R' Us Ltd.


PS
(I'll be sure and let you know when Hamlet goes off to the Collective Unconscious - if he doesn't outlive me, that is. Johns Hopkins may want to study his corpse. Then again..) D. knows of several other animals in similar condition, after a similar diagnosis. We'll see how long they last, natch.