There’s a misconception that our pets don’t have much use. It’s not true, because nowadays many pets find their use as emotional support animals, and have a strong therapeutic value. Therapeutic use is common and well-understood, but how about diagnostics? Sounds strange? Today’s story is about how one oddly cuddly cat, Oggy, might have just saved Kate’s life by pointing out her breast cancer.
Like most good stories, it was a little more complicated than that classic trope from Lassie: “what, Lassie? Timmy fell down the well?” Minnesotans Kate King-Scribbins and her husband own four rescues: Oggy, who’s the oldest, Max the mixed breed dog, Lulu the Maine coon, and Abby, the twelve-year-old lab mix, who’s the youngest in the pack. Oggy, being the eldest and the wisest, sensed that there was trouble…
Meet Kate and Oggy, a pair who have rescued each other’s lives
Oggy is a fifteen-year-old rescue, who, as Kate claims, is an aggressive snuggler
Obviously, all of Kate’s four rescues have different characters, and Oggy is an aggressive snuggler, as Kate described. However, before Kate’s cancer diagnosis, Oggy’s aggressive snuggling tendencies had ramped up, and he primarily focused on the left side of Kate’s chest. Kate tried to redirect him, but Oggy insisted laying on the left breast.
Usually Oggy loves snuggling in Kate’s arms, but his behavior started to change
Oggy suddenly started preferring lying on Kate’s chest, especially on the left side
This behavior continued for a few months, and Kate didn’t suspect that the cat might have been trying to either warn her or heal her with his purr magic. One day, Kate woke up to a jolt of pain radiating through her body. The experienced healthcare fraud investigator quickly performed a self-examination of her breasts and discovered a lump. She was later diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer and underwent several rounds of chemotherapy, multiple surgeries, and radiation. It wasn’t until her dreaded diagnosis that she realized what Oggy had been trying to tell her. Oggy continued to lay on her breast all throughout chemotherapy, and it wasn’t until after surgery that the cat stopped focusing on the spot.
Even if Kate tried to reposition him, he still went back to the same spot
One day, Kate woke up to radiating pain and found a lump on her left breast, the same spot that Oggy preferred laying on
She was diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer, and underwent chemotherapy
She thinks Oggy wanted to warn her in advance, and didn’t leave her side throughout the chemo
Oggy healed her tumor with purrs and love, and it’s what kept her strong during that time
She underwent surgery, and after that, Oggy stopped snuggling on her left side
She was recovering, and the tumor was gone
Oggy was still a snuggly bunny afterwards
Kate gives credit to Oggy for trying to warn her in advance. Even though there are skeptics to this claim, she doesn’t mind them
Kate is aware that some people are more skeptical about the possibility that Oggy diagnosed cancer. And she’s not mad that some people don’t believe her. What’s important is that she knows that her pets helped her on more than one occasion. For example, when she had just been diagnosed, she was running through the worst-case scenarios in her mind, and the possibility of leaving her pets mourning was something that she just wouldn’t accept, which gave her even more resolve to fight cancer.
Rationally, Oggy might’ve reacted to inflammation in her breast, but it still helped Kate get a clue about the cancer
And to the skeptics: there are many rational explanations why Oggy acted the way he did, and these reasons don’t contradict Kate’s feeling that the cat wanted to help her before she even knew it. As most of us know, cats love warmth, especially that which is a few degrees higher than normal human temperature. Cancer may cause an inflammation around the area, and inflammation causes the area to heat up (hence the name “inflammation”), making it very attractive for the cat to lay there. Whether Oggy realized it or not, he may have helped her all along. It’s known that cats’ purrs have healing benefits, so the fact that Oggy focused on that area might have really helped Kate heal faster.
Before, Kate was diagnosed with a rare mutation called CDH1, which previously forced doctors to remove her stomach, and which causes both stomach and breast cancer
It wasn’t the first medical emergency that Kate had. In 2019, she was diagnosed with a rare genetic mutation called CDH1, which causes breast cancer and diffuse gastric cancer. Before her breast cancer surgery, she was forced to have her entire stomach removed, why is why she ironically calls herself Stomachless_Kate on Instagram. Kate knows that cancer will probably always be a part of her life, as check-ups and treatments are a never-ending process for cancer survivors.
Almost exactly 3 years ago, she got the news about the cancer. Now she enjoys life with her husband and four rescues
