All my patients are under the bed

 

I love books – of course I do – but over the last years I have started losing interest in new releases, unless they are written by Jo Nesbø.

With the next Harry Hole adventure not due to be released before the middle of August, I started – not for the first time – having a look around for great reads that had been published years, if not decades ago.

The basic requirements for a book are that it has to be a paperback and that it should not exceed more than 400 pages, so that it will fit into my backpack when I go hiking. Sure, e-books do work as well, but I still prefer the feel of printed paper in my hands.

It was during some of these periods of idling between last minute emergency shifts in the UK, first opinion locum placements in Switzerland and regular online consultations wherever I was, that I stumbled upon a book with a somewhat unusual title, that I knew would be difficult to be understood by anyone outside the veterinary profession, while at the same time, it immediately caught my attention:

“All my patients are under the bed”

Having myself done many house calls over the last three decades, I was in no doubt that this book was all about cats, as this behaviour was just too typical. Unless a feline patient is on its last legs, it will go into hiding once the vet enters the house, if not – which is even worse – disappear through the cat flap or window the owner had forgotten to close, despite the prior advice to do so…..

On further investigation it turned out that the narrative involved indeed a colleague offering house calls, but the author was not just anyone.

What the strange title concealed, was the autobiography of “Count” Louis Camuti, an Italian born veterinarian, who became the world’s first veterinarian treating exclusively cats (and a few more unusual creatures, people tried to keep in their apartments….).

Three days later, the book arrived in the post.

The place was New York, the year was 1933 when it all began…..

Camuti preferred to do house calls, usually with his wife as the chauffeur who had to keep the car moving, as already then, it was impossible to find a parking spot.   

The dynamic duo did this for nearly fifty years and as Camuti soon became a household name among the rich and famous cat lovers residing in the Big Apple and its vast suburbs, there was enough material of likely and more unlikely things that happened between the call to the vet and the settling of the bill.

Despite the fact that over the last 100 years (!) treatment options have improved, that we have more diagnostic tools at our disposal and that today video calls are not only used widely but at times found to be superior to an in person house call, client’s expectations and the characteristic behaviour of our patients have remained the same.

In many of today’s urban households, life still revolves around the demands of the feline resident.

The diet and the wellbeing of the cat is frequently of greater importance than that of any other family member, including the occasional dog that might share the same apartment.

As much as typical cat behaviour like purring or just providing a quiet but reassuring presence, is appreciated and enjoyed, the shredding of expensive furniture or territorial marking is in equal measure misunderstood and – understandably – despised.

And yet, the cat has remained the preferred soulmate and companion of the urban dweller.

When Camuti combined this in his narrative with some memorable episodes with Broadway or Hollywood greats like James Mason or Marlene Dietrich, some entertaining reading hours on a peaceful mountain hut or in the busy departure hall of an airport while waiting for my next flight, were guaranteed.