One morning, the little cat was sitting in front of my patio door to the garden. Her paws daintily placed side by side, her black fur shone in the spring sunshine. Her green eyes looked straight into mine and begged: „Let me in! I'm hungry!“. I thought at the time that this little tigress had to disappear from my doorstep very quickly. Because I had two daughters, ten and twelve years old, who wanted nothing more than a dog, cat or mouse. The main thing was an animal. And if my girls discovered this cute cat, I wouldn't stand a chance.
My daughters were quick: they had also heard the loud meowing and they opened the patio door quicker than their mum could say „no“. After an extensive round of petting and equally extensive cries of delight mixed with begging from the girls, I had to make a decision. Little did I know that this decision would significantly improve my quality of life. Of course, my children would have been prepared to extend their promises until they came of age: „We'll always feed them. We'll clean the loo too. We'll take out the dead mice. We'll open all the tins and take her to the vet“, they begged and pleaded to keep the cat.
All parents are familiar with these kinds of promises to look after an animal at home. All parents also know the approximate expiry date of such childish assurances: It's between 7 and 14 days. After these days, the parents have obligations, costs and worries for several years.
Vet was the only correct term I could think of in those minutes. I realised that this well-groomed lady had an owner who took good care of her. So we would go to the nearest vet and see if her owner could be identified via a chip. Miezi was packed into a crate and taken to the vet. The owner was quickly identified thanks to the microchip and the girls were surprisingly calm about the fact that the little black cat was only a brief guest.
On leaving the vet's surgery, the doctor said to me: „Why are you limping like that? Are you in pain?“. I told him about a bad case of osteoarthritis in my knee that had set in after an accident many years ago and was tormenting me with every step. After waking up, I had to think carefully about how to get to my feet with less pain: Firstly, sit on the edge of the bed, then put both legs up. Then, when I got up, I took the weight off my right leg and bent it carefully, taking laboured steps to the door ... that's how my days began. And it goes on like this all day long: pain when climbing and descending stairs. Pain when bending and stretching, getting up from sitting. Strolling through the city, shopping in peace without pain - that hasn't been possible for years,“ I told the doctor.
The vet recommends a gold implant for my dog's painful knee joint, which is plagued by osteoarthritis. „Some vets have been successfully treating dogs with joint pain and osteoarthritis for many years with tiny fine gold pins - gold implants. The animals“ mobility improves significantly and the quality of life improves considerably for both animals and owners," the doctor explains to me. The best information for me is that there are now also human physicians who use this method. Use alternative joint therapy for chronic joint complaints, inflammation and pain. So a few years ago I started looking for information on the Internet, was persuaded by a doctor and now wear tiny little gold pins in my knee, close to the joint, which were placed close to the joint with a syringe under local anaesthetic.
Since the small operation, my thoughts about walking frames with or without a seat shell are history for me. I jump out of bed like I did before my serious accident. Yes, my knee creaks and I sometimes notice and hear it, but I am no longer restricted in my movements and am virtually pain-free! That's why I've been able to go for walks in the woods or on shopping trips again since the operation. A considerable improvement in quality of life!
Of course, something positive like this can only happen if you open the patio door to a cat and let it in ...
