I've seen your post on how weird and unsuitable for thriving horses are, but it made me think of an animal on the opposite side of that spectrum. I hear that cats are notoriously good for bouncing back from injuries. As a vet, can you confirm/deny?
There are many sayings about cats in veterinary medicine. The relevant one in this case is:
As long as you put the two pieces in the same room, the cat will heal.
Sure, if those pieces are far away it will certainly take longer, but cats have a remarkable capacity for healing. They’re tough. They want to live. (And wreck havoc on our wildlife)
The exception to this great fitness and healing ability is if the cat has a viral infection. For whatever reason viruses seem particularly problematic for cats: Feline Leukemia virus, Feline Immunodeficiency Virus, Feline Infectious Peritonitis and Feline Herpesvirus in particular give cats a hard time.
The one feline virus I personally find most interesting is Feline Panleukopenia. This hardy little virus attacks stem cells, most notably in the bone marrow of cats.
It also possibly evolved into Canine Parvovirus, resulting in the deaths of countless dogs before we really knew what was happening. The two viruses are only two amino acids different, and vaccinating for one is cross-protective for the other.
So, in short, cats might have accidentally unleashed a biological weapon against dogs about 40 years ago. In areas where we see high numbers of canine parvovirus, we don’t see as much feline panleukopenia. I thought that was pretty interesting.