Our dog recently had surgery to remove bladder stones. At home, during the post-operation recovery phase — as we observed his body and behavior — we had three recurring questions:

“Is this normal?”
“Should we be worried about this?”
“What do we do?”

(We spoke to our veterinarian, who helped us to answer these questions.)

This happens often in life, particularly in domains where we lack expertise. We observe phenomena but we’re not exactly sure what they mean. We see a few data points and we don’t know if we’re watching a concerning trend.

Often, the key is to catch ourselves before we begin to catatrophize what we see, or before we ignore something that needs attention. That’s where informed advice becomes essential.