Wow. This really reminds me of my studies in University. It seems what you're asking about is a differential diagnosis. It's pretty tough for a layperson to tell you how to differentiate between two similar diagnoses. Even for students it seems they only know if they read it in a textbook. In terms of veterinary medicine, I can't comment. Knowing based solely on symptoms might not be possible and perhaps certain tests need to be done or something like that. But when I was a student I remember one particularly good discussion in class about differentiating between depression with psychotic features compared to a psychosis with a reactive depression. Same symptoms but two completely different diagnoses. Obviously that's not related to what you're asking about, but it's an example of a situation where there's overlap of symptoms of different diagnoses.
Anyways, I just wanted to say I wish the best for you and hope it's nothing overly serious. Your question I'm afraid probably can only be properly answered by someone well-versed with those diagnoses. |