Brillyant comments on Open thread, Sep. 26 - Oct. 02, 2016 - Less Wrong

2 Post author: MrMind 26 September 2016 07:41AM

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Comment author: Brillyant 26 September 2016 06:24:30PM *  1 point [-]

The vet honestly doesn't know the answer to your question.

I'd suggest this is likely. Assuming both ailments are relatively common and not obviously known to be rare, I'd bet the vet just doesn't know the data necessary to discuss base rates in a meaningful way that would help determine X or Y.

Side note: My experience is that sometime the tests needed to help narrow down illnesses in animals are prohibitively expensive.