Yesterday Dave noticed that Gray Kitty peeing down the shower drain and there was blood in his urine. Neither of those things is good. A quick internet search suggested that poor Gray Kitty probably had some kind of urinary tract infection. I tried to get him to the vet yesterday morning, but turns out he has grown too big to fit into our cat carrier. (It was like trying to shove a watermelon into a sandwich bag.) When I tried to carry him out to the car, he broke free and ran away and I ended up having to make an appointment for today and then go buy a larger carrier.
Today the vet gave him a big shot of antibiotics and gave me the task of getting a urine sample. Have you ever tried to get a urine sample from a cat? It's not easy. Vets use a big long needle to pierce all the way to the bladder and suck out a sample. (That's if they can feel a full bladder, which they couldn't with Gray Kitty.) Me? I got sent home with a small container of black plastic litter and a test tube and some vague directions. Good luck, right? Though actually, I did manage to complete my mission. (I put the plastic litter on a plate over the shower drain and two hours later I was driving a bloody urine sample back to the vet.)
Turns out that urinary tract infections are relatively common in cats (though in all my years of cat ownership, I've never had a cat who suffered from one) and tend to recur if the cat is prone to them. They're especially dangerous in male cats because they can cause urethral blockages that if not treated can kill the cat (by causing electrolyte imbalances and ultimately heart failure). Since it's hard to predict which cats will develop blockages, the vet is taking a kind of shotgun approach to treatment (antibiotics, urine test, change in diet and fluid intake).
Is there any such thing as a maintenance free cat?
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