If Artemis could meow 'I love you, motherfucker. No, really, I mean it, man.' she would. It's nearly Christmas, and since we've decided to go down to South Florida so my dad and some others can meet Sharon, Artemis is having her annual urinary tract infection. So we found a vet nearby and I put the poor dear in the carrier and paid the good doctor a visit. After the normal prodding, and squeezing, and listening, and, now that I think about it, no thermometer work, the doctor suggested something no one else had. Apparently some cats have a thing called lower urinary tract disease, which acts an awful lot like a UTI, but without bacteria involved. And given Artemis's history of frequent flare ups she is a likely candidate, so rather than antibiotics we have her on painkillers to ease the symptoms and see if it runs its course and subsides on its own. The side effect to the narcotic pain killers is that my cat is stoned out of her tiny kitty mind. When she's not sleeping she's even more affectionate than ever, and she is a very loving kitty, and there have been a lot of kitty kisses and hand grabbing. It's quite amusing, actually. When asked what can trigger such flare ups, the doctor said stress, usually. And what can stress a cat out? Stuff like a new baby in the house. D'oh!
Other than that all is quiet. I'm done for the semester, so I'm on full-time-daddy duty. Sharon has finally mastered blowing raspberries, much to my amusement and my wife's dismay, and the little imp now realizes how much it amuses me, and pthbthbthbthbs whenever she sees me. It's freaking adorable!!
Almost as adorable as this:
TTFN
Marius
1 comment:
If someone had asked me this morning if I thought that a baby and a stuffed pig sharing a mustache would be adorable, I would have had some questions about that person. But that, my friend, is pretty damned adorable.
When my cat seemingly had a second UTI flare-up but the vet found no bacteria, she spent a lot of time talking to me about the symptoms and concluded that it was idiopathic cystitis, which is I think the same thing your vet is describing. In addition to keeping her stress levels down, you also need to make sure she's well-hydrated; if you can get her off dry food entirely and onto canned, that's best. Also, if your vet didn't already tell you about this, Cosequin is good for urinary tract health. It's used primarily for arthritis, but it also builds up the lining of the bladder and can prevent cystitis from recurring. You can get it online or at pet supply stores (if you get it from your vet, it costs about twice as much). If your cat has a sensitive stomach, though, she might not be able to tolerate it. It gave my cat diarrhea that did not resolve after a couple of days, so I had to take her off it.
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