As you can see, the cat is pretty laid back about what the child does to him. He is a good candidate for Stuff on my Cat. That is the whole reason we got him. About a year ago we went to Superpetz to pick up dog food and they had large cages with cats who needed homes from the local 'No-Kill' shelter. There were 12 cats, 11 cats saw Noodle and tried to get as far away from her as possible. One cat saw her and rubbed up against her fingers, his name was Bibi. Turns out he was an orphan from Hurricane Ivan, one of the multiple hurricanes that decimated Biltmore Village and WNC in 2004. He's a good boy, sleeps with Noodle, loves everyone who comes near him. He doesn't typically pee outside the kitty litter box so I called our vet but it was 5 minutes after they closed (of course) so I called the local emergency vet to see if I should wait until Monday or bring him in. They said to bring him in immediately so we scurried on in. Cats don't really get UTI's, the urine is too nasty. When they get old and their kidneys stop working properly they go straight to kidney infections. The poor kitties. The irratation that causes the blood in the urine also causes crystals to form and the crystals can block the urethra and their bladders can explode. Gross. They can have this happen in as little as 72 hours so when I told them this started two weeks ago the vet got really panicky and urged us to come in. Noodle came with me and tried to reassure the cat. She knew she like to be cuddled when she had to go to the doctor so she tried to reassure him by trying to pick him up. He is a Maine Coon, he is as big as she is. Picking him up doesn't reassure the cat, it freaks him out. So now the cat was under the examing table, Noodle had jumped up on the table pretending to be a cat and I was trying to get the 2 of them to switch positions. The vet shows up at this point, I am bending over with my butt to the door he enters. Excellent. Hi Doc, here's my fat ass. I get the cat out from under the table and the child off the table and the vet proceeds to poke and prod and squeeze. It was all I could do not to fall on the floor laughing. The vet sort of squished the cat's tummy and squeezed urine into one of those kidney shaped containers you throw up in after (or during) labor. Fortunately Noodle had gotten her art out and was no longer paying attention because I am pretty sure that would have become a new activity in our house if she had noticed what he was doing. The cat was not pleased. he doesn't meow, he squeaks. So now the vet is squeezing the cat, the cat is squeaking and I am trying to keep a straight face while the vet is telling me we shouldn't give the cat antibiotics. Fortunately the cat's urethra wasn't blocked. The cat gets 2 pills a day to relax the muscles around his urethra so he isn't uncomfortable and he gets wet food. Normally cats are supposed to get kibble (and cheese I 'accidently' drop on the floor while preparing meals. This is the one time you are supposed to feed wet food to your cat. It greatly reduces the crystals. Who knew? So now, if you worry your cat is getting a UTI, just bring it to get squeezed.
Monday, February 27, 2006
Cat Urine is Too Toxic To Culture Bacteria
I know, I know... it is crazy that cat urine is too toxic to culture bacteria but it is true. The smell should have been a dead give away that nothing could live in kitty pee but we had to go to the emergency room vet on Saturday night to find this out absolutely. Two weeks ago our boy cat peed on the dog's bed. We thought the cat had a bone to pick with the dog and started odor neutralizing and cleaning. Thursday morning my husband woke up to the boy cat peeing on him. We could still chalk this up to the cat having a bone to pick. Hubby and Bibi aren't the best of friends but this wasn't typical behavior for the cat. Saturday afternoon he peed on the bed again but there were some signs of blood in the urine. So, of course, I panicked, Hubby, on the other hand, started sharpening the knife he uses to skin animals and Noodle tried to sooth the cat. Here is a picture she took of bundling him up with her Funny Bunny: As you can see, the cat is pretty laid back about what the child does to him. He is a good candidate for Stuff on my Cat. That is the whole reason we got him. About a year ago we went to Superpetz to pick up dog food and they had large cages with cats who needed homes from the local 'No-Kill' shelter. There were 12 cats, 11 cats saw Noodle and tried to get as far away from her as possible. One cat saw her and rubbed up against her fingers, his name was Bibi. Turns out he was an orphan from Hurricane Ivan, one of the multiple hurricanes that decimated Biltmore Village and WNC in 2004. He's a good boy, sleeps with Noodle, loves everyone who comes near him. He doesn't typically pee outside the kitty litter box so I called our vet but it was 5 minutes after they closed (of course) so I called the local emergency vet to see if I should wait until Monday or bring him in. They said to bring him in immediately so we scurried on in. Cats don't really get UTI's, the urine is too nasty. When they get old and their kidneys stop working properly they go straight to kidney infections. The poor kitties. The irratation that causes the blood in the urine also causes crystals to form and the crystals can block the urethra and their bladders can explode. Gross. They can have this happen in as little as 72 hours so when I told them this started two weeks ago the vet got really panicky and urged us to come in. Noodle came with me and tried to reassure the cat. She knew she like to be cuddled when she had to go to the doctor so she tried to reassure him by trying to pick him up. He is a Maine Coon, he is as big as she is. Picking him up doesn't reassure the cat, it freaks him out. So now the cat was under the examing table, Noodle had jumped up on the table pretending to be a cat and I was trying to get the 2 of them to switch positions. The vet shows up at this point, I am bending over with my butt to the door he enters. Excellent. Hi Doc, here's my fat ass. I get the cat out from under the table and the child off the table and the vet proceeds to poke and prod and squeeze. It was all I could do not to fall on the floor laughing. The vet sort of squished the cat's tummy and squeezed urine into one of those kidney shaped containers you throw up in after (or during) labor. Fortunately Noodle had gotten her art out and was no longer paying attention because I am pretty sure that would have become a new activity in our house if she had noticed what he was doing. The cat was not pleased. he doesn't meow, he squeaks. So now the vet is squeezing the cat, the cat is squeaking and I am trying to keep a straight face while the vet is telling me we shouldn't give the cat antibiotics. Fortunately the cat's urethra wasn't blocked. The cat gets 2 pills a day to relax the muscles around his urethra so he isn't uncomfortable and he gets wet food. Normally cats are supposed to get kibble (and cheese I 'accidently' drop on the floor while preparing meals. This is the one time you are supposed to feed wet food to your cat. It greatly reduces the crystals. Who knew? So now, if you worry your cat is getting a UTI, just bring it to get squeezed.
As you can see, the cat is pretty laid back about what the child does to him. He is a good candidate for Stuff on my Cat. That is the whole reason we got him. About a year ago we went to Superpetz to pick up dog food and they had large cages with cats who needed homes from the local 'No-Kill' shelter. There were 12 cats, 11 cats saw Noodle and tried to get as far away from her as possible. One cat saw her and rubbed up against her fingers, his name was Bibi. Turns out he was an orphan from Hurricane Ivan, one of the multiple hurricanes that decimated Biltmore Village and WNC in 2004. He's a good boy, sleeps with Noodle, loves everyone who comes near him. He doesn't typically pee outside the kitty litter box so I called our vet but it was 5 minutes after they closed (of course) so I called the local emergency vet to see if I should wait until Monday or bring him in. They said to bring him in immediately so we scurried on in. Cats don't really get UTI's, the urine is too nasty. When they get old and their kidneys stop working properly they go straight to kidney infections. The poor kitties. The irratation that causes the blood in the urine also causes crystals to form and the crystals can block the urethra and their bladders can explode. Gross. They can have this happen in as little as 72 hours so when I told them this started two weeks ago the vet got really panicky and urged us to come in. Noodle came with me and tried to reassure the cat. She knew she like to be cuddled when she had to go to the doctor so she tried to reassure him by trying to pick him up. He is a Maine Coon, he is as big as she is. Picking him up doesn't reassure the cat, it freaks him out. So now the cat was under the examing table, Noodle had jumped up on the table pretending to be a cat and I was trying to get the 2 of them to switch positions. The vet shows up at this point, I am bending over with my butt to the door he enters. Excellent. Hi Doc, here's my fat ass. I get the cat out from under the table and the child off the table and the vet proceeds to poke and prod and squeeze. It was all I could do not to fall on the floor laughing. The vet sort of squished the cat's tummy and squeezed urine into one of those kidney shaped containers you throw up in after (or during) labor. Fortunately Noodle had gotten her art out and was no longer paying attention because I am pretty sure that would have become a new activity in our house if she had noticed what he was doing. The cat was not pleased. he doesn't meow, he squeaks. So now the vet is squeezing the cat, the cat is squeaking and I am trying to keep a straight face while the vet is telling me we shouldn't give the cat antibiotics. Fortunately the cat's urethra wasn't blocked. The cat gets 2 pills a day to relax the muscles around his urethra so he isn't uncomfortable and he gets wet food. Normally cats are supposed to get kibble (and cheese I 'accidently' drop on the floor while preparing meals. This is the one time you are supposed to feed wet food to your cat. It greatly reduces the crystals. Who knew? So now, if you worry your cat is getting a UTI, just bring it to get squeezed.
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2 comments:
glad kitty is doing well. when lulu decided she needed to pee on everything, we, too, took her to be squeezed. unfortunatly, she was not incontinent, just mentally ill. then the vet gave us anti-anxiety meds to give her. guess what pinning a cat to drug her every day does? it gives her more anxiety!!
remember when lulu ran away and lived at the home for the mentally retarded?* i think we should have let her stay with 'her people.'
*yay! i shall post about this! wanna tag team it?
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