Trip to the vet = household chaos *URINE TEST RESULTS POST 15*
I've decided my home does not have nearly enough rooms with doors!!
Let me start at the beginning (I appologize ahead of time for the length, it's been a LONG, complicated day)....
Yesterday I noticed Bear had what felt like a small hernia on his abdomen, so I figured that it would be a good idea to take him to work with me today to get it checked out. Seems simple enough right?
For a few weeks on and off I've been finding cat pee in my bathroom sink, on my kitchen counter right by the sink (ewwwww :( ) and couldn't narrow down the culprit. I was guessing either Cami or Bear. Well guess what, I actually caught Cami in the act of peeing in the bathtub yesterday!! :eek: Ok so she's off to work with me also.
Back in the old days this was a simple task: set carrier out the night before, don't feed anyone that morning, dump out wrong cat sleeping in carrier, load up right cat in carrier, then off to work. Do you think it could be that easy anymore??? NOPE!
So last night I get the carrier out and put it in the livingroom. So Jack wanders in to check it out, Pooky jumps on top of it, Cami & Bear sniff the sides of it. The remaining trio just kinda set back staring like it's going to eat them up. So finally Josh walks up to it, takes one sniff then starts hissing and spitting at poor Jack!! Jack finally gets out of the carrier and Bear gets in it. Josh again goes up and takes one sniff and hisses and spits at Bear.
By this point I'm realizing that Josh has a MAJOR aversion to the carrier, even though it's been in the basement for 6 months and was totally cleaned out before storage, no pee smells or anything. Josh and his sibs were raised in a carrier for a couple months just like Pooky & Bear who don't mind a carrier at all so this baffles me. So I lock up the carrier in a spare bedroom.
This morning comes and I get Bear snabbed up and in the carrier, off to work I go. Bear does have a small hernia but isn't all the way through so it doesn't allow any intestines or fat to poke through. I am just to keep close watch on it for any changes. He's probably had it since birth and I just never felt it before. Actually he loves his tummy rubbed but he's always upside down when I do it and I can't hardly feel it that way, but I had been feeling for bladder problems with him upright and that's how I found it.
Anyways so we were fairly slow today so I got an extended lunch long enough to take Bear home and bring Cami back.
I rush Bear through the house to the spare room to let him out so Josh doesn't have to see the carrier any longer than necessary. Josh still got bent out of shape and hissed at poor Bear. I fed them lunch and even Josh's sisters were afraid to eat with the little spitfire!! Josh seemed to kinda stay off by himself so I could leave him loose in the house when I went back to work.
So Cami gets her anal glands expressed, some antibiotics in case of bladder infection and I'm supposed to get a urine sample tonight.
I bring her back, put her still in carrier in the cpu room, fix up the bathroom with a clean sandbox, water dish and bed. I hurry her through the house to the bathroom. Josh had seen the carrier anyways and started hissing and spitting at everyone, from his own sister Sassy to me!! So I grab up the little furball and put him in the spare bedroom upstairs which already has litterboxes and the smaller auto waterer. I did a quick scan of the room and didn't see any other cats in there, so I left Josh to cool his heels while I go do my workout.
I get back and Josh is meowing at the door, and pawing at it, Cami is yowling at the bathroom door and the rest want their supper. I figure Josh should be cooled down some so I figure he can eat with the rest of the cats. I go to let him out and here comes Sabrina out with him!! Uh oh I accidentally shut them in together, which isn't good because when one gets bent out of shape the other does too and it just escelates from there!!!! OOPS!
Well supper went about as well as a bar fight, hissing, spitting, fur pulling, back arching, the whole 9 yards. I had to put Josh back up in the bedroom, I took Sabrina (hissing at ME the whole way) to the cpu room, and Cami was still in the bathroom.
So the rest of the kitties got to eat while listening to 2 cats pounding and yowling on their doors! Sabrina was cowering under the cpu desk.
So I'm typing now while Sabrina is still in the cpu room, although almost calm enough to let out. Josh is jumping at the doorknob of his room meowing, Cami is meowing and pawing underneath her door and I'm OUT of rooms with doors on them!! Thank the Lord that Sassy is ok with everyone else once I got her siblings shut in.
I'm gonna ask my boss tomorrow if I can get some tranquilizers for Josh and Sabrina, so when anyone else in the house gets a bath or has to go to the vet (even if it's not those two) that I can give them a chill pill so my house isn't full of hissing and spitting for two days afterwards!!!!
Sheesh. And our clients think that bringing in only 1 or 2 cats is a big deal when that's all they have in the house??!!! LOL I think I've got them all beat!! Do you agree?? LOL
***update- Everyone's Out Now***
Ok here's the scoop....
SABRINA - Last night I was finally able to let Sabrina out of the cpu room for late night feeding time. Things went fairly well, only one hiss, but she ate nicely with her sister. I played with them a bit and they seemed to all be getting along.
JOSH - ALL NIGHT poor little Josh the spitfire, leaped at the doorknob, rattled the door and meowed! I didn't get much sleep since that room borders the wall of my bedroom (which of course doesn't have a door on it because of the stairway design) and it's right by my bed! I didn't get too much good sleep last night. I was able to let him out for breakfast this morning. We had about 3 hisses and a swat but basically he ate nicely then just kinda ignored everyone else so he got to stay out, which he's much happier about.
CAMI -
Last night, no urine sample. This morning, no urine sample. This afternoon, no urine sample. Sheesh. Any other time she pees up the side of the sandbox and I could have used a syringe to suck up a sample from the edge of the sandbox. Do you think she could be counted on for that when I need a urine sample?? NO. The bugger butt decided now was the time to put your rump down on the litter. :rolleyes:
Came home tonight with a new tactic. Change the hooded litterbox I had in there with the open top one from upstairs, normally she can't keep her butt down in that one. Well I put her in it and she starts to squat, however I was prepared for such an event. I had a 3oz paper cup in my hand and just stuck it under her. That made her raise her butt so I could catch some pee. Of course I got my hand peed on in the process but I did get a bit of pee. Not enough though.
Call mom for advice. Try mom's suggestion of putting Cami in cpu room with me with NO sandbox and wait till she has to go potty. So I bring her in here, and let the other cats go in the sandbox in the bathroom. After a couple hours Cami wakes up and starts meowing and heading for the door to let me know 'hey mom I gotta go potty'. So I quick check the bathroom for other cats, coast is clear, and go back, get Cami, and take her to the bathroom sandbox. I put her down, she smells the other cat's have been in her sandbox and starts to squat. Again I'm prepared with a paper cup and get another bit of a sample, and peed on again.
Between the two samples I have enough to run the urinalysis at work tomorrow! YAY!!! So I let Cami out and NO HISSING as of yet and it's been 1/2 hour!! DOUBLE YAY!!! :D :D :D
Apparently my house is back to normal.....Unless Cami tests out fine then I need a urine sample from Bear just in case. Whoo boy! LOL
