Poor little girl.

Early Saturday morning we were in the basement putzing, and a good thing too, because I noticed Peanut was doing the same thing Tubby did when he had his UTI. She went to one box, scratched around, squatted, left the box, went to another box, same routine, went to a big cardboard box on the floor, same routine, then back to the litterboxes. I checked and each time she squatted, she left just such a little bitty dribble, so I knew it would be off to the vet as soon as they opened.

The odd part was that when we went back upstairs, she came with us, and did her normal morning begging routine, took her pill, ate her treat, went and got a drink, everything like normal, so I was starting to question whether she was really sick. Then I cleaned the litter boxes and noticed all the little dribbles since the Friday morning cleanout, and one box had foot prints but nothing else, so I knew she had been in there. Oh, and they each have very distinctive litterbox trademarks, so I know it was her and not Tubby again.

So anyway, 11:00 am rolls around and time for her appointment. I get her in the carrier and head to the vet. She's more upset than usual about being in the carrier and I figure it's just because she's not feeling good. Then we get to the vet, and they're swamped as is usual on a Saturday morning. We sit on the bench and wait our turn. In the meantime, a big dog comes in....that is a total baby! He was terrified of being at the vet and was shaking and crying and putting up a real fuss. And there were two kids with the dog (and the dad). So here's poor Peanut who hates kids, hates the vet, hates the carrier, isn't feeling good and has a whiny dog to deal with on top of it!

We finally get called and head to a private room. I go to get her out of the carrier and she's all wet! The poor thing had peed all over herself, either 'cause of the ride (which isn't normal) the dog, the kids, or just because she couldn't get more than a dribble out all morning! We dried her up as best we could, and I wiped out the carrier which turned out to not be a good idea. The vet said that since her bladder was now empty, he couldn't get a sample from her to see if it really was a UTI. I told him to check the paper towel in the garbage and get a sample from that! She did have one or two normal spots in the litterbox, so that along with peeing on herself told him she wasn't totally blocked, so he gave her some antibiotics for a UTI and told me to keep an eye on her. He didn't want her to be uncomfortable all weekend until we could get her in again on Monday. He said if she was still straining by Monday, I should bring her back.

So, after another wait in the reception area with more big dogs, a cat that was yowling and two very loud irritating kids, we finally headed home.

But her bad morning wasn't over yet. Oh no, not that having a UTI and having to go to the vet and put up with kids, dogs, etc wasn't enough, noooo, her her mean mommie decides to give her a bath to top it all off! I only washed her bottom half because that's all that had gotten wet, so it wasn't that bad, but I felt so bad for her having to put up with this one last indignity for the day. Oops, almost the last indignity. After she got out of the bath, Tubby, her ever faithful brother, wanted to help dry her off. Well, one good swat and he decided she could dry herself off.

I felt so bad for her that I didn't take any pics until the end of the day when she was obviously feeling much better. It was a beautiful day so we had turned the A/C off, so it was a little warmer than usual in the house, which I was glad for so she wouldn't be cold as she dried off. So here she is late in the afternoon, relaxing after the worst morning of her life.


I believe the vet was right and it's a UTI. Yesterday morning there were still a few dribbles in the litterbox, but this morning there were only nice little puddles (clumped of course), and she was completely normal this morning, even playing with her mousie again while I got dressed. So it's 7 1/2 more days of pills - twice a day - then she should be good as new again.

As you can see by the picture, she got plenty of smoochies and attention the rest of the evening for being such a good girl and not hating me too much after all the torture I put her through.