Mortaine’s Blog

This is just a reminder about my poetry contest, being held all month long, ending on March 31. See the contest entry for details, share the guidelines with your friends!

Allegro is sick– again. It seems like we’re in a constant state of urinary tract infection right now, and have been going on 3 months or so. I thought it had cleared up, but last night I caught him peeing on the dog’s bed, and there was a very nice amount of blood in it, and I discovered blood droplets around his litterbox when cleaning it as well. Then he’s going to the box every 5 minutes and not able to get much out. Since I saw him pee on the dog bed, I know he’s not blocked, which is why I waited till 8:40 this morning to take him to the vet.

He’s been there all day, finally producing a sample at about 4:00 this afternoon. For a cat who boldly pees on my hair in the middle of the night when he’s sick, he sure has a shy bladder once he gets to the vet! Anyway, they’re putting him on antibiotics and will culture the sample with results back on Monday. Yes, this is gonna cost an arm and a leg– $200 without the culture or drugs, probably more. They’re putting him on one antibiotic for a week, and may switch him to another after the culture results are back.

The vet saw blood, of course, and white blood cells (indicating infection), as well as crystals. His Ph was high as well, which is not a good sign. I vigorously defended his diet– he’s on the prescription c/d cat food, and has been for years– perhaps over the time, his body has adjusted to the diet and it’s no longer effective in keeping his Ph down.

Purina now makes a cat food for UTI kitties, so we’re going to try that next.

We were talking about the best “delivery” method for the antibiotic when a co-worker came by asking for information. I hate that– taking a necessary personal call at work, and getting “caught” by a co-worker. Ah, well– our receptionist took 2 days off this week because her dog was having “female problems” and had a massive infection, so I don’t feel too awful bad about it.

The last time Allegro was on antibiotics, it was Baytril, which only comes in a chewable tablet. Well, let me tell you something– not only weren’t those chewable, but by the time he finished them, he would barely let me get near him! I’m hoping these will be a smaller pill I can just pop into his mouth– the Baytril were too big to just toss back and he got pretty good at spitting them back and biting me on his way out the door!

Um, that’s pretty much all for now. I didn’t go to the funeral this morning. I’m sending a card and a donation instead, I think.