Yes, it’s the phrase that strikes fear in the hearts of Cat People everywhere: “litter box indiscretions.”
Yesterday afternoon Shadow (the black one) started crouching in various spots throughout the house as if he was going to pee there. When shooed away, he’d hunker down, upend himself, and vehemently begin licking his balls. A curious approach from Nacho (the black one)(“Hey! Whatcha lickin’? Can I have some? Can I at least smell it? That looks good!”) elicited growls and hissing. Not a good sign.
Later, on my bed, Shadow (the black one) lay on one side with his leg up in the air, looking uncomfortable. A glance from uncorrected eyes revealed what looked like a sausage emerging from between his butt cheeks. Not a pretty sight at 1 am.
Shadow spent the night in the garage.
Needless to say, rather than risk repeat of ass corkage, Shadow paid a visit to the vet today who poked, prodded, and palpated him in various undignified places with a gloved finger.
Tentative diagnosis: urinary infection, sausage notwithstanding.
Now both cats are eating expensive prescription food and Shadow (the black one) received a $100 injection of something expensive and probably ineffective.
Plus I have the enviable task of performing extensive litter box reconnaissance to determine who is peeing and how much.
Oh joy.
In other news, I’m making preparations (i.e. thinking about what to pack) for another trip to Vancouver next week, having purchased airline tickets lo these many months ago. I’m looking forward to being in the forest right by the beach and doing a LOT of writing. More on that later. Plus I get to meet someone I’ve been wanting to meet for awhile now, having missed my opportunity in Chicago last July and another opportunity in June.
Tomorrow I meet with the reading specialist at Serena’s school and get to convince her that Serena is able to learn to read without their help, thank you. However, the paper she brought home on Christopher Columbus rather belies my point (hello! yes, you’re supposed to read the words on the page! it makes it easier to answer the questions!).
Nathaniel is morose today. Only seven more years of this to go.
Eric found the container of 100 small blocks that I was using to teach Serena about multiplying by 10′s and has dispersed them all over the house. Now he’s demanding reading.
Bedtime’s in another hour. Serena is running a constant narration of the copious research she is doing on various elements of cats in a book, interviewing the different types of cats and recording her findings. Nathaniel is singing and making sound effects while he does math. Eric is grinding his teeth as he flips the pages of a board book.
It has turned into a quiet evening: the wind picked up; it’s raining and there’s been distant thunder; the air coming in through the open windows is fresh and cool; all marking the change from this long Indian summer into autumn at last.
Oh! There’s a new post up at Springing Light about reconnecting to Self. You’ll want to have a look.
October 10th, 2007 at 6:38 pm
What is prescription cat food? Is it cat food with drugs added.? I really like Felidae. Which my S-I-L recommended after our favorite cat food was bought out and they quality of what they put in it. Felidae use human grade food and I pay $$$$ for it but it did help with my cat’s.
October 12th, 2007 at 11:44 am
“It has turned into a quiet evening: the wind picked up; it’s raining and there’s been distant thunder; the air coming in through the open windows is fresh and cool; all marking the change from this long Indian summer into autumn at last.”
Nice use of the semicolon.
Daniel
October 12th, 2007 at 12:39 pm
I love punctuation. The semicolon is undeservedly underused.