a trip to the vet

Leave it to my cats to get sick when we don't have a vet yet.

I woke up this morning with both cats sleeping with me, Max snoring and Sam chirping. Everyone was behaving normally. I got up and did a few things, then sat on the couch to eat some cereal. I noticed Max going in the litter box, then getting out and not burying anything. This was not normal--he always scratches around in there for about 3 hours after he's finished. He scratches even the sides of the litter box--he's very meticulous.

Anyway, I saw him do this a few more times with no success. I cleaned out the litter box, but by then he was hiding under the bed and not looking happy. Max is not a hider--he likes to be right in the middle of things. When he hides, I know he doesn't feel well. After a little while I finally pulled him out from under the bed and examined his butt. (Brad, I know you're loving this!) It looked a little inflamed, but I wasn't sure.

So I called a local vet and made an appt. for this afternoon. Soon after, I noticed Max go in the litter box and pee. Then in awhile, he started acting normal, rolling around on the floor and showing me his belly, purring loudly, getting in my lap, staring at the lizards on the back patio, etc.

But I took him to the vet anyway, and the vet thinks he probably has a urinary tract infection, brought on by stress. Poor Maxie, we've stressed him out with the move. The doctor said it usually takes a few weeks after a traumatic event to develop an infection.

So now we have to figure out a way to get a urine sample into the vet tomorrow. We have to put Max in the bathroom overnight with an empty litter box and hope he pees in it. Then we have to suck up the pee in a syringe and take it in to the vet.

And we had planned to go to the beach tomorrow! So hopefully, everything will be fine and he'll pee and we can still go to the beach. If not, we'll have to wait till Monday to bring in some pee, because it needs to be fresh. Sigh.

BUT--we had a blast with David and Mona. We ate at T.G.I. Friday's, and the food was delicious. We laughed and talked for hours. Brad and I used to sit with them in church because our parents and grandparents were all on the platform (min. of music, organist, choir members) And when I was little, BB, (before Brad), I used to spend every Saturday night with them. They are SUCH fun people, so laid back, just enjoyable to be around. We have lots of wonderful memories together.

Like the time they were supposed to take me to the public pool and I was SO excited. I woke up not feeling very well that day, but I didn't dare tell Mom or she wouldn't let me go. Well, at the pool, David and Mona got me a cherry slush and I drank it and then promptly threw it up, IN THE POOL! How embarrassing. But I was only like 4. I've never had a cherry slush since!!

Hopefully we'll get to go to Daytona tomorrow and spend the day with them. Don't worry, we'll lather up in SPF 50 before we leave.

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