The last day of my summer holiday didn’t really go as planned. I thought it would be one last day of relaxing and doing fun stuff but instead I had to drive to another state for an emergency!

Just a little warning though, there might be a little TMI ahead for some…

I guess it actually started Friday, I noticed that Sam was going to his litter box more often than he usually does. It’s not that I count the times he goes, but he has a certain rhythm and when he goes off that rhythm it usually means something is wrong. I kept an eye on him all day making sure he was still passing urine although it was a little less every time. Around dinner time he seemed to be back to normal though and all seemed well. Which continued yesterday, he was still going on the litter box more often than usual but at least he was doing better. Until today..

Waking up, nothing seemed wrong, until around 11 AM. Sam kept walking back and forward to the litter box every two minutes and on checking I noticed that he was hardly watering, only drops came out. Now this happened around April too and I was asked to make an appointment then for that afternoon, but this felt a little more urgent than back then.

My sister works for a veterinary clinic so after ringing her I decided to ring to the clinic as an emergency. A cat that doesn’t pass urine can die in a few hours. The kidneys will poison the cat rather quickly if you’re not at a vet’s in time.
The receptionist called me back in 2 minutes and told me I had to come immediately. Which was a bit of an obstacle. Sam hates his travel case, he gets really mean and he got me good with his nails when I tried to put him in there. At first I hadn’t noticed my face was covered in blood and it got black and blue, but a quick check in the mirror before I ran out to the car showed I needed a real quick wash to get rid of the blood first (and then I noticed the bruise!)

Finally we were on our way to the VER, well technically it’s just the same clinic we usually go to but only opens for emergencies during the weekend. After waiting for the vet to be done with the other emergencies that came in before me (doesn’t it always seem that they are ‘less’ urgent than your emergency?!) he did a complete check on Sam and gave me some good news. He wasn’t blocked up yet which means we were in on time and that an antibiotics shot and some pills would do to help him through.

I can’t tell you how relieved I felt when he said Sam was going to be OK. I was so worried about him, he’s my little one you know . Sam was diagnosed with crystals in his bladder last April, he was given special food to clear the crystals but that’s for quick fixes only, the food can only be given for a month. And now they’re back. Because of his history with crystals, he now has to have his urine tested to see what kind of crystals they are and from there they will put him on prescription / diet food from now on.

Catching a cat’s urine isn’t as easy as you’d think. Yes he goes on the litter box nicely, but getting the urine out of there is a little harder. I managed to squeeze a few drops from some tissues, but the clinic needed a little more than that for good tests. Sam however, seemed to feel better and helped me a little. I had taken the filing out of the litter box into a plastic bag and put that on the floor in the living room. I figured it would be easier that way to get the urine out of the litter box. Sam had other plans though, after the first time of urinating in the empty litter box (ooh the joy of a cat starting to pee, you can’t imagine!) he wanted to go again a few hours later. This time not in the box though! He did it on the plastic bag, which made it a hell of a lot easier to get it into a little can to take to the vet tomorrow for testing! So thanks Sam for helping me help you get better .

Right now Sam is asleep on the sofa. He seems fine, he’s been eating, drinking and using the litter box on a more normal rhythm. I really hope this was the last time I had to rush him to the vets. Not because I don’t want to pay or take him there, even if it costs me 100′s of Euros he needs to get better, no because it’s such a scare, he even started moaning in the car. Something he usually never does. And that just freaked me out, I really thought he was blocked and was slowly poisoning himself.

And that bruise on my face along with the scratches? That is just something I’m willing to pay if it gets Sam better. Hopefully tomorrow we can start his special diet so the crystals get dissolved and won’t come back. He will also has to take antibiotic pills for the next few days and that in itself will be a struggle. Ever tried making a cat eat pills? It’s close to impossible but I have a few tricks on my sleeve!

The reason why I drove across state lines for the vet clinic? Because that’s the one we usually go to (about 20 minutes away from home), Sam is known there as that was the clinic he was admitted to as a kitten. He goes there to get his shots, or when he got castrated. The only time we went to another clinic was back in April, when he had the crystals for the first time. They helped me great there, but it’s just not the same as a clinic where they know all about his history.

But clinic A or B doesn’t matter, as long as Sam gets better and starts being his happy self again, I’m happy . Not how I imagined my last day of the holidays, but at least it wasn’t boring and I have (another) story to tell at work tomorrow…

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