I swear to god, cats get weird to fill the void.

Following the demise of Loki, Athena has…done…something or other. I know she’s been under stress, losing her buddy, and I’m wondering if it’s triggered something, ‘cos unless I’m nuts, our six-year-old spayed female seems to have gone into heat. She isn’t doing the waving butt thing, thank god, but she is producing some of the most foul-smelling cat-musk-dead-fish vaginal discharge you have ever had the hideous misfortune to smell, very strongly reminiscent of a unspayed female cat who’s lookin’ for love. I am utterly baffled. (Normally, let me add, I do NOT go inspecting my cat’s rear, but after she leapt into my lap, with the misasmic effect of being smacked in the face with a ripe flounder, I made exception.)

I know stress causes yeast infections in human women, and she’s displaying no other signs whatsoever of any discomfort or illness–in fact, without Loki shouldering her aside to eat her food, she’s not even vomiting any more. If she were a dog, I could hazard guesses about anal glands needing expressing, but I don’t know if that applies to cats. She’s not in any distress, she’s perky, cuddly, good appetite, not listless, no tender spots–she’s just sporadically…err… stinking.

I’m consulting my step-mom, the dog groomer, who has Seen It All, and if she doesn’t know, I guess it’s another trip to Ye Olde Vet, to try and explain that the cat has that not-so-fresh feeling.