So I’m worried about Ben.

His bladder infection from a month or so ago reoccured while James was taking care of him, leading to a peeing rampage through the house that still fills me with guilt. (And which James handled with great patience, to his credit.) Ben got retested, and he’s back on antibiotics, a longer course this time. (The rather pricey urine culture didn’t turn anything up–they suspect it was a false negative because of the antibiotics and the small size of the sample. Ben does not like to provide urine samples. He rations the stuff out like he’s afraid of a global shortage of cat pee.)

Just took him in yesterday for a check-up, and they didn’t seem concerned. The word is that it’s definitely a bladder infection, and once this is licked, if it happens AGAIN, get him an ultrasound to make sure there’s not something else causing it, but that’s it. I expressed my concern that his urine’s awfully dark, but they think it’s just concentrated because peeing is bothering him, so he drinks less water to try and do it less often. (He’s been entirely well behaved once he got home, litterbox-wise–no accidents, nothin’.)

On the bright side, he’s acting utterly normal. Eats like a horse, drinks water, passes both through (he’s definitely not blocked, thank the gods, and it doesn’t appear to hurt much when he goes) purrs, plays with toys, gives no indication whatsoever that he’s either in pain or about to drop dead of kidney failure or some equally horrific fate of the variety that plague male cats.* This is somewhat comforting.

Still, I worry. It’s such an ugly color, and there was some blood in it last night, making it even uglier. (Probably a result of being manhandled at the vet–he’d had traces of blood before.) It’s not as bad today, (no blood anyway) and I’m waiting for them to call and reassure me that the cat is not about to explode. Unfortunately, the vet he’s been seeing appears to only work two days a week. I’m trying to switch to one who actually works full time–it’s a great clinic, has a fabulous rep, but I need somebody who’s actually THERE, and takes a little more time to talk to me.

The fact that I’m going out of town for the weekend doesn’t help my anxiety. James is gonna stop by to feed and check up on him, and he’s on canned food to make sure he stays hydrated, but it’s another stress on top of con stress.

He goes in Monday for a drop-off so they can get a sample and make sure everything’s doin’ okay.  Hopefully I can corner a vet then…

See, this is why I don’t want kids. (Well, one of a couple of reasons.) I start to turn into my mother just over the cat.

Edit: Talked to a vet, finally! She said the blood was normal after being to the vet and being poked, and as long as it cleared up in 24 hours, not to worry. She’s not thrilled that the urine’s still somewhat dark after all this time on the Clavamox, but as long as he continues to pee and there’s no blood in it, it’s not a cause for panic–it’s when they STOP peeing that you panic! (Since he’s coming in for another urine sample on Monday, I suspect she’s waiting to see how dark the urine actually is then, since as she said “It’s hard to define “brown” over the phone!”)

I do feel better.

*Why do I always get male cats? So much goes wrong with their innards…

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