The Chronicles of Samson: Olympic Diver

[ChicknThief]

Oh boy.... What are some of the causes for a UTI? My bank account hurts just thinking about it lol. I will call my vet today and see what she thinks.

 

[Adenium]

I've heard the same thing about these operations - when we got our 2 shelter cats we could have had free spay/neuters done but chose to fork over the money at the vet because of the higher risk involved.

Any change in his food? New flavor or brand? Does he come back and eat more later? Or he's just eating very little overall still?

 

[Adenium]

I think the solution is to move to a state with a lower cost of living, so you can save more pennies to pour into more and more animals.

I say this tongue in cheek, living unfortunately in CT, which is little better than CA. Sigh. Someday we shall move.

 

[leadwolf1]

At this point, he is a kitten..poor hygeine can be the cause. There is something going on...peeing in the corner, not eating, losing weight. Save the neutering money and use it for the vet. He is a baby and needs attention pretty quickly. Babies

I know that there has been a change in thinking in the past few years but my vet will not neuter until they are 6 months old due to the greater risk of them developing urinary tract problems as they get older. Find out now if he is prone to them...you may want to wait a while before the neutering. As far as the biting, none of my preneutered male kittens displayed anymore aggression then normal. At Samson's age, he doesn't even know he is a boy yet. He is just being a frisky kitten

Oh boy.... What are some of the causes for a UTI? My bank account hurts just thinking about it lol. I will call my vet today and see what she thinks.

 

[ChicknThief]

Samson has a vet appointment today at 3. His appetite seemed to be a little improved this morning. So that is encouraging. He pooped outside of his litterbox last night. He hasn't done that in ages. Luckily I saw it before Jamison did and got it cleaned up before he could notice. This is so incredibly frusterating. He was perfectly litter trained! WTH is the deal.

 

[Gryphon]

Yes, this is definitely a concern to me. I have heard that if it's your own kid it's different. That it changes people. That is what I am banking on. Because you are right. If this is the same amount of support I can expect, then I will absolutely go crazy. Luckily, we still have a couple of years before we want to even start considering a baby. Any baby that comes between now and our next house will definitely be an oopsie. And by that time I am hoping that Jamison will loosen up enough to be able to handle it. Believe it or not, he is positively MELLOW compared to when we were first dating. My husband is a delicate balance lol.

Good on you for mellowing him out. Keep working at it, that kind of thing is a stready process. As for "it's different when they're yours" yep, you can't give them back!!! ;D. Seriously though, I wouldn't bank on a miraculous change in a lifelong habit of being fussy and reactive. One look at truemomconfessions.com shows a million examples of that just not being true. Sounds like you're being active in calming him down, just don't forget that he has to learn that baby or no baby, it's not fair for you to either live in a sterile world or give up all your free time to bend over backwards so the real world never impacts his life.

 

[leadwolf1]

When a cat, who is previously litter trained, backslides, they are usually trying to tell you that something is wrong. Have the vet see him and then, start retraining him from the beginning. He is, after all, a baby. Even potty trained kids backslide when something is wrong in their world whether real or perceived.

Samson has a vet appointment today at 3. His appetite seemed to be a little improved this morning. So that is encouraging. He pooped outside of his litterbox last night. He hasn't done that in ages. Luckily I saw it before Jamison did and got it cleaned up before he could notice. This is so incredibly frusterating. He was perfectly litter trained! WTH is the deal.

 

[leadwolf1]

How did it go at the vet's?

 

[Adenium]

I've been wondering too......

 

[ChicknThief]

Good on you for mellowing him out.

Keep working at it, that kind of thing is a stready process. As for "it's different when they're yours" yep, you can't give them back!!! ;D. Seriously though, I wouldn't bank on a miraculous change in a lifelong habit of being fussy and reactive. One look at truemomconfessions.com shows a million examples of that just not being true. Sounds like you're being active in calming him down, just don't forget that he has to learn that baby or no baby, it's not fair for you to either live in a sterile world or give up all your free time to bend over backwards so the real world never impacts his life.

Very good points. He is calming down slowly. This kitten is sort of training wheels for him.

When a cat, who is previously litter trained, backslides, they are usually trying to tell you that something is wrong. Have the vet see him and then, start retraining him from the beginning. He is, after all, a baby. Even potty trained kids backslide when something is wrong in their world whether real or perceived.

I wonder if he is lonely... He does spend quite a bit of time alone during the week. Hmm.


Ok so, the vet. She said that he is a healthy weight for his age! Which means that he was positively fat last week haha. So that's good. His appetite has picked up a little too. She gave me some stuff to give him by mouth for the next couple of days. She said that if his potty habits don't improve by this weekend she will give me some antibiotics for a suspected UTI. She wanted to run a leukemia test and urinalysis, but it would have cost 160$ just for the tests. I just can't put that kind of money out right now. He is also ready for his shots. She is recommending a "kitten kit" which basically covers all of his kitten care minus the appointment fees. It's 400$ + tax. I understand that it saves money in the long run. But even if I was ok with depeleting my bank account to that extent, how on earth would I get Jamison on board with that? It just would never happen. What are your experiences with vaccine clinics? I am thinking that is probably my only option.