IS THERE A CAT DOCTOR IN THE HOUSE?

I've been nursing a sick cat the past week. Critter has a urinary tract infection. This means three trips to the vet clinic, x-ray, hydration therapy, giving her Cefa drops for 21 days, and monitoring the litter boxes. Since the Cefa drops supposedly taste nasty (I'll take the vet's word on that and not taste-test myself), I've been rewarding her after each dose with tuna water/tuna. She no longer spits and slobbers out most of the liquid med, or claws me or jumps on my shoulders, so we're making headway. Plus, she's finally able to pee without sitting in the litter box for five minutes. There for awhile, I thought I was going to have to give her a magazine to read while she waited for inspiration to hit. Poor kid.

Sweet Neighbor Girl's new kitty is also sick. Blue-eyed Leo has some sort of inner ear infection, and it's apparently not mites, so he's back at the vet clinic today. She came over at 7:30 this morning to give me the latest medical report. I was only half awake and went to the door wearing my leopard pajama bottoms, inside-out, apologizing for my morning breath. I think I was dizzier than Leo, and I know my appearance startled the poor child. Later in the day, when I was dressed decently, had my teeth and hair brushed and deodorant on, I saw Sweet Neighbor outside so I asked for a Leo update. He's still at the clinic, so she's anxiously awaiting the call to come get her baby.

Taking on a pet (or two or three) is a big responsibility and financial investment, if it's done right. Of course, Critter sort of landed in our laps by her own stroke of luck, but she is a fun housemate and we're glad she's feeling better. And we hope Leo Kitty gets back to top form, too. We cat people have to stick together--even if it's a morning wake-up call when I'm looking like something the cat dragged out of the bag.