My poor baby Quinn

If you don't know me, you could easily take a look at my "family" picture and get a sense that I love animals. I have a doggy bakery business, volunteer and support local rescue organizations and treat my doggies and kitties like my children. They also go to grandma and grandpa's to get spoiled just like grandchildren.

Unfortunately, a couple weeks ago, Eric and I had been noticing our eldest, Quinn, peeing out of the litter box. We've had her since November of 2005, and she's never done this before. We were thinking maybe it's behavioral because we did get another cat and there is only one litter box, but then again - we got Gizmo (our youngest) in August of 2008. Long enough for them to have adjusted to each other.

She kept peeing on plastic bags (thank goodness it wasn't on our new carpets!), and then noticed there was blood in her urine. We immediately took her to the vet. Dr. Williams (who is the best vet in the world, by the way) put her on an antibiotic immediately and we had to wait to do a urinalysis the next day (Quinn of course didn't need to pee and it was 5 in the evening at this point). Two weeks ago, she went in for her urinalysis and they didn't see any crystals, but did notice a lot of blood. Because the first set of antibiotics was in a shot form, we didn't have to do much but come back in two weeks. Well, today was follow up time and they noticed blood still in her urine. She's done another urinalysis (which we get the results for tomorrow) and they took an x-ray to see if they could see any crystals (which they didn't - so praying the urinalysis comes back with no signs of crytals) and she has been given oral antibiotics to try (yikes - wish me luck on that!). So now, just have to wait it out again.

Growing up, I never had cats. My brothers are allergic. When Eric and I moved in together, our first "child" was Quinn. He had grown up with cats so he's much more of a pro at this. I decided to do some research. I found this site which was really really good and informative - http://www.uvma.org/cats/urinary-problems.htm. Now, crystals are almost like kidney stones in humans. If not treated or taken care of, they can cause a blockage which can be lethal. Click on the link and learn more, especially if you have a kitty or few in your home.

Lesson of the day - your pets are part of your family too. Make sure they get regular check ups and are up to date on their vaccinations. If there's anything that seems wrong or inconsistent with their normal behavior, call your vet!! It may just save their life!!