For the past week and a half one of the cats has been marking outside of the litter boxes. This could be a sign of ill health, so I was on high alert to find out which cat was eliminating outside of them. The cat had urinated in a couple of places: various rugs and on the kitchen counter next to the sink. The first time I noticed it, the urine didn’t look right; it was a dark orange-ish color, which indicated that there was blood in the urine and that the cat was suffering from a urinary tract infection. I then fervently tried to catch the mystery cat in the act, but to no avail. Besides Bruce, the cats try to hide naughty behavior.

Several usual suspects came to mind: Tiny Pea, Pishogue, Toby, and Bruce. There are so many cats to choose from. Oh, yes, sad but true in a multi-cat household. And, my first choice was first on my list. I took a gamble, because narrowing down a sick cat out of many through the process of elimination could prove to be quite a costly venture, and decided to take Tiny Pea to the vet clinic first.
To help me decide definitively which cat to take in I called our vet clinic Wednesday morning and asked if there were any other symptoms to watch for besides bloody urine in the case of a UTI. There weren’t. Tiny Pea hadn’t been showing sighs of feeling unwell, so I had nothing to go on but a little bit of character profiling and a prayer.
An hour or so after I dropped her off at the clinic, I got a call that made both me and my bank account sigh with relief; it was Pea. She had a lot of blood in her urine. I felt so bad for her but was relieved that I had guessed correctly. Our vet found lots of nasty bacteria floating around in the sample they got from her and suggested sending out a culture to identify exactly which bug we needed to fight.
She was also given an exam, and I was told that she had lost almost a pound since her last exam, which was several years ago. She now weighs 7.5 lbs. She is tiny. Even before the weight loss, she was still the smallest cat in the HOP. Despite that, she’s a cat the rest of the cats don’t want to antagonize. She comes from a proud line of grumpy kitties. Reina, her mother, was known for her butt-kicking attitude.
Tiny Pea also drinks a lot of water. It isn’t an excessive amount, but enough that’s made me take notice. Therefore, I decided to have a blood panel done to see if there’s something more accounting for the weight loss and indulgent drinking. Fingers crossed against anything else besides a UTI. Within a day or two, tests should reveal exactly which bug she’s got and then the proper medicine can be prescribed. For now, I’m starting her on Dasuquin once a day. Juga also takes this medicine since she’s prone to UTI’s as well.
I’m so relieved that the healing can begin. Not knowing which cat was suffering was making me feel ill. One of my cats needed medical attention, and I wanted nothing more than to help it. I just can’t rest unless all my cats are healthy.
Mystery solved.