The adventures of Diana and the plastic litter

Okay, it's been awhile since we've posted anything new. It's not that there's been nothing going on, but that we've been too busy to post.

For example, for the past week we've been trying to get a urine sample from Diana. Note that as a cat, Diana doesn't understand "Could you just pee in this cup, please?" This has led to any number of "situations" that would be hilarious if they were on TV and not so funny when you're actually there...trying to, say, slide a bit of foil under a cat's butt while she urinates. Uh yeah. Funny to picture someone else doing. Not so funny to be the person (or to smell it).

Long story short (and edited for the non-bodily-fluid-lovers out there)...Diana had symptoms of bad, possibly life threatening and very expensive UT problems. The vet tech explains to me in small words how one gets a cat's urine sample. This consists of locking the cat in a room with NO textiles (she'll use the towels/sofa/clothes/whatever instead of the box) with a litter box filled with plastic pellets. Diana is a skittish cat. Plastic pellets make loudish noises. This was NEVER going to work. Every time, bless her heart, she TRIED to think about using the plastic pellet filled box...she put one paw in and scared herself with the noise of them rolling around. After days of this very pitiful, locked in the bathroom existence and still no usable sample, we broke down and bought aquarium rocks. It feels more like litter and it's still nonabsorbant. Here's the thing. You have to wash it. And dry it. And then be ready to strain it the instant it gets used. UGH. I washed aquarium litter. I think I'm going to put that on my resume. And, after all this hooplah...she's just fine. Apparently we just needed to change cat litter brands. Go figure.