The Cuteness

I woke up Saturday morning at 11am and fed the boyos. Before I decided I needed more sleep (don't you judge me) I had a little photo session with the cats.


The Bot was really excited to be my first model.

Ford Models here we come!

Bilton wanted to know why I was holding a camera instead of petting him.

Bits wanted to know what the camera smelled like and if it was edible.

The Bot Is Better.

The day after we took him to the vet, he was still hanging out around his bathroom quite a bit, but the next day he seemed to be getting better. We kept giving him his medication, and it must have done the trick. Now he's back to sleeping the day away and only hitting the litter box when he needs to.

He'll still be on that special prescription food forever, but it's a small price to pay. (Actually, it's a bit expensive and the other cats try to steal it from him, but we're working out the kinks with the feeding schedules.)

It's good to see The Bot back to his old dormant self.

The Bot's Peeing Blood.

It's not as bad as it sounds, but we're worried about the little guy.

This weekend, we noticed he was making an inordinate amount of trips to the litter box area, and never spending too much time in there. We kept an eye on him, and he continued to wander in and out his bathroom. However, he did pause to crash for a few hours of uninterrupted sleep. We tried to get him into the vet Monday, but they couldn't see him until Tuesday. When he copped a squat in my office this evening (which is unheard of for the very well-behaved Bot), we made the decision to take him to the animal hospital down the street.

They took him to the back when we first got there to make sure his bladder felt normal, which it thankfully did. I was worried he had an obstruction, which would have been some serious business. (The internet's great for getting us to assume the worst, isn't it?) So they ruled that out for the time being, and we eventually took him back to see the doctor. She gave him the once-over, and while she was talking to us The Bot flopped down to the floor and squatted over a heater vent against the wall. Joy grabbed him, but not before he squirted out a little puddle of pee with some swirly red in it. The doctor didn't seem too alarmed, so that put us at ease. In fact, she needed a Bot urine sample, so she collected it off the floor. It was compromised, she explained, but they may not be able to get another one out of him. Turns out they couldn't, so they ran some tests on that one.

It seems The Bot has some type of Feline Lower Urinary Tract Disease, but we're not yet sure what form it's taking. He's been put on a special diet (that he'll have to be on for the rest of his life), been given some pain medication and antibiotics, and he was also administered some fluids to help lower the concentration of his urine.

The food's expensive, but he wolfed down a whole bowl of it as soon as we got home, so at least he likes it. Now we have to figure out if we need to separate his food from the other cats', or if we'll just have to bite the bullet and feed all of them this stuff. We also have to wait and see if he improves. Tonight, he's still in and out of the bathroom. Poor guy.

Hear Ye, Hear Ye.

The Bot has found himself a nice box to sit in, and he wants to tell you all about it.

Is It Just Me...

Or does Bilton appear to be applauding sarcastically in this photo?

In case there was any doubt, I would later find the ironing board toppled against the coffee table and its contents strewn around the surrounding area.