There haven’t been any posts recently because I was having a wonderful time visiting my parents. ( It’s amazing how much you can knit, sew, and do in general when you don’t have to go to work. I wish I could make a living without working…) And this time the dog and cat seemed to have sorted things out between them. They still aren’t playing together or curling up together for a nice mid-afternoon nap, but they will happily watch the other play or nap, which is a major improvement.

Unfortunately, my cat’s bladder doesn’t understand that visiting isn’t too stressful anymore. Poor stupid, stubborn Pippin refuses to pee for days on end (two days, to be precise) every time we travel. This freaks me out because boy cats can develop nasty bladder issues if they don’t pee. But Pippin’s bladder isn’t interested in prophylactic measures like peeing, even if such simple measures could save Pippin’s life.

What’s even more puzzling is that Pippin does everything else normally. He plays, eats, drinks, purrs… everything but pee.

Last night it came to a head (or a tail, as the case may be). He was crouching rather than sitting, to avoid pressing on his bladder, and I was trying every trick in the book to make him think with fondness of his litter box. I added quite a lot of water to his favorite canned food, I placed great vats of water in strategic locations throughout the house (he loves playing in vats of water), and I even tried running a trickle of water in the sink for an hour or so, all to no avail. Just before bed I doused his rear in water so that he’d not only have to take in water in order to clean himself off, but he’d also have to lick his poor round bladder and hopefully remind it of its proper function. Yes, I’m devious, and I was desperate.

He finally succumbed in the wee hours this morning (sorry… I couldn’t resist). But I called the vet anyway and found out that he probably doesn’t drink enough while he’s stressed, so I should “do whatever I can to encourage him to take in fluids.” Check. And I should only become really worried if he tries to go and can’t. That’s when he’s actually sick. When he just doesn’t even try to go it’s because he’s not taking in enough to need to pee in the first place.

So the next time I travel, I’ll feed him canned food with added water, give him chicken broth to drink, and even resort to getting him wet if I have to. No matter what his bladder thinks about the issue, I WILL get him to pee.