Kitty health

I have been lucky that Barley and Hops have been so healthy their whole nine years of life.  Trips to the vet have been minimal and that's just the way I like it

On Wednesday evening when I noticed that Barley was trying to pee anywhere and everywhere in the house and having very little success and a lot of pain, I knew we were headed to the vet for help. They were busy at the vet and but said I could drop Barley off and they would look at her in between appointments which was very fine with me. Eventually the vet called to give me her idea of a  treatment plan.

Well I'm no vet, but I know what the symptoms are for a urinary tract infection and I know what's in my checking account. So we had a conversation about what needed to be done versus what she would like to have me do. In the end we settled on a minimal treatment plan which included a urinalysis and medication.
Normally, the vet gives you the medications you need however this time they were out of amoxicillin. So they called the prescription in to Walgreens for me. It was a source of confusion at Walgreens as, if you can imagine this, Barley was not in their prescription system. So she had to be registered as a new customer complete with HIPAA consent forms. But the Walgreens people were very helpful, maybe a little amused, and I got the drugs without much drama.

This morning at about 4 a.m. I managed to get the second dose of antibiotic down Barley's throat along with a dose of pain medication. She should be resting most of the day with the medicine on board after that day filled with anxiety yesterday. 

I don't think cats like stress anymore than humans.

From what I have heard, most cats start responding to the antibiotics within a short period of time so I'm hoping by this evening Barley will be feeling better and peeing better and then we'll have two weeks of fun, with twice a day dosing of liquid medication. I have a pretty good system of wrapping her up like a burrito but it is still a fight to the finish.

The Vet also suggested I switch the cats from a mostly dry cat food diet to a mostly wet cat food diet, something the kitties will love. Of course I'm also to feed only certain brands which are lower in phosphates to help their kidney function as they age. So the hunt is on for the right cat food with the right consistency, as the cats are a little picky.

I'll be really happy to see Barley acting like her old self and I'll be doing the dance of joy when I have given her the last dose of the medicine 2 weeks from today. In the meantime, I'll be sticking closer to home then usual to keep an eye on her and make sure that she doesn't need further testing or other diagnostic procedures and that her diagnosis is really UTI as I currently am believing.