Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Collecting urine is impossible


We got the cage up last 2 weeks.
First week was to get Poppy to acclimatise himself to the cage.


Second week was to lock Poppy inside for several hours so that he could pee into a separate kitty litter.


It was part of the plan of collecting his urine for lab tests so that we could spare the little brown one from his bi-weekly trip to the vet.
Of course, Poppy loathes it.
Who likes to go to the vet every 2 weeks to have his bladder squeezed for urine?
Poppy would kick up a big fuss. I think the vet got scared after the last time.

Putting up the cage was easy.
Lee County Clowder had suggested plastic packing peanuts.
I opted for the smaller ones where you normally use it to fill up bean bags as it sorta 'feel' like kitty sand.
Finding them was not easy.
People make bean bags but don't seem to sell the fillings.

But we finally got a bag.
And what a huge bag it was.

So, last Saturday, when Poppy ambled into his cage for a nap, I surreptitiously latched the door after him.
It didn't take long for Pops to noticed that he was caged in.
Actually, it took him less than 5 seconds.
I swear that fuzz ball has radar built in to detect locked doors.
He loves to sleep in there but the door must be wide open.


Pops gave disapproving squawks while looking at me with black beady eyes.
He sniffed at the kitty litter filled with 'snow' and pawed at it.
I had 'snow' all over my floor after 1 minute.
After that, he just sat there and auwed at me adamantly, gently, pitifully....
I swear if he could howl, he would have.

After a few hours, this pushover mummy decided that it's not gonna work.
Poppy looked too pitiful.
Actually, too smart for his own good.
Even Meowz had to come and look at Pops.
And then they started pawing at each other thru the cage.
I guess it's back to the vet this weekend.
And we just have to get a bean bag and stuff it up.
Sigh.

10 comments:

Everycat said...

Oh dear! Can you shut Poppy into one room for 24 hours with the litter tray? (feed him in there too and leave a big bowl of water as a hint) Cats can refuse to pee all day if they are really stressed, so you have to kinda hold firm. I've known one cat go over 2 days without peeing on one occasion, boy was there a flood when he finally did pee. Obviously not peeing is not going to be good for lovely Poppy.

The offer to send you some Kat-Kor still stands, email in profile, just let me know, it's no problem.

Whicky

Ellen Whyte said...

A room sounds better than a cage - but eitehr way I think Poppy is going to be furious. Isn't it a shame they won't understand we're trying to be helpful?

We're purring for you!

Just Sharlene and the Spice Cats said...

I cant imagine collecting urine from a cat either. Sesame wont even urine if its not his regular litter sand in the box!

ANGEL ABBYGRACE said...

Oh poor Poppy...
oh poor Mom!

purrs
Abby

The Island Cats said...

Oh we feel sorry for all of you! This sure isn't easy...

Cafe Cats said...

Oh noes! We has no idea how to makes a kitty pee on command. It does not sound like fun.

Good luck and lots of purrs.

Zippy, Sadie, Speedy and M'Gee said...

Poor Poppy, but it's fur his own good. Gess mommy will just hafta be a little more strong willed.

mummymeow said...

hi Whicky,
Na, won't work putting him in a room. Firstly, i only have 1 room in my apartment. I think he's too used to his litter. Once, i locked him in the cabinet by accident for a whole day, and he didn't pee at all....

Thanks for the Katkor offer again but it's ok. We reckon it won't get pass the customs anyway. so, don't want to trouble you...thanks a lot though, for your kindness.

The Lee County Clowder said...

Bummer. We sorry our suggestion didn't work. Kitties just don't like change very much, and they can be verryy determined to have things their own way.

If you can afford the time and the trip, having the V*T squeeze Poppy like an old lemon might be the only way to get urine. At least that way everyone knows it is fresh.

ppuurrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

mummymeow said...

Hi Lee,
It's ok, i love your suggestion anyway and went all out to do it. But too bad it didn't work. Sigh. I don't think anything would have worked. Poppy's really stubborn.
Anyway, thank you very much, it was a great idea.