This is my cat:
His name is Aslan, but I mainly call him Az, Az-man, Booger, Stinkie, Catface, Jazzie, etc. I adopted him as a kitten in the fall of 2005 - a few days after Lesli, my roommate at the time, adopted a kitten, a little tuxedo girl whom she named Claire. Here they are as babies:
For the first few years we took both cats to Dr. Jordan, a warm, experienced, soft-spoken vet with the largest hands I have ever seen. The clinic was a grand total of 1.3 miles from our apartment, but let me tell you - driving even that distance with Aslan in the carrier could be classified as cruel and unusual punishment. FOR ME. The sounds coming from that little fur-ball were like nothing you've ever heard.
Two moves later, Dr. Jordan's office is WAYYYY too far to take Aslan for an appointment, even on the weekends without traffic. But I'll come back to that in a minute.
Aslan is now the sole animal of the house, and he has us all wrapped around his not-so-little paws. Even Dave, who likes to pretend that he and Az don't get along, has been known to have a snuggle session with Aslan when he thinks nobody's watching. When we moved from the Castle to the Manor Aslan emerged from his hiding place in just a few hours (as opposed to days after the last move). I think he enjoys having multiple housemates (especially ones that let him drink out of their glasses - HIS BEST THING EVER IN LIFE) and many rooms to run around in.
Over the last few weeks Aslan has developed the unfortunate behavior of peeing just outside his litter box. If you're a cat person I know what you're thinking: yes, there is a cover on his box, but he's had a cover over his box since I first brought him home and it hasn't been a problem thus far. And also, no, I don't buy the same brand of litter each time, but again, I've been doing this for the 6.5 years I've had him and it's never been an issue. Because nothing I was doing (trying to play with him more, buying him new toys, cleaning the litter box better & more frequently, etc.) was helping, I decided before I left for Cleveland that I would take him to the vet this coming weekend. But when I woke up this morning to find his 3rd accident in 24 hours, I decided to call the vet that Google Maps told me was the closest to my house, and they said to bring him in right away.
So out came the carrier and the adventure began. The following two hours consisted mainly of excessive shedding on Aslan's part, excessive sweating on my part, lots of surprisingly calm dogs in the waiting area, an exam by a lovely vet named Dr. Thorrens that included a urine test, 5 minutes of the loudest meowing you've ever heard each way in the car, and a $240 bill. End result? He probably (though not definitely) has a urinary tract infection.
The good news: part of the prescribed treatment is to feed him a special wet food mixed with antibiotics. To Aslan wet food is basically crack (but considering how much this special wet food cost me, crack might have been cheaper). At least I know I won't have any problems getting him to take it.
Dr. Thorrens said to give him the meds twice a day for a week. Hopefully they'll help, but I'm supposed to check back in with her either way. Keep your fingers crossed - I really don't want to have to bring him back in!!
