Apparently Tiny needs to take a Valium now and again. He is a little on the high strung side.
We knew that he liked us, and people in general, of course, and I've written about how ecstatic he was when we got home from our Christmas trip. However, shortly after we got home, we noticed he was acting funny, going into the litter box probably no less than a couple of hundred times a day (I'm basing this on the fact that in the course of my getting ready for work one morning, he went in about 20 times).
I was concerned that he had an infection and after 3 days I finally convinced Jason that maybe something was wrong. Then Jason did some research and found out how bad it could be and completely freaked out. I promised to find a vet first thing in the morning.
Then next day, I called an animal hospital and Jason took Tiny in. The vet said that it's hard to tell what causes these problems, but the good news was, he didn't have a blockage. It could either be caused by an infection or some sort of anxiety.
So we started giving Tiny an antibiotic, but he started getting better almost immediately and we figure it was probably anxiety because we were gone for so long. Yes, our cat has anxiety issues. I don't know what we're going to do the next time we go on a trip. We may have to hire one of Jason's undergrads to come catsit.
In a slightly related note, Tiny now adores the cat carrier. Jason brought it up from the basement to take Tiny to the vet and it has been sitting in the dining room waiting to be taken back downstairs for the past week. Tiny has now adopted the carrier as his favorite place ever. If he's not sitting on one of us, we know when we go into the dining room we'll see his yellow eyes peering out from the carrier.*
* Apparently it embarrasses Jason when I tell Tiny stories because it makes it sound like I think he's our kid or something. So feel free to skip the Tiny stories. Frankly, I think he's entertaining (and I am willing to listen to other peoples' pet and/or children stories). And besides, if there's one person in our house who would be completely devastated if anything happened to Tiny, it would be Jason.
7 comments:
animals are funny. Our big dog is the same way. When we leave he gets all stressed out. We finally brought the huge dog kennel up from the basement and put it in the spare room. He goes into it gladly when we leave the house and just hangs out there however long it takes us to get back. And this way he doesn't eat all the stuff that's sitting around on the table or counters. I never thought a dog could be that neurotic!
You can tell Jason that this fellow blogger loves your Tiny stories. Of course, it's probably because I write lots of Greta stories.
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On a related note, we have a very high strung dog. She gets very nervous about, oh, everything. Swiffer, grocery bags, sock puppets. There's nothing like terrifying a 45-pound dog with a sock on your hand. But hey, she provides endless entertainment. Kind of like a baby. Except no one takes you to jail if you leave her home alone all day.
Awww My kitty cat, Emmy aka Monkey Butt *as the vet so lovingly named her*
When I started nursing school, Emmy freaked out and started losing her fur. After taking her to the vet a few times, they figured out that she has anxiety. They wanted to put her on valium...but decided against it. She is a lot better now and only loses her fur when 'change' is happening.
I hope Tiny is doing better!
Heh, I like zany cat stories. Mogget loves to sleep in his cat carrier too (but heaven forbid I try to shut him in it and take him somewhere).
My old roommate's cat was actually on cat Prozac for awhile. Sadly, it did not approve her personality.
I like your Tiny stories. Cats are great, and he's adorable. I have heard anxiety is not just a 'human' condition...poor Tiny.
I guess there are a lot more high-strung animals than I thought. Maybe they're getting more stressed out with these crazy modern times, just like the rest of us. :)
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