1,000 (Green) Origami Cranes (XVI)

I scheduled an appointment for Skoda for her Urinalysis and her first X-ray of her abdominal area yesterday, 20 June. The Urinalysis is now done once in every two months, while the X-ray will be done half-yearly.

In the morning itself, I had to coax and wait for Her Royal Highness to pass urine so that I could collect a sample for the Urinalysis. We kept the litter trays from her when we went to bed. Usually once we "release" the litter tray, she'd get in and pass urine quite quickly. This time, Skoda walked here and there, sat down and peeked under the door and repeated this routine for like 20 minutes. She sniffed at the litter box, dug a little but stopped at urinating. We had to move her to another room, we waited some more for her to pass urine but still she didn't do so.

Here I was, waiting anxiously for Skoda to pass urine. There she was, completely nonchalant...

Grimlock brought Skoda to the veterinary clinic (I couldn't make it for the morning). We didn't manage to harvest a sample of her urine so a Cystocentesis was done on her. Small black specks had been surfacing in one of her ears quite often recently so she had a ear mite test done too. We put her on a fast the day before, lest they couldn't restrain her and need to sedate her for the X-ray to be carried out. She was cooperative so they didn't need to sedate her. Grimlock brought her home after the tests were done (she was the only cat and there were four other dogs). I didn't want to miss this important review so we returned together to the clinic in the afternoon for the consultation.

Grimlock was stroking Skoda when they got home and noticed she was shredding quite a bit so he brushed her. Look at the amount of loose fur. The morning must had been an adventure for her...

The Cystocentesis yielded her best urinary results so far. There were no cystals in her urine (yay!) and most of the indicators came down (hurray!) except that her urine is still concentrated (USG>1.050). From the X-ray, her bladder (no signs of uroliths) and kidney are looking fine. A small substance showed up though in her intestines - Dr K said she probably swallowed something hard but told us she would be able to pass it out. In addition, her ear was clear of ear mites.

Dr K updated us on Skoda's weight, ie 6.5kg (she maintained her weight). He stopped short of saying she is overweight but we got the drift. They will track her weight in her future visits. I've coined a new nick for her, Sumo Skoda :)

In the past two months, we've been feeding her Waltham feline urinary S/O kibbles and Prescription Hill's C/D wet food. We didn't do anything extra or differently so her urinalysis results were a pleasant surprise. Now the challenge is to maintain/keep the indicators down, and the crystals at bay. If her next Urinalysis yield similar results, the Urinalysis frequency can be reduced to once in every four or six months. Her next Urinalysis will be in one to two months' time. Fingers crossed...