a larry update

so, larry is having a little bit of trouble. he's lovable and snuggly and cute and very smart, but something's up with his metabolism... and his... junk.

remember when YB first adopted him, and i said his pee STIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINKS? well, it still does. i mean, it's eye-wateringly strong, and smells like the pee of an unneutered cat. more worrisome is how much he drinks and pees -- cats aren't big drinkers, and a normal pee schedule would be once or twice a day.

larry drinks water ALL the time, and pees five times a day. that, for a cat, is excessive and can be the sign of diabetes or, worse, kidney damage.

and trix was, rightfully, getting increasingly worried. so, she took him back to the vet for another once-over and brought along a small sample of his clumped litter (so the vet could assess the smell of the pee).

well.

the vet took one whiff and said that it definitely smells like larry hasn't been neutered. testosterone is what causes the extreme pungency of male-cat urine -- get rid of the testicles, the smell goes away. thing is, larry has no visible testicles... which could mean they never descended and are tucked somewhere inside. or, less likely, it could mean he's the victim of an incomplete neutering and somewhere there's a tiny piece of tissue still producing enough testosterone to cause the stink. they shaved a small patch of his nether regions to look for an incision scar but couldn't find one.

back to the pee stink: the vet said the smell was so strong that he couldn't take it, so he asked one of the assistants to remove the BAGGED sample clump from the exam room. that's how intense it is. did i mention that YB is unable to smell skunks? so, to her, larry's pee "isn't that bad." :-|

anyway, the vet took blood and urine samples, and larry's being tested for all manner of conditions. it's sad, though, because trix is now so worried that she doesn't want to get too attached to larry (too late for that, i think) in case he's got something seriously wrong. she doesn't want to buy too much food or too many more accessories, because she doesn't want to jinx his prognosis. the kidney damage is the biggest concern -- that's irreversible and, ultimately, expensive and terminal.

best case scenario: an ultrasound will reveal larry's hidden junk, which can be easily removed. his metabolism slows down to normal, the pee smell becomes normal and he and YB live happily ever after for the next 20 years. in the meantime, larry continues to be stinky but insanely cute.