My horoscope said nothing about suddenly dropping many hundreds of dollars on vet bills.

No, not Smooch - she's fine, and owns the house a little more every day. Boris, my 14 year old cat, is currently undergoing emergency surgery for a blocked bladder.

This came on as suddenly as these things often do - he is 14 and has lost weight in the last year, but has been perky and quick and alert and purring, and demanding dinner as only he can.



Today, I found he'd peed twice in the house - one was under him as he slept, so it appears he was leaking urine. This cat is many kinds of annoying, but he just doesn't pee in the house, so I knew something bad was happening. My wonderful-and-pricey vet's office has Sunday afternoon hours, and they squeezed him in at 1 p.m., did some quick blood work, urinalysis, and a physical exam. His bladder is huge, like a water balloon, and his kidney function is all out of whack, which is probably due to the sudden blockage, or may be due to an underlying kidney disease. Oh, and he also has a heart murmur.

So, I was left with that lovely, lovely choice - do I give up on a 14 year old cat, or spend money I budgeted toward saving my own life to save his? I'm a lousy writer, because I didn't create any suspense here. I went for the surgery, because if this odd random blockage is fixed, the underlying weight loss may be due to thyroid or other things that can be managed with diet and/or medication. Cross your fingers, Internets, that he comes through the surgery - 14, heart condition, not good. And the old man likes his spot on the back of my knitting chair:



UPDATE: Boris came through his surgery and is doing fine. The vet reported that he ate like he was starving - I told her he ate that way last night, too, and ate that way every single day until today, when he went all limp and leaking. He will be in the hospital until Tuesday, when they will re-do blood tests and try to figure out whether he has an underlying kidney or thyroid problem, or both. So, I do not regret the surgery, because putting him down would have been wrong, and premature, but damn, I did not need this.