My male cat Mak(elani) has been acting funny lately. More funny than usual, anyway. In the morning, he's more plaintive than typical, following me around as soon as I wake and crying at me more incessantly than normal. He's also been going in and out of the litter box excessively. I wouldn't even know about the litter box except that Mak hasn't quite figured out what to do when he's finished his business in the box. Instead of burying his waste, he scratches around at everything in site but the litter. He's always done this, just not 10 times a day.

The crying doesn't worry me so much as this litter box business. If he has an infection or worse, some kind of kidney crystal or stone, that's bad news. Today I got worried enough to take him down to the Vet. Now, Mak is a nervous cat at the best of times. In the car, inside of the pet taxi, with his sister Fil, who's a rock, he freaked. He was going crazy all the way on the short ride to the vet's office. Inside, he calmed down a little, but there were dogs in the office and really didn't enjoy that. It was all I could to keep him calm.

We waited inside the exam room for the vet. I let him walk around so he could get comfortable. He tried to jump up on the desk, but lost his footing and fell spectacularly, and very uncatlike back the floor. The vet came in, asked me a bunch of questions, weighed him, took some notes and came back with an estimate for a urinalysis and and urine culture, plus some other things that ran to 342 bucks. That's 3-4-2. Not to cure him, mind you, just to find out what might be wrong.

I was dumbfounded. I hadn't spent that much on my own health in the past years. Granted I had really good insurance with the Peace Corps and Electronic Arts, while Mak is one of many Americans without coverage (ok, so he's not American. Fine). I didn't know what to do.

On the one hand I want nothing more than the best of health for my cats. On the other hand, that's a shit load of money just for some tests that I would probably hesitate to have run on myself. I thought about it for a long time. He wasn't crying. I probed around his nether regions. Nothing. There hasn't been any blood in the litter box. That would have worried me. I guessed (hoped) it was just an infection, paid for the antibiotics and left, feeling a little guilty, but knowing that if drugs don't work, or if Mak exhibits any further problems, I can always take him back to the vet when I am more financially stable than I am at the moment.

Be strong, Makkie!