Sandra Larson’s Blog

She Peed!
By Donna

I’ve had many a lesson from my numerous sweet cats over the years but this one really takes the cake. And it taught me a very large and valuable lesson.

Our sweet cat, Calia has only been with us for 10 months. We adopted her as a stray and she had been bounced around to numerous foster homes for several months and then flown across the country from CA to NY. So needless to say, she had been through a lot before she came to us.
We noticed right away that she was an extra sensitive kitty and did all we could to make her comfortable in her new home with us. After months of her still being extremely shy and tense I decided it was time to enlist Sandra’s help.

After one session there was a noticeable change in her behaviour within hours. She began to relax around my husband much more. He travels out of town every week for work Monday through Thursday and sweet Calia was confused by this. She didn’t realize he lived here and was her new human dad. Sandra cleared that up for us along with a few other things and gave us some tips to help with the transition of him coming home each Thursday night.

I must add that I am a practicing holistic healthcare consultant myself and so I’m very sensitive to subtle energies the psychological dynamics of wellness. Yet I had not been able to help Calia with her stress level and trust issues prior to consulting Sandra. I am a firm believer in having other practitioners offer their expertise and support as needed. We all need an objective opinion and fresh eyes sometimes. And my speciality is people not pets.

This particular incident with Calia happened recently. My husband and I went away for a week’s vacation and left her in our home under the care of a pet sitter. We met the sitter ahead of time and also checked several references she provided us which were all glowing. All seemed in order so off we went for a much needed vacation.

When we arrived home I was greeted by a strong ordor of rotting food in the kitchen and no heat at all in the house. Our petsitter had thrown out leftover cat food but never emptied the garbage all week. Or put the catfood cans in the recycle bin outsied, even though she had asked and been shown where both were located. Yuck! Oh well, I thought, I have a very sensitive sense of smell and maybe I was over reacting. She had atleast rinsed out the cans.

The heat was a big mystery as we had just had the furnace serviced for the winter right before leaving. And she had not called us to inquire why the house was so cold. I thought perhaps the heat only went out the last day and thus she had not noticed. After fumigating the house with sage and finally opening windows, when we discovered it was actually warmer outside than inside our house, I got rid of the rotting cat food smell.

Then it hit me- Why was there so much food being thrown away? The petsitter had assured me over the phone both times I called to check in that Calia was eating fine. Plus our cat always has a good appetite and rarely leaves food in her bowl. I looked at all the large empty cans of catfood the sitter had gone through, recalling how I had left her 3 or 4 extra cans on the counter for variety should our puss turn finicky in our absense. They were all gone! She had fed her a large 14 ounce can every day. Now I was pissed! I had specifically told her and shown her exactly how much food to give Calia AND I had left her a detailed note with all instructions written down. Plus this woman assured me that she had extensive experience as a vet tech. Now I ask you, what 8 pound house cat eats a 14 ounce can of cat food every day??

We had had such a wonderful vacation and such a long trip home that I was determined to just let all this go and be grateful that our cat was safe and sound, as was our home, and just be grateful. So that is what I did. We had a lovely rest of the weekend and Calia seemed fine and extremely happy to have us home. I did notice that she did not eat much for the first two days but considering how over fed she had been all week this was not surprising.

Sunday night I scooped her catpan and all was normal. She had both peed and pooped as usual.
End of the day Monday I scooped again and it was completely clean, untouched. How odd, I thought. Then I remembered that early that morning she had vomited up all her breakfast, something she had never done before. My concern grew a bit but I figured she was just getting her rhythmns reaquainted with ours and her nerves settled from being left alone in the house for a full week for the first time.

Tuesday morning I checked her box first thing and still nothing. Now I began to worry. Is she sick? Why is she not even urinating? Mommy panic began to creep in. Since her cat pan is in an extra bathroom on our top floor I had the idea to have my morning “constitutional” in there for a change to try to encourage her to do the same. She strolled in, took one whiff and hopped in her box. Great, I thought, problem solved. But it was poop and no pee. The day went by and still no pee. I checked around the house but she had not gone anywhere else and never has before. Like most cats she is extremely clean with her litter box and grooming.

Finally I couldn’t take it any longer and had to call Sandra for help. I just could not figure out what the problem was. Our session began with me telling Sandra my whole tale of whoa and asking if she had time to speak to Calia for me. One of Sandra’s first comments was that the phrase “Pissed off” kept echoing in her ear. Did I ever use this phrase? Well…yes, I do, sometimes. We both wondered what this meant for sweet Calia. Was she pissed off? Or worried that I was pissed off? Or was she suffering from a urinary infection of some kind?

We hung up and Sandra said she would call back in a few minutes to do a quick chat with Calia. I went upstairs to find her and sat down on the floor in the sunshine with her to wait and meditate on all that had transpired. I asked myself- What am I pissed off about??? After a few minutes it came to me like a lightbulb- I’m pissed at the catsitter, of course! How could she have been so negligent when she came so highly recommended? And should I confront her now, days after the fact or just let it go and find someone else for next time? She still has my house key so do I ask her for it back? But could this really be related to why Calia was holding in her urine?

I decided to wait to tell Sandra this and let Calia speak first. Her opening comment was how much she had missed me while I was away and how glad she was that I was home. “Ask her about the petsitter, would you please?” So Sandra did and Calia responded that she was very nice to her. Then we asked why she wouldn’t wet in her box. No response….This is when I decided to share with Sandra about the several incidents I’d had with the sitter. Together we concluded that this could certainly be related and that Calia was most likely mirroring to me my own “pissed off” feelings. Sandra suggested drinking lots of water myself for the rest of the day and seeing what happened. If still no pee by tomorrow then off to the vet we would go.

I hung up the phone and headed up to urinate in the top floor bathroom to encourage my sweet and sensitve cat to do the same. Then I refreshed my water bottle, added some lemon, and went out for a late lunch and a walk. While I was out I took some more of Sandra’s advice. I sent forgiveness to our petsitter. I realized that this woman had shown me signs from our first conversation of being a little too busy and over extended and more of a dog person than a cat person. But I trusted her anyway and felt I didn’t have many other choices of sitters to hire. I empathisized with how demanding it must be traveling around caring for other people’s animals all the time, seven days a week for not much pay. I forgave her and I blessed her. Then I forgave myself for not trusting my vibes. Next time will be different for me and for Calia, I vowed.

When I returned two hours later, Voila! She peed! Donna