Pee Wee Herman Sashi

This is my cat, Sashi - short for Great Warrior Musashi (my son, Ben named him).

Yesterday I got up in the morning fully planning to go to the gym, (really) but I noticed he wasn't acting quite right. Sashi and I spend a lot of time together, so I know his habits pretty well, and I observed he was having a bit of tough time peeing. Yes, this is what my life has been reduced to - knowing when my cat does or does not pee.

Knowing that male cats can develop urinary obstructions, I called the vet and took him down right away. Well, that's over-simplifying the getting him there process. Most cats somehow develop super-feline strength when faced with being shoved in a box that they instinctively know isn't going anywhere good. Luckily my vet isn't far, so the screeching express was relatively short.

The vet whisked him off, felt his belly and determined that he didn't have an obstruction, but they wanted to keep him for the day to get a urine sample from him. I'm no vet tech, but I knew this was more involved than asking him to pee in a cup. Hours later I called and they'd had no luck, but were sending him home with antibiotics and a new expensive food.

When I got there they informed me that I was going to need to get a sample from Sashi, and they gave me a product called "Nosorb" -black pellets that I use, well, the CAT uses instead of litter. I then have to, within 30 minutes, rush said sample to the vet's office. I cannot even begin to imagine how I will get him to do this. Or how I will then, like a pilot rushing a heart in a cooler to be transplanted, zoom there with my vial of cat urine.

I haven't attempted the urine catch yet, but I have managed to get a pill down the cat's gullet, so I have accomplished one task. I have no idea how I will fool him into peeing on something that he will clearly know is not his litter. This is a cat who, if I forget to scoop his litter that day will take a plastic bag and put it in the box to remind me. He's no dummy.

This is probably a good way to keep me humble and remember that Sashi does indeed seem to be the boss. Yesterday, while waiting to go pick him up I did two interviews - one with a Boston entertainment reporter, and one with Dr. Bernie Siegel. If for one minute I got feeling like this is pretty cool what I get to do for work, and aren't I kind of special,wrestling with my cat to take a pill and making my day about collecting his urine sure put me in my place.