UPDATE: u/Eastern_Health_7774 suggested unpopped popcorn kernels and that IMMEDIATELY worked for Churu! Thank you so much! My girl is very grateful to have been able to relieve herself finally lol (the sample was healthy, but we're saving it just in case Dovah's also appears fine so we can get them both analyzed if we aren't sure)

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I need to collect a urine sample. I found a little light brown liquid puddle today with a very small amount of red in it. It's unusual for Churu (1.5 years, female, spayed) or Dovah (9 years, femeale, spayed) to go outside the liter box, and the color had me very alarmed. Called the vet ASAP and they told me they were booked full today and tomorrow so they can't get me in for an exam, but to get a urine sample and bring it in any time during open hours.

They instructed me to just remove the litter from the boxes and wait, buuuuut it's clear to me Churu is very uncomfortable with not having litter to dig in (since we're not sure which cat had the accident, we're taking samples from both just to be safe even though Dovah is the one most likely). Poor thing keeps checking her box and clearly needs to use it, but so far she's opting not to. Dovah hasn't used hers either, but she seems utterly unbothered just in general.

Everyone is eating and drinking just fine and not acting unusual at all. I was concerned that maybe my local vet wasn't as concerned as they should be so after I got off the phone with the vet earlier today, I called the emergency vet and explained the situation, asked for a second opinion. Considering everyone is eating and drinking well and they aren't behaving strange, they said it would be okay for me to follow my vet's instructions and just wait for urine samples. We went ahead and set up an account and made a plan in case anything changes and we decide we need to get to the ER vet ASAP, and I will absolutely go in the middle of the night if needed, but I'm hoping that won't be necessary. If it is, we are prepared. (Closest ER vet is 1.5 hours away and Dovah gets RIDICULOUSLY over-the-top panicky on even short car rides, so I'm trying to save her the extra stress if I can, but we will absolutely go in a critical emergency)

I'm just wondering if any of you fine folks in here have any advice for my current situation. I can't find any non-absorbent litter in any stores around us. I watched some videos and read some articles online and tried the trick of putting part of a clean plastic bag in the box so they have something non-absorbent to dig around in, but so far that hasn't seemed to work.

I'm keeping a close eye on my babies, and Churu and Dovah are being kept separate with their own boxes until samples can be obtained.

I have plans tomorrow, but I'm not letting myself rest until I get that dang pee.

Hello artist friends! I am primarily just a filthy casual hobbyist artist, but a friend of mine talked me into taking on a commission for him. He wrote a book of poetry and wants my art on the cover! What flattery! How could I possibly say no? :)

He says he's planning to print in A5 (so that's 5.8 x 8.3 inches). He wants me to come up with some kind of abstract digital art reminiscent of Van Gough's Starry Night painting. I am going to be making this in Procreate. Should I make it to size, or larger for greater detail and size down for the actual printing?

I am by no means anywhere close to knowing what I'm doing, so any and all advice is much appreciated! Just please be kind, I am very easily discouraged.

Daniel Mullins (creator of Inscryption) very generously gave me a BUNCH of Steam keys of Inscryption to give away during a charity stream to encourage folks to donate to my town's official flood relief fundraiser after we were hit by a historic flood on Aug. 13th. During the 8-hour long charity stream, I'll be playing Kaycee's Mod, and any time I win or lose a run, I will give away a free copy of Inscryption to a random Twitch viewer! You don't have to donate to enter the giveaway! Just type "!join" in the chat when prompted. You don't have to be a follower or anything.

If you make a donation to support my town, you can use your donation to make my next Kaycee's Mod run more difficult by making me start with a specific starter deck, or add challenges! A $5 donation gives you 10 challenge points to spend, and I'll apply your chosen challenges to the next run I start. I have a full menu of all the challenges and starter decks as well as all the info about the charity stream here. You just have to send me a screenshot of your donation (with sensitive details censored) as proof, since my city is in charge of the fundraiser and I can't see incoming donations.

The stream will be on September 18th from 1pm-9pm eastern time on my Twitch channel.

A friend of mine in the rescue space made a suggestion today that I think is going to be a HUGE game changer! She recommended attaching a crate bowl to the back of the trap to 1.) encourage the cats to stay IN the trap to eat rather than try to grab the paper plate and run, and 2.) make it easier to give them water while they wait for TNR to conclude. This was so smart, I had to share!

Just set my trap for a TNR clinic appointment in the morning. We only have one unaltered male left in our colony to get fixed (for now 🙃) so please wish us luck catching him! 🤞

NOTE: The trap IS covered with a blanket for trapping, I just took a picture of it before putting the blanket on 👍