Not sure if I should switch Penny to wet food so we don't have an issue. Different wet food do Penny but wet food.

After all Harvey's troubles and what I have learned about feline nutrition, I recommend canned food over dry. Dry food has to have a certain amount of starch included in order to attain the crunchy consistency - and as obligate carnivores, cats don't need starch. And there is one nutrient that wet food has that dry just flat out does not - water. Since cats developed as small desert predators, they are designed to meet most of their hydration needs via the bodies of prey. Their thirst instinct is not strong and will not always lead them to drink enough water to keep them in optimal health.

On the other hand, crystals in the urinary tract are less perilous for female cats than they are for male cats. Due to the way the urethra narrows in its path through the penis, male cats are at much greater risk for developing blockages. One of the vets at our clinic is about my age, so has been in practice for a number of years - she told me that in all her years as a vet she has only seen one female cat with a urinary tract blockage. So while it would excellent to switch Penny to canned food, it is not the life and death decision it was when I had to switch Harvey to it.

Re: Self Care - No sister of mine I will not pick you up on the other side of the state to bring you to NC with me turning a 10 hour drive into a 13 hour drive. I am more than delighted to have you come with me, but really you have to come to me first and we'll leave from my house. I even offered a compromise of picking her up half way the day before just adding another 2-3 hours driving, on another day at least.

eta: my most excellent son said he would pick her up the day before for me.

I'm considering becoming an asshole. It's quite a career change, especially at this stage of my life, but I've thought about it a lot and it seems to offer advantages that I've not had before, including absence of guilt or shame, a feeling of personal entitlement, and the ability to demand special accommodations regardless of their impact on others. It'd really enhance my professional resume. Best of all, it's free and you get the accreditation just because you want it.

Assholes unite, or something!

Apparently the best solution is for my son to make a 5 hour round trip to pick her up and bring her here. My brother has to work that night so he can't possibly drive 2-1/2 hours in a round trip to bring her half way. Although she has at least agreed to ask him.

I'm getting my hair done. Finally putting some red highlights into my naturally dark hair, which is something I've been talking about doing for at least a decade. I'm also seeing a new hairdresser today because mine is no longer doing hair. I'm hoping she does a good job.

Laura, that is ridiculous, but that is a good son you have.

Apparently the best solution is for my son to make a 5 hour round trip to pick her up and bring her here.

Does she not drive? I don't think you mentioned that in your first post. (Because if she doesn't drive, then I would refrain from calling her utterly ridiculous. If she *does* drive, well, she gets the Utterly Ridiculous crown for the day.)

If y'all hear an explosion from the Cincinnati area in the next hour, it's just me having therapy. My Hulk rage is at an all-time high.

Yeah, she drives, but she is riding up with me to NC, then flying back home so she can't leave her car over here. It is still ridiculous. I'm hoping my brother has no hesitation to bring her half way.

She thinks it isn't a big deal for us to drive 13 hours, which would end up being 15 with stops. She says she would help driving. Still, I do not want to spend 15 hours in the car with her and the dog driving on the highway. I planned on 10 and can deal with that.

I'm getting grumpy in my old age.

ION, thoughts of sj with red highlights pleases me.

Having just gotten out of a car, after having been on a plane, the idea of extra time in a car sounds terrible.

Bob likes travel.

Photographic evidence on Facebook.