The Literature · card catalog

What we learned in a waiting room, filed properly.

Plain language. Sources at the foot of every piece. One line in each that tells you when to stop reading and call.

Cat straining, nothing coming out? Skip all of this. Call a vet or a 24-hour emergency clinic now and say, “I think my cat is blocked.” Step-by-step instructions.

Seven guides, in the order they became urgent.

Written by an owner, not a vet — so each is sourced to the veterinary literature and says, in plain type, where its usefulness ends.

Call numbers ornamental. The Library of Congress was not consulted and would decline.

Start hereSF 985 .U7 no. 1No. 1

FLUTD: Four Problems, One Name

Four problems under one name. Why male cats are the ones that die of it. The signs, in order. And the line between an appointment on Monday and the car, tonight.

Cats — Diseases. Male cats, misfortune of.

 EmergencySF 985 .U7 no. 2No. 2

Your Cat Is Blocked. Here Is the Night.

The call. The catheter. The numbers. The bill. The ride home.

Veterinary emergencies. Waiting rooms, fluorescent.

 SF 985 .U7 no. 3No. 3

The Tao of Dilution

Water is the lever. Wet food, bowls, diets, supplements.

Cats — Nutrition. Water, as policy.

 SF 985 .U7 no. 4No. 4

The Architecture of Calm

A stress disease that lives in the bladder. Boxes, pillars, silent standoffs.

Cats — Behavior. Corners, theory of.

 SF 985 .U7 no. 5No. 5

The Hermeneutics of Litter

Read the box: clumps, counts, color, location.

Litter. Interpretation, texts and otherwise.

 SF 985 .U7 no. 6No. 6

The Urinalysis, Annotated

The lab report, line by line, with marginalia.

Urine — Analysis. Crystals, overrated.

 TK 6680 .N5No. 7

The Apparatus

Camera, laptop, tunnel, email. How it works.

Surveillance, domestic. Control machines, benign.

 SF 985 .U7 no. 8Forthcoming

Not yet written.

Whatever you wish you had known first. Suggest it.

Subjects: by correspondence.

Suggested order

New to all this?

Start with FLUTD and the signs. Then reading a litter box — the one you’ll use. Read the emergency guide now, while nothing’s wrong, so the first time isn’t in a parking lot. The rest can wait for a quiet evening. Strange words: the Lexicon.

  1. I. What FLUTD is, and the signsno. 1
  2. II. How to read a litter boxno. 5
  3. III. The blocked cat, before you need itno. 2
  4. IV. Water, diet, dilutionno. 3
  5. V. Stress and the architecture of calmno. 4
  6. VI. The urinalysis, annotatedno. 6
  7. VII. The apparatus (technical, optional)no. 7
  8. Appendix. The LexiconA–W

Forthcoming

Next in the drawer.

The first week home, hour by hour. Perineal urethrostomy, for owners asked to decide. Female cats and FLUTD. Giving a cat a pill. Something you wish had been written down first? Write in.