hello !

I read this group for a while already and came to like it.
You people really like cats.

I have a cat question and now I thought I might as well ask the group...
and since I feel like writing, may I also ask if I may make it long?

Lest you should disagree, I provide a summary:

Short version: do you know of a way to make your cat pee in the box with
no litter in it, so that his urin can be collected for later
ph-analysis? Ours won't do it, and would rather pee somewhere else,
which he would never do under other circumstances.

Long version:

We got our "Elvis" a year ago when my sister could no longer care for
him, when he was 10 years old. We are both vegetarians, and I eat vegan,
so we weren't too fond of the idea of having a meat eater in the house
in the beginning, but since  there was no other way, we welcomed Elvis
as he was. Then Elvis' great charm, sensitivity, sincere sweetness and
some other most winning traits made it easy for us to get used to cat
food tins.

But still, soon enough we researched about vegan cats, then got the
appropriate supplement, and began cooking for him. This didn't work too
well, and he was back to supermarket fair soon. Then many month later we
found that some friends of us have a completely vegetarian little cat,
which greatly fired our resolve to put Elvis' on a healthier (both for
him and the slaughtered animal) diet.

Which works finally! Elvis eats what I cook for him, after some
experimentation with the recipes. Chick peas with yeast powder, Vegecat
supplement and a bit of tin food just so that he doesn't feel rushed in
his transformation. This is like three month already, and Elvis
looks great, has put the weight on again that he has lost during the
first weeks (1/2 a kilo for a seven kilo cat), and eats with appetite.
Comparing to the first attempt to put him on veggie diet, this time
there was only one person cooking & caring for him, which helped a lot,
'cause we got all confused when sometimes my wife and other times I were
cooking for him. This time I have the responsibility for cooking, and my
wife for cuddling & playing.

Now for vegetarian cats there is an increased risk for urinary stones,
since all vegetarian food is less acidic than meat fair. Therefore, I
have been to the vet, to have Elvis' risk assessed. There are like 10%
percent of all cats who are more prone to urinary stones, and to make
sure that Elvis isn't one of them, I'd like to have his urin tested. Vet
suggested to make him pee in the empty litter box, which he wouldn't do.
Would rather pee on towels than in an empty box.

here are some photos of Elvis:
http://www.georgs-home.com/gallery/Elvis

Cheerio Georg