Crystal clear

It was 2:45 a.m. when Dionne woke us up this morning, yipping urgently. Steve has been princely at such times, and once again he hauled himself out of bed, leashed her, hustled her out into the cold and watched her pee. We both felt appalled.  She usually sleeps from around 10 to 5 or 6 a.m. This aberration made me worry that I probably should do what Dr. Shatila told me to do last week -- namely bring her back for a follow-up urinalysis. Maybe there really was something wrong with her, I fretted as I tossed and turned, trying to get back to sleep. Maybe the high acidity and struvite crystals that he saw in her urine last week were irritating her so much it awakened her. So first thing this morning, I made an appointment to bring her back for the recheck.

Forty-four dollars poorer, I can report that Dionne's pee was clearer than springwater. No microscopic crystals of any sort. A pH level of 6.5 -- which the vet says is exactly what it should be.

This still leaves the question of why she chose to wake us up in the middle of the night. Our explanation du jour: she's still a baby, and they're not perfectly consistent.