Just over a week ago (Friday, December 14), we brought Kai to our vet because he was obviously not feeling well. He didn’t want to go out for his early-morning walk, and he didn’t want to eat his breakfast — and when he finally did go out, he appeared to have trouble urinating. The vet kept him all day and finally arranged for us to take him to the emergency room at UC Davis veterinary hospital that evening.

Our obvious concern was that it might be a recurrence of his cancer, but it turned out that he had pneumonia. He stayed at Davis four nights, and we picked him up Tuesday afternoon. He’s responding well to antibiotics and he’s returning to his normal energy and good spirits.

The urinary problem appears to be unrelated, and is still something of a mystery. X-rays and ultrasound have pretty much ruled out obstruction. The doctors think it may be neurological. He’s on a medication to relax his urethra. If it’s still a problem after his pneumonia clears up, we’ll pursue it then.