Kiki's Sick Too!

I discovered that one of our cats, Kiki, had a urinary tract infection so I took her to the vet. Because she's so overweight, the vet wanted to test her for diabetes and do a urine test for kidney stones.  After a blood test and antibiotic injection, the vet sent me home with this small, small container of No-Sorb litter which I was supposed to put in a litter box so that I could collect a urine sample and bring it to the vet.  She said I should isolate Kiki from Crystal (our other cat) by putting her in a separate room until she used the new litterbox.  I took one look at the vet and said, "Are you kidding?"  She assured me this was how it was done, that it was no big deal, and that cats have no problem using this "litter", and I said again, "Are you kidding?"  So I go to pet store, buy a new litter box, scatter the handful of No-Sorb pellets in the box, shut Kiki in Raine's room and wait.  Until about five minutes later when Raine and her friend accidentally let her out of the room.  About five days later and much hair-pulling, Kiki still hadn't used the litter box (big surprise) so I had to take her back to the vet, where she spent the day, so they could get the sample.  

Thankfully, she didn't have diabetes or kidney stones.  However, the ph level of urine was way, way off and the vet thinks this was caused by the food I was giving her, the food by Dr. Weil that I drove all the way to Whole Foods for because it was supposed to be wholesome and healthy.  So now I have to feed her Hills brand prescription cat food at $40+ for an 8.5 lb. bag.  I also have to bring her back to the vet for a follow visit and urine sample in a couple of weeks.  When all is said and done this ordeal will have run me about $600.  I am now looking into pet insurance because I can't imagine what something more serious would cost.  One that looks promising is Embrace at www.embrace.com.  The vet also gave me some information for insurance from Purina at www.purinacare.com.