So when Kasia, the youngest of our cats, started peeing in inappropriate places (ie pretty much anywhere she felt like it) we took her to the vet. The initial diagnosis was cystitis, and we got medication for that which seemed to work. And then she started doing it again, and this time there was a certain amount of blood involved. So we took her to the vet again, a bladder stone was diagnosed, and today she went under the knife.
She came through the op fine, and at the moment she's lying downstairs, still a bit groggy and postoperative from the anaesthetic and the medications and probably a bit sore and almost certainly mildly pissed off at us. We've been through this before. Dougal had a stone (it seems Persians are prone to them, though Kuron has never had one - what we had with him was an ulcerated eyelid when we got him, due to his previous owner not cleaning his eyes often enough, a fatty tumour on his back and a condition called megacolon. Google it; I'm not going to gross you out myself) and he was a different cat after it was removed. And no, Thog, he was not literally a different cat - I know how your mind works. The difference with Dougal is that he's such an unutterably chilled cat. Kasia, I think, is the type to hold grudges. We'll see.
It's kind of distressing to see your pets like this, as I'm sure most of you know from personal experience, even though you know it's been for the best and they'll feel better soon.
I just popped downstairs and Kasia was lying on the landing, funnel collar on to stop her worrying at her stitches. Bogna had draped a pillowcase over her to keep the draughts off.