Pooties can apparently have mental issues just like people. And, since I seem to have a number of mental afflictions, including treatment-resistant depression, an anxiety/panic disorder, and a somewhat obsessive-compulsive personality, why should I be at all surprised that I would attract into my life a pootie who is certifiable?
Rachel Meowdow is probably one of the most beautiful kittehs I have ever seen, and she did choose me. And I, in return, have promised to love and cherish her in sickness and in health and never, never, never to have her declawed even if she totally destroys everything in the house including my black leather Ekornes made-in-Denmark reclining chair with ottoman. I literally had to sign multiple documents swearing on my life that I wouldn't do that.
This all started when my sister noticed that Rachel Meowdow was constantly demanding that the faucet be turned on so she could have running water. She wondered if perhaps she had an electrolyte imbalance or something. So, being the good kitteh mama that I am, I immediately did some research on the intertubes and found that excessive water drinking can be an early sign of diabetes.
I called the vet and made an appointment for her to be tested. When I took her in this past Friday, I told Dr. Tison about her water obsession and that I wanted to rule out diabetes if that was even a possibility. He quipped, "There's actually a name for that...psychogenic polydipsia.
"Is that sort of like a water fetish?" I inquired. He laughed and said that in a manner of speaking that's exactly what it was.
So, I have obsessively and compulsively walked the floor all weekend wondering whatever was I going to do if it turned out that Rachel Meowdow has diabetes.
Well, I got the call today. Seems it's all in her head. She apparently is afflicted by psychogenic polydipsia, an obsessive-compulsive disorder involving the urge to consume enormous quantities of water, preferably from a running faucet. Or, in Rachel Meowdow's case, from a Multi-pure water filter (God forbid that her dainty pootie tongue should be defiled with plain old tap water!)
Which is better than her being a diabetic pootie for a number of reasons—the main one being that giving insulin injections to a fully-armed with-teeth-and-claws pootie would likely lead to multiple injuries on the part of either the injector or the injectee. Obsessive-compulsive I can deal with, and lord knows I can relate to it!