Aspies For Freedom

Thought it might be worth passing on some information about urinary tract infections (UTIs) in young children.  My son came downstairs late the other night, obviously upset.  He told me that he had been reading a Charlie and Lola book and that tears had suddenly come into his eyes.  He couldn't understand it, because as he said he wasn't even reading a sad book.  He stayed up for a wee while until he cheered up, then back to bed and ok.

The next day I took a urine sample to our GP and it turned out he had a UTI and he's now on antibiotics.  This is only the third time he's had one, but the first time was when he was 3 years old.  At that time his nursery contacted me to say they were concerned because he was sitting alone at the side of the room, looking sad and sometimes crying.  They suggested  a developmental problem - because he was premature - but I took a urine sample to GP then to rule out any medical reason and he had a UTI.  

What was interesting is that the doctor told me then that in children and elderly people UTIs don't cause pain, but cause depression instead.  In fact, they often go untreated in elderly people because it's seen as the start of dementia - which is alarming!

I think my son has had this infection for a week or so.  Last week he told me that his camera (inside his head) wasn't working properly.  This is how he makes and retrieves memories - and I'm wondering now if that was when the infection started.

Anyway, this is a longer post than intended - but hopefully useful information!

Blasted no edit button - should say urine, not urine in heading! lol

Thanks for the warning! It is often the case that small children will perceive sickness in a completely different way to adults, I had no idea the same applied to elderly people.

Oh, and PM Gareth - he'll fix the spelling for you!

Or one of the other mods, if you spot them online.

On a related note, the spelling's fixed... *grins*

Except in the 're:' part of the posts!

Lol, well spotted. All fixed now, with a special addition to your previous post. *grins*

Lol. Any hamsters in this house would be sad, and not just because we have a cat!  Thanks for all the corrections!

Some threads get de-railed. Some branch out into related topics. And some, like this one, simply become surreal. THANKS ZAKKIE!

Hamster addicted to speed...

Aw, the poor hamster! Looked a bit dazed, but good recovery!  Lol!
Takes something like that to make a hamster interesting anyway!  Gerbils, though, they're the business!

Gerbils and rats - my favourites!

How about this for a silly invention?



But I am also fond of cats, and dogs, rabbits and guinea pigs, budgies, cockatiels...

We've had a lot of pets over the years, including the school ones that came to us during the holidays. I decided that I wasn't too fond of hamsters because of that; although the chinchillas were pretty cool, even if highly destructive.

Oh, sounds great!  Have you ever had gerbils and cats simultaneously?  I noticed this morning on Freeshare that someone is over-run with gerbils and looking for people to take some on.  I have one cat.  i'd keep gerbils in a big tank with peat and such like so they can build their tunnels and wee nests.  I think my son would love them, I know I would, but I'm concerned the cat will love them too!  

Only slightly off topic I know!

I've never had them simultaneously. We had a cat (rescued from living wild in a hospital after her owner died) and then she re-homed herself with an elderly couple years later after a car accident. We 'replaced' her with a rabbit and a couple of guinea-pigs.

When the children were older we got a dog from the RSPCA who nagged us into getting another. We then moved to a place on a busy main road. That put us off the idea of a cat, and we had a succession of non-cat-friendly pets such as birds, fish and rodents. And became the family of choice for school-pet holidays!

Only when we moved to Ireland did we find ourselves in a position to have cats. There are a lot of semi-wild cats around the farms, and we have had a lot of stray kittens find their way to us. They manage to deter the wild mice and rats from completely taking over!

One or two may stay loyal, but generally they wander around like itinerent mousers, moving from farm to farm as they decimate the rodent population in each. They aren't exactly 'pets' although some of them are very friendly.

If you were to keep a tank of gerbils in a house with a cat, you would have to make the lid very secure indeed. It would have to be fastened down in such a way as to make it impossible for someone without two human hands (i.e. the cat) to remove it!

Mmmm.... Probably wiser to get secure accommodation worked out first before installing any inhabitants.  Cat usually only eats what comes in a packet or tin with a picture of a happy cat on it, but wouldn't want to take the risk!

I love gerbils - they're amazing wee guys!