What do you do with a high strung cat who may or may not be ill?

Eli started his life as a foster with us back in 2002 when I had *no* idea what I was doing. I was told to feed them, cuddle them, play with them, and when they got sick I medicated them.

Unfortunately, Eli was very sick with calci - blisters and everything - and once again we did everything wrong in relation to medicating and socializing and as a result by the time he was healthy he was scared to death of us assuming we were going to medicate him every time we touched him because that was what he was used to. And once again I did everything wrong by assuming that leaving him alone was the best option. He spent the next 10 years running from us.

Halfway through those ten years, I learned. I attempted to help him but he resisted. I learned of Rescue Remedy and I gave it to him whenever I could and slowly he started to not run at the sight of me, which allowed him to see that I wasn't always coming at him, which slowly let him realize that my walking in his general direction wasn't my coming to get him, which slowly let him realize that I wasn't evil.

The major problem is that while he has long ago forgotten why he was running from me, he has it ingrained in his psyche that if I want him that it has to be bad. So now when I suspect that something might be amiss with him and I want to look him over he freaks right out and gets all tense and curls himself up into a ball and tries to make himself small and protect himself.

The past few days things seem to have been off with him. Both Twee and Skippy have been chasing him around the house. They will sometimes play chase, so this isn't completely unusual, but it has been happening a little more frequently. Then I found pee in the spot that Eli tends to urinate when he's uncomfortable. I immediately called the vet to schedule the dental he needs. I was hoping to do it next week when Jack's medication is over (he is on antibiotics for a runny eye) so I could report what is happening with him. But if he is uncomfortable it might be his teeth and I wasn't going to wait anymore. He is scheduled on Friday.  Then he vomited.

So, really, I'm panicking over a little urine, but since he has a history of crystals which tends to be a problem for him when he is stressed, it could be that is causing him a problem.

So I picked him up to see if he was tender in his belly and remembered this is Eli not Jack, so I did the only thing I could..

I put Eli in the guest room with a litter box and some water and a can of food, which means Muffin REALLY wants to get in that room. She and Fleurp have made a real nuisance of themselves which I'm sure is stressing Eli out even more. Muffin was even driving me nuts so I locked her up for a while too

After eight hours he has eaten but still hasn't gone pee, but that is not unusual at all. When I locked them all to collect stool samples for the KittyBiome project it took quite a while before he relaxed enough to go. If he hasn't gone by the morning I will take him directly to the vet. He'll be fine, of that I have no doubt, but I know that things like this are made worse simply because of his nature.

4am update: still no pee. Signs that he investigated the box once but not that he got in it. I had fresh litter in there and a weird box so to attempt to make him more comfortable I switched out the litter to clean but previously used litter. I opened up a third can of food which he not only ate, but willingly came out to see me to do. Encouraging signs that he will pee before sunrise... Fingers crossed

7 AM update: we have urine. He is so upset with me, so I'll be doing my best to keep an eye on him without upsetting him any further. He is seeing the vet on Friday, and I'll probably have them do a urinalysis while he is there just to be safe.