Subie: Yeah, I know, but there is a chemical difference between uric acid and urea, so I looked it up, and here's what I've learned: Urea (a byproduct of protein metabolism) is present in much higher quantities in urine, and readily combines with both acids and bases, while uric acid is normally present only in small quantities. On balance however, human urine is usually a mild acid - but with its obviously higher percentage of ammonia (an alkaline base), feline urine would seem likely to be another matter, although I couldn't find anything authoritative on the issue, so I grant your point until a vet or an organic chemist comes along to shed some more light. (BTW, fresh human urine was often used to cleanse wounds during battle in WWI, 'cause it's sterile [whereas the water wasn't], so how acidic could it be?).
Hey, whatever: I thought we were talkin' upchuck here! C'mon folks, let's focus! What has urine got to do with vomit?? :-)
(Aw hell - OK, now this reminds me of my favorite joke of all times [and it ain't even dirty]. My father told me this as a kid, and it didn't make me laugh until the absurdity of it hit me at about 20 years later. Some things in life are best appreciated through the passage of time, I s'pose. Here 'tis:
A man runs frantically into a crowded delicatessen from off the street at lunch-time, shoving people out of his way left and right to get up to the counter. Practically lunging over the top of the cold-case, the man grabs the deli guy by the apron-strings, and shaking him violently, fairly screams at the top of his lungs with a crazed look in his eyes,
"Cole slaw!!! Gimme cole slaw!!! I need cole slaw!!!"
With everybody in the joint stopped dead in their tracks and staring, the guy behind the counter stammers bewilderedly,
"Uh, I'm sorry, but we're out of cole slaw..." and holding up a large bowl, adds helpfully, "but we do have some of this potato salad..."
"Yeah, yeah - Just give it to me!!!" the man roars, and tearing his hat off his head and throwing it to the ground, yanks away the bowl, plunges into it with both hands up to his elbows, and scooping up two great globs poceeds to slather the stuff upon his head in a frenzy, rubbing it into his hair like a madman, potato salad flying everywhere.
"Hey!!" the counter guy yells in astonishment, "Whattaya doin' puttin' that potato salad all over your head?!!"
The man freezes and looks at him, hands still on head, the wild gleam drained from his eyes:
"Potato salad?? I thought it was cole slaw!"
So, what has this got to do with either vomit or urine? Hey, you figure it out - all I know is that, like Rockyboy's preamp story, this 'joke' seems to have something elemental to do with the human condition. Maybe you just had to hear my dad tell it, reverting into the New York accent of his youth replete with enthusiastic gesticulations [then again, maybe not: years later when I told this back to him, he denied ever having heard it]. Email me when you think of this years from now and it makes you crack up uncontrollably.)
