My cat is horrible! She is sick and needs oral medication. I just lost three doeses. I got bit and scratched by a mean Main Coon cat. This is an indoor declawed cat and this awful?
My problem, this is a six year old cat that suddenly decided my house is a litter box. I was advised by a fellow cat lover that this isn't normal behavior at all. Next problem, I can't get rid of fleas, no matter what product I use. Her skin is a mess.
The vet gave me an antibiotic and antihistamine. Cats are very healthy until it comes to urinary tract and kidney problems. The antibiotic will fix a possible urinary tract infection, but also helps her skin. The antihistamine will work for her allergic reaction to fleas.
This is the sweetest cat you could ever want, but don't mess with her or she will fight you. I have tried everything last summer when she got out and drank water that made her sick. Indoor cats are not tolerant to outside puddles of water.
This is far from a stupid cat, but stubborn. She already knows when I pick her up I'm going to feed her drugs and she fights me every step of the way. Last time, we waited for her to hiss at us and used a spoon with crushed pills. It worked!
Unfortunately for me and the cat, it isn't working this time. She will not swallow liquids at all, tried that. You can't force a pill in her throat or she spits it out.
I need a quick response from members! I just lost three doses of medicine she needs. I have no idea how to get medicine down her. She isn't going to eat drug laced canned cat food. She notices! *************************************************************** 01-10-07, 09:06 PM Tree My Maine Coon suffered from an abscess recently and I had to administer his pills.
I cut up some chunks of turkey - took a chunk and cut it part way through with a knife and slid the pill inside. It worked for him every time, except once, when I merely used another chunk of turkey.
My Maine Coon is a true gentle giant.
01-11-07, 07:11 AM Elexina MrsS suggested exactly what I was going to. Our little cat had kidney failure and decided to pee everywhere in the basement except the litter box. Yuck. “Luckily,” it was only in the basement. I found the best way was to sneak up behind her with a towel and just pounce, usually while my husband was moving around in front of her to keep her attention. Granted, this was a four-pound cat, not a Maine Coon, but it’s the same theory. I used the same technique for my bigger cat, who I maintain has Coon in her, when she needed her claws clipped. Wrap ‘em up with only the head out and do what needs doing. The vet, or a pet store or grocery store, should be able to give you a “pill popper” that you put the pill in and then shoot it down the cat’s throat. The little one used to trick me, though. I’d think she swallowed it and then later I’d find a tiny half-dissolved blue pill discoloring my carpet. I’m much more a fan of liquids. No teasing, just right down the throat. Alternatively, you can try this procedure.
01-12-07, 06:49 PM Wildflower63 I would guess a fellow Main Coon owner knows how sweet these cats can be until you do something they object to and turn into wild cats that really will try to hurt you.
Turkey is one thing she has always loved. Tried that! This cat is on to every single trick I try on her, the second time. She noticed medicine in a treat and will not touch it.
I also, last idea I have left, used her Fancy Feast that she adores to mix medicine. She wont eat it. Next I tried just a real small bit that I could rub into her paw. Cats are very clean animals that dislike anything on their fur.
Every brilliant idea I find to get one dose of medicine down her only words one time. The second I thought that I outsmarted a cat, she let it dry on her paw. Too many doses of medicine have been wasted now. This will not help my cat. I have been forced to go for antibiotic injection.
I solved the antiboiotic issue with shots, but have the problem of re-training her to use her litter box. I was told by the vet, just one folded towel is all she can have or cats may still refuse a litter box if given an alternative to where they sleep. Roughly two weeks was suggested, but that sounds like a long time when it's your cat.
Has any member had urinary issues or a cat refusing to use a litter box? How did you handle it?
01-12-07, 07:46 PM babthrower CAts are just like people in that a negative association sticks like glue. Some people can't stand a dentist's office. Some others can't stand the smell of a hospital.
She associates the pain of the bladder/kidney infection with the place where she experienced it -- mainly the litter box. That's why she tried various other places - to escape the pain.
If she is pain-free now, you could try a totally new experience for her. New litter box. You can't just paint it or clean it, she'll still smell that it's the old one. New brand of kitty litter. New location, far from the location where the old one was. And gentle handling as you introduce her to it. I've found just drawing their paw through the clean litter can give them the idea. Accompanied by lots of encouraging coos on your part.
01-12-07, 11:07 PM Tree babthrower - You're brilliant! That makes a heck of a lot of sense.
01-13-07, 08:25 AM MrsS BAB! You constantly amaze! I hope I'll remember your advice if ever I face this issue with Fred and George.
And I can't believe I forgot to mention, to help prevent this in the future, switch to one of the cat foods formulated to support urinary health...I switched when my Mister's vet advised me to do so as a preventative measure I used Hill's Prescription Diet (Mister was also allergic to wheat, so I had to go with a very specialized formula)and he lived to be 15 without ever experiencing a single problem in that area. You'll want your vet's recomendation on a specific brand or set of ingredients.
01-14-07, 07:22 AM DvdGStwrt Wrap the cat in a towel, but remember to unwrap the cat and wrap the cat often even when it is well. Get the cat used to the towel so when medication or other "horrible" things must be done the cat will not view the towel as the first sign of trouble. If you want you can buy a beach towel just for kitty, wrap kitty in it often, leave it out for kitty to sleep on and make into kitty's special "safe" blanky. Trust me that beach towel will come in handy in future and will have a calming effect on kitty if you get them used to it. It will become the towel that goes to the vet to stay in the cage with the cat - a familiar bit of home.
Pills. Don't do Pills - do liquids. Vet has droppers and liquid medications, go back to the Vet and ask or demand liquid medications. They have special droppers and needle-less syringes just for the job of shooting a load of liquids as far back in the mouth as possible. Yes wrap the cat, one person hold it making comforting noises while the other does the bad guy thing. Forget a spoon - spoons will always end up causing a loss of nearly all of the medication.
If you do have to grind up a pill then don't force it down kitty's throat. Feed the cat something it likes (like tuna, with dolphin of course - cat's love their dolphin! Wink) crush and mix the pill with a bit of tuna (enriched with dolphin) and add some of that lovely tuna flavored water to mix it up and cover the nasty taste of the pill. In fact get the oil soaked tuna, not the spring water - the oil smells and tastes stronger of tuna thus covers the taste/scent of medication. And as with the towel remember to give kitty a special treat of tuna and tuna oil every-so-often. This way kitty will not be too suspicious when you open a can of tuna.
--> For Dogs it is peanut butter - take a slice of bread, cut it in 1/4's take a heaping spoonful of peanut butter, dump it on one quarter slice of bread. Pop the pill in the top of the peanut butter pile (yes pile) get puppy excited for people food then pop the whole thing in aiming to stick the peanut butter to the roof of the mouth. The Dog will lick and lick and lick and swallow way too busy trying to remove the peanut butter that the pill will slide right on down. Dogs are smart and can find a pill in soup and spit it to the side, or clean every last crumb of food on a plate leaving the pill right in the middle.
And Peanut Butter makes for a good show, everybody I know loves to watch a dog working at peanut butter stuck to the roof of the mouth. Big Grin
Fleas: Put cat in cat carrier, take cat for about a three hour trip - go through the whole house and use flea killer on carpets and furniture - kill the fleas (and their eggs) in carpet and furniture - everywhere there is cloth (Carpeting and pets is a big mistake, this is one of the many reasons). If necessary move everyone out and bomb the house (no not explosives, flea bombs/insect bombs). Remember the cycle, flea lays eggs, eggs hatch into larva, larva grow up to be fleas - those powders that you spread and leave on before vacuuming need to be used frequently (like at least once a week). This is a job where EVERYTHING on the carpet must be moved, sofa, dinning table, chairs, TV, blah - you might not think fleas can get under a hutch, but they can and do and raise their young in that safe area.
Since kitty is an indoor kitty where is kitty getting fleas? Is it you?????? - Nope, most likely the puppies are bringing in those critters. Flea dip dogs and cat (think giving kitty a pill is fun, try giving kitty a BATH - real loads of fun) Great thing is that PetSmart and other pet stores now provide grooming and vets all at one convenient location. Take kitty to a vet with a groomer, have them sedate kitty and give kitty a flea bath.
While on the subject of baths. Dog (my cat his name is Dog) took baths with me when he was a wee thing - now days when he needs a bath (like escaping outside and getting muddy - ew!) he will tolerate it - not like it, not jump into the tub enthusiastic over the whole deal, but he will tolerate a bath. Baby Shampoo for Dogs and Cats is ok - it is safe and gentle and rinses easily enough. Flea baths are not too wonderful, there are different formulas for cats than dogs. Most will require sticking your finger in the animals eyes. Why? Because you need to smeer petroleum jelly over the eyes to protect then from the flea poison, er, medication you have to bath every square inch to make certain you get all of the fleas and their eggs.
If we are talking a long haired cat, I would advise a shaving (kitty will look like a lion after the hair cut) Short, short hair will allow you to manually get at the fleas with a flea comb: http://www.petcaretips.net/cat-flea-comb.html A flea comb usually has smaller spaces between wider teeth - you pull the comb through the hair and the teeth are space narrowly enough to let the hair pass but catches the fleas. A cup of alcohol to dip the flea comb in after each pass (to remove and kill the fleas). With an infestation of fleas there is "dirt" black specks with are flea do-do, dipping and cleaning the flea comb in alcohol is advised to prevent the spread of disease.
And combing is a job that you need to do even when kitty is flea-less - just to get kitty used to the combing. Most cats like to be brushed and combed it answers to their "preening" nature, some however have a cat-niption fit if you know what I mean. Wink
And of course tend the fleas on all of the other flea carriers in the house on the same day or you will not get this under control.
Skin can be a complex of not just flea bites but allergies and just good old dandruff (dry skin). If the cat is prone to dry skin a case of fleas will make it much worse and will make the cat mean. Cats need more oils in their diet, (dogs too) and do benefit from fish oil (yeah there is a good reason why they love fish). If kitty eats nothing but dry kibble I would suggest adding a bit of Cod Liver Oil to the cat food - about a teaspoon to a cup of cat kibble. If you have dogs add about 1/2 teaspoon (Figure dogs eat more food) And hile you dosing out the cod liver oil a teaspoon a day won't hurt you none Wink
Dandruff shampoo (like Head and Shoulders) can be used on animals - the Puppy (full grown black lab rot mix) has skin allergies and chronic dry skin, we bathe her once a month with selsun blue. However make certain that dry skin is an issue (flakes will be noticeable if its dry skin). Animals are also prone to dry skin in the winter due to heating the house. Check with Vet. If Vet insists on a particular brand then check the chemical make up against something store bought - My Vet is a rare gem he actually tells us to NOT use a lot of the animal name brand stuff and use the same stuff we use on ourselves (and most likely have in the house).
01-14-07, 07:32 AM DvdGStwrt Oh And the Urinary thing. Try lowering the ash content of the food and the Magnesium.
Cats tend to end up with urinary issues with high ash high magnesium foods. Used to be you had to go for "special" foods - now days most brands on the shelf proudly display their ash content. I think it is less than 5% ash is what you should aim for. We use "senior" diet which has 4.5% ash content.
01-14-07, 01:01 PM babthrower I never use flea baths. Go with the flow and don't bathe cats -- or try to teach them to fetch. They consider it demeaning. Roll Eyes
There are pills now that make cat's blood toxic to fleas while not harming the cat (that I can detect) and which also breaks the intestinal-parasite cycle , too.
Dvd's idea about handling the cat and holding-towel in a relaxed situation is a good one.
I try to do the same thing - desensitization - with MrNogood and his carrier to ease the trauma of trips to the vet. It works, sort of, but can backfire. Cats seem to be naturally paranoid, and will climb the wall, sometimes at the least provocation.
01-16-07, 04:58 AM Wildflower63 Thank you all for your help. I very much appreciate all suggestions and take them seriously.
Believe me, this is one mean cat that will hurt you with medication. Tried the liquids, which are supposed to be easy. She doesn't swallow, just tries to inflict injury. You can only trick her with one dose. Try the same thing twice on her, claws and fangs come out and she will definitely hurt you.
I couldn't get pills down my cat. She catches on to methods to quickly. I have crushed and added water to a pill using a syringe. That didn't exactly work out. This cat will not swallow.
Given how many wasted doses, I asked my vet about antibiotic injections. It only took me three inexpensive trips for antibiotic shots.
I still have her in my dog's old, but very large dog cage. Surprisingly, she loves it! My daughter left the cage door open before she went to school. The cat ended up on the top of the cage just hanging out. My dog knows this cage as her 'bad dog' and refuses to enter. I think that my cat has decided upon her spot, the spot the dog hates.
I treated my cat for fleas before caging her. I have not found a single drug that works for fleas in two years. Frontline, cost me over $30 for a 12oz bottle. This worked like a beauty for a few years, which is why I stuck with this product. It doesn't work anymore, for an unknown reason.
Cat owners might want to request this one. I was quoted $30 for a shot for fleas, mites, lice,or any parasite. It will last six months, as told to me by the vet. I would have paid for this shot, but it can't be for an unhealthy cat.
I definitely appreciate all help members gave me. Cat people, check out that shot. It definitely was news to me!!
01-16-07, 08:23 AM Elexina If she’s violent when you try to give her meds, you have to either wrap her in a thick towel, or take her to the vet and get them to do it. They have the heavy rubber gloves just for such cats. I’m glad you found a solution that works for you. I am just so relieved that we don’t have to deal with these issues anymore. I have less-than-fond memories of sneaking up behind the fat cat and pouncing just so I could trim her claws... Forget about medication!
01-16-07, 05:19 PM GarColga Last year I had to give my cat an antibiotic in pill form every morning for 30 days.
I found that if I sat down with the cat in my lap I could firmly grab the cat by the back of the neck forcing his head back, I could get the pill in his mouth by forcing his lower jaw down with the little finger of my other hand and putting the pill in his little mouth making sure the pill is on top of the tongue. Then hold his mouth closed and blow directly into his nose and he will swallow the pill. After a few days it became so quick and stress-free that it was no problem at all, he stopped fighting and only squirmed a little when he realized what was going to happen.
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