My turn -

[kyburg]

God, everyone on LJ who has a cat, has a cat pee story. It's like the sun coming up in the morning, I swear it.

I have two cats. I now have my own cat pee story.

*ahem*

Ai-chan has a discolored bum.

The vet put her on antibiotics. Twice a day.

I have to stuff something disgustingly beef-flavored and medicinal down my poor widdle kitty's throat.

Twice. A. Day.

For the next nine days.

This cat is going to hate me when this is over.

I'm just trying to vary the location and position so she doesn't associate any of it with the stinky pills.

Beef-flavored, my ass.

Oh, that reminds me. Time to go pill the cat. I'll let you know if I needed stiches afterward.

Gah, poor kitty. She doesn't have a clue - and she's fine. I thought the bum was a problem - she didn't!

Comments

a moment of self pity in another person's LJ

[kamakanani.livejournal.com]

So I have a new kitty... Name: Kitty. Kitty came home from the Humane Society shelter last monday. She's a two year old black domestic shorthair. Tuesday we were going to get her claws trimmed so she wouldn't hurt either herself or us while she was getting acclimated. Long story short, she got out of the carrier while we were in the car (twice) and the second time, somehow got partially under my seat and cut her forehead. Barely missed her eye. Four staples, skin adhesive, elizabethan collar, 10 days of antibiotics and 200 dollars later, I've invested in pet insurance and feel sorry for the poor cat. she keeps trying to groom herself but only licks the collar... and she keeps banging it against walls because it blocks 99% of the use of her wiskers...

I feel your cat antibiotic pill pain...

Re: a moment of self pity in another person's LJ

[feyandstrange.livejournal.com]

Could be worse. When we took our kittens in to be spayed, one got out of the carrier basket and hid under the brake pedal. While driving. In Third World traffic.

[feyandstrange.livejournal.com]

The "pill gun" has a lot to be said for it if the cat is recalcitrant. Then again, some cats will happily scarf pills if they're wrapped in a gooshy lump of cat treat meat.

Then again, really, really talented cats can eat the gooshy food and then ralph up the pill only ten minutes later. Or lick the pill clean of turkey juice but not eat it. (The butter trick doesn't seem to work.)

If she's inclined to spit it back up and out, hold the little mouth closed and pet the throat downwards. Makes them swallow. (Again, truly recalcitrant cats may have secret pouches for pills so they can still ralph them up later, but if the cat's well enough to go to all that trouble, it will probably be fine anyway.)

I was often the designated cat-medicator, partly because I'm good at it, partly because it was often somebody else's cat and that way the cat could be traumatized by somebody other than Mommy. (Also, my old loft bed was out of reach of vindictive cat excretia.)

You can always think of it as good practice for babies and toddlers. But I think babies don't usually have claws and fangs.

[kamakanani.livejournal.com]

you know, I'd be FRIGHTENED if an infant had fangs and claws...

[kyburg.livejournal.com]

Ai-chan won't be bribed. Tried that.

No, I've renewed my talents for pilling cats - I was very good once, and I'm getting good again rapidly.

Babies have Blorch Guns. That's plenty.

Blorch Guns

[bigbigtruck.livejournal.com]

best and most accurate phrase ever

[storvik.livejournal.com]

Cat pee? I'm voluntarily holding myself back from posting baby poop stories.

[eve-dallas.livejournal.com]

If I have to medicate my cats, I usually ask for liquid stuff. Then I break out a pillowcase and stuff them in it, wrap the open end firmly around the neck and have someone squirt the meds down their throat.

If no liquid is available, someone else holds the pillowcase and I stuff the meds down their throat.

Usually I keep them in our big dog crate when they are getting meds, because they hide after the second dose and then we have to play hunt and catch.

[luscious-purple.livejournal.com]

I dread the day I have to give either of my cats pills.

I used to have to help one of my then-roommates medicate her cat. One of us would hold him and then the other would squirt some laxative stuff out of a tube and down his throat. Bleah.

OTOH, my late Brandi dog was very happy to take pills that were hiding inside a lump of tasty cream cheese.

Cat Meds

[grammom.livejournal.com]

We have three cats: Simon, 14 yrs old, mostly Maine Coon; Morpheus, 3 yrs old, black short-hair domestic; and Mia, 3 yrs old and sis to Morpheus, grey-black tiger short-hair domestic.

Simon was peeing a lot, seemingly uncontrollably, and not behaving at all like himself. To the vet he went, and $200+ latter, we were told he had feline diabetes, given prescriptions for insulin and syringes, with instructions on how to shoot the kitty twice a day, and special expensive cat food. The first week or two, Simon didn't seem to mind; he got lots of petting, he loved the new food, and didn't seem to even feel the needle. He gets fed after the shot.

Since then, he will show up when he feels it's time for his shot, and if we don't shoot the kitty, he walks away and hides. Most of the time, only Goddess (WickedLadyBear) can talk him into coming out for the whole process. He is very stubborn about the whole thing. And if he gets perturbed--you guessed it--cat pee where it will get the most attention!

Mia and Morpheus try to disappear at shooting time. Not even for food will they poke their little black noses out. Of course, they think Simon's food tastes much better than their own.

Oh, well, tomorrow we get to do another glucose curve on Simon: blood sample every two hours for 12 hours. Lots of fun, he knows the needle prick hurts and doesn't like it. We use the same equipment for the glucose test on him that I use for my glucose testing, since I am also diabetic. We are very careful to be as antiseptic as possible. I know it hurts!

Fortunately, the vet says that sometimes the feline diabetes will go away after a time, but the cat is the only animal who can do this. Blast!

The vet also said the diabetes shouldn't cut Simon's life span. Since our cats live a long time, this is good news. Angelica, who left us several years ago, was 20 yrs old, and Minx, who left a number of years ago, was about 15 yrs old. They have all been indoor cats, because we live on a 3-block-long street that all the punks seem to think is a raceway. If they had been in-and-out cats, they would not have lasted so long.

We also used the pill injector thing on both Angelica and Minx when they started to fail. It worked much easier than doing it by hand.

Best wishes for a well kitty and good luck!

Grammom