Cat thread

[Azazel]

I am fucking terrible at giving cats pills. I can do all the other shit, but pills are still something I just can't do. Luckily, most of the time if they need a medication, it's something that can come in liquid form. Gilly was the only one who needed pills that I can recall, and I wound up having to grind them up and mix it with baby food. She was a lot like 01101010's cat. No matter what I fucking tried, I could not get her to just FUCKING SWALLOW THE GODDAMN PILL ARGHGHGHGH.

Stupid cats!

Have you tried doing it as a two-person job? Little Girl absolutely hated getting pills, so one of us would wrap her in a cat blanket or towel etc and hold her with just her head poking out, while the other one of us would pry her mouth open from the corners (as a vet showed us), then jam the pill onto the back of her tongue and try to make her swallow it while she tried to spit it out.

We had something like a 60% success rate in the past few years, by the time she was old.

Haven't had to give Leonard anything yet, but given that he's about half again as big as she was, and maybe double her weight, all muscle, and just as savage as she was when she was young, I'm not looking forward to it. 

[tgr]

Luna does not like pills one bit, but it's not really a huge deal giving her one solo. I just get down on my knees, put Luna between my thighs, force her head back and force her mouth open by squeezing lightly at the corners of her mouth and by putting the pill at her lips. When she opens her mouth I drop it in and keep holding her head back. She usually seems to chew or try to get rid of the pill for a few seconds, but I've a much higher success ratio than 60% with her once I've gotten the pill in her mouth.

[Sky]

Are cats not supposed to drink from ponds?

Spring-fed should be fine. Most modern man-made ponds are not spring-fed and need chemical treatment, or become bacteria and insect farms. Fish and frogs would be a bonus for a cat!

[Sand]

Luna does not like pills one bit, but it's not really a huge deal giving her one solo. I just get down on my knees, put Luna between my thighs, force her head back and force her mouth open by squeezing lightly at the corners of her mouth and by putting the pill at her lips. When she opens her mouth I drop it in and keep holding her head back. She usually seems to chew or try to get rid of the pill for a few seconds, but I've a much higher success ratio than 60% with her once I've gotten the pill in her mouth.

I will try this method tomorrow with Louis. It was a twenty minute fight getting the pill in him this morning.

I'm glad to hear your cat is ok, Sand. Those things can be very touch and go.  I was worried when you hadn't posted that it was too late :/

Aww thank you! 

[tgr]

Disclaimer, Luna does fight it, but not in an all-out panic with claws etc, she just tries to jerk her head away, so for all I know the two person method with a towel might be required. Or you could do a mixture of both.

[01101010]

Want! 

[Reg]

Is that one of those wild cat/domestic cat hybrids?

[Ingmar]

Pretty sure that's just a snow leopard cub.

[01101010]

Pretty sure that's just a snow leopard cub.

Yeah, MSNBC photoblog thing... I don't give a shit if it's a zoo animal or not. I could only be so lucky to die from my pet rather than any of the billion other causes I'll die from. 

[Sjofn]

I am fucking terrible at giving cats pills. I can do all the other shit, but pills are still something I just can't do. Luckily, most of the time if they need a medication, it's something that can come in liquid form. Gilly was the only one who needed pills that I can recall, and I wound up having to grind them up and mix it with baby food. She was a lot like 01101010's cat. No matter what I fucking tried, I could not get her to just FUCKING SWALLOW THE GODDAMN PILL ARGHGHGHGH.

Stupid cats!

Have you tried doing it as a two-person job? Little Girl absolutely hated getting pills, so one of us would wrap her in a cat blanket or towel etc and hold her with just her head poking out, while the other one of us would pry her mouth open from the corners (as a vet showed us), then jam the pill onto the back of her tongue and try to make her swallow it while she tried to spit it out.

We had something like a 60% success rate in the past few years, by the time she was old.

Haven't had to give Leonard anything yet, but given that he's about half again as big as she was, and maybe double her weight, all muscle, and just as savage as she was when she was young, I'm not looking forward to it. 

Yeah, Ingmar is the Designated Holder, and even between the two of us we could not get Gilly to cooperate. She would just wait and wait and wait and wait AND WAIT to spit it out. Stupid cat.

[Hawkbit]

While someone is holding her, blow lightly into her nose.  It sometimes causes an involuntary swallow in cats and dogs. 

[Sjofn]

That ... is really weird. But I'll try to remember that. 

[Torinak]

Yeah, Ingmar is the Designated Holder, and even between the two of us we could not get Gilly to cooperate. She would just wait and wait and wait and wait AND WAIT to spit it out. Stupid cat.

One of our cats really likes the Greenies Pill Pockets to the point where he'll actively bug us for his pill when it's time. For the other one, we have to two-man it (and even then it's an ordeal), or sometimes a dollop of ranch dressing on the pill will do the trick.

[Ingmar]

Yeah, we tried those pill pockets and they didn't help, they're just pains in the ass.

[Sand]

Yeah, we tried those pill pockets and they didn't help, they're just pains in the ass.

Same here. Louis would eat the damn pocket and still spit out the pill. I started pill just powdering the pills and mixing it into his food.

[Furiously]

I can't imagine it was the healthiest thing since it has fish, frogs, algae, and gods know what else in there.

I can't imagine licking your butt clean is good for you either.

[Azazel]

Yeah, Ingmar is the Designated Holder, and even between the two of us we could not get Gilly to cooperate. She would just wait and wait and wait and wait AND WAIT to spit it out. Stupid cat.

Whoever was putting the pill into her mouth also had the job of poking it down to the back of her throat (like the vet showed us). Then (in theory) you let her close her mouth and massage under her jaw so she swallows. That's what got us as high as 60%. Quite frankly, I'm not surprised that she wanted to shred us to death during pill times.

[tgr]

Err. Poking it to the back of her throat? Gravity doesn't do the job sufficiently?

[apocrypha]

Err. Poking it to the back of her throat? Gravity doesn't do the job sufficiently?

Cats have tongues.

[tgr]

My technique means I just lift their head, drop the pill in, and hold their head until they either spit the pill out or, more commonly, swallow it. I must either have the greatest cats in this regard, or you guys are doing something wrong.

[rattran]

Some cats are harder than others. One of my cats decided to totally flip out while I was trimming her claws just now, I seem to have a considerable amount of my own blood on the wrong side of my skin. Ouchies.

[Bunk]

It all depends on the cat. I still have visible scratch marks on my belly from giving her pills two weeks ago. That's despite the fact that I had her totaly (I thought) wrapped in a towel at the time.

Yet I trimmed her claws a few days ago with her sitting on my lap in about thirty seconds without the slightest fuss.

[Mrbloodworth]

Check this out. Using this system you can play with cats remotely Via webcam and toy controls. And of course you can buy a system for yourself, but for free you can play with animals at pet shelters.

http://www.ipetcompanion.com/

[MuffinMan]

Oh no. Why have you shown this to me?!

[Nebu]

Check this out. Using this system you can play with cats remotely Via webcam and toy controls. And of course you can buy a system for yourself, but for free you can play with animals at pet shelters.

http://www.ipetcompanion.com/

Best marketing campaign for a shelter ever. 

Thanks for the link MrB.  Great stuff.

[Lantyssa]

Certified Pre-Owned Cats is brilliant.  That's a cute campaign.

[rattran]

[Hawkbit]

I just did three days in the car (Ohio-Seattle) with my three cats (and German Shepard).  They actually did surprisingly well.  The final day I forgot to spray their carriers with Feliway, and that was my only mistake.  They talked for the first half that day. 

Otherwise, they actually were great.  I put puppy pads in their carriers, but none of them had accidents.  In fact, they all just held it until I got them settled in the hotel room. 

My youngest troublemaker decided to play in the shower of the hotel room after I had washed up.  He got himself soaking wet, then decided he didn't like that and the way to fix that was to dry himself off in the litterbox.  Of course, that caused the litter to clump on his feet and belly, so he ran around the room for 10 minutes until he got it all off.  I didn't quite realize what had happened, but holy crap he made a mess.  Wet litter on every surface of the room.  I spent more time cleaning that room than I did packing them up to travel. 

[Sky]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owPX3r3s6t8

[tazelbain]

Certified Pre-Owned Cats is brilliant.  That's a cute campaign.

Show me the CatFax!

[tgr]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owPX3r3s6t8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=go43XeW6Wg4

[01101010]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owPX3r3s6t8

 

At times it looks like a baby gorilla with a tail.

[Azazel]

Check this out. Using this system you can play with cats remotely Via webcam and toy controls. And of course you can buy a system for yourself, but for free you can play with animals at pet shelters.

http://www.ipetcompanion.com/

That is truly awesome!

[sickrubik]

Side story. My fiancee was going to work really early at the beginning of the week and found a pet rabbit in the middle of the road. It hopped right up to her, so she brought it into the house and we put it in the downstairs bathroom with some food/water until we could find the owner.

We found the owner the next day and gave the bunny back. Yesterday morning I was leaving to walk to work and found the bunny again. To avoid increasing anyone's bad mood or RAGE.. I'll leave out the rest of the story. All I will say is that we called Animal Services and reported the family. We are most likely keeping the bunny.

Anyway, our crazy little "perma-kitten", Belladonna, has assumed this position all week, only breaking for food and litterbox. Guess where the bunny is.

[Sand]

LOLZ