Today was an eventful day for Charlie. We were trying to 'pill' our cat for the first time. Our cat has been fairly healthy up until Thanksgiving of last year, when he started having some ' bathroom problems'. Since then we have been trying to figure out the cause and the cure. Last week the vet informed us that our cat has a intestional bacterial infection and that we would need to give our cat an antibiotic for several weeks.... in the form of a pill... twice a day. You have to be kidding me, right? This is crazy... Our cat is not the easiest to work into a corner and medicate.
Two events in the past have required us to medicate the cat (unsuccessfully). Once our cat had a vaccine reaction and we were told to give our cat liquid benadryl (the kind you pick up at the drugstore). Was that a joke. Pink cherry flavored liquid for a cat? Not happening. Of course we tried, but our cat smartly foamed and spit it out of his mouth. The second time we attempted to give our cat medication was also in the form of a liquid. This time it was for sneezing and was cleverly disguised by attractive liver flavoring. We thought this would go over better than the cherry benadryl but no, it was actually worse. For 30 minutes our cat foamed at the mouth running to and fro. He had a permanent frown the whole time. If you've ever seen a cat with a frown, you'll recognize it. Slightly downturned mouth and angry upset eyes, continuously glaring at you for making him so miserable.
So this time around when the vet indicated it was either the liquid or a pill.. we did not have much of a choice. The real obstacle of course with the pill is...us. Why? Perhaps fear and terror that we'll choke our cat. It may seem easier to understand if you know that I have never learned to swallow pills for fear of choking. So how could I manage to give my cat a pill?
Ok... so we had the vet demo yesterady and took it all in step by step (force their mouth open, tilt the head up etc.)... but when it came down to it, neither I or my husband had the will to stick the pill popper (tool that the vet provides to place the pill in the cat's throat) into the back of our cats mouth. We did try of course, but each time the cat snapped and wound his tongue in a twither. After 3 tries throughout the day, we gave in to our inadequacy to complete this task. Charlie is relieved of course that its over for now. He is sleeping wistfully in his new favorite cozy spot, a box that came last week with lots of crinkly brown paper. Ahh.... he escaped for the time being and is in kitty dreamland.
Two events in the past have required us to medicate the cat (unsuccessfully). Once our cat had a vaccine reaction and we were told to give our cat liquid benadryl (the kind you pick up at the drugstore). Was that a joke. Pink cherry flavored liquid for a cat? Not happening. Of course we tried, but our cat smartly foamed and spit it out of his mouth. The second time we attempted to give our cat medication was also in the form of a liquid. This time it was for sneezing and was cleverly disguised by attractive liver flavoring. We thought this would go over better than the cherry benadryl but no, it was actually worse. For 30 minutes our cat foamed at the mouth running to and fro. He had a permanent frown the whole time. If you've ever seen a cat with a frown, you'll recognize it. Slightly downturned mouth and angry upset eyes, continuously glaring at you for making him so miserable.
So this time around when the vet indicated it was either the liquid or a pill.. we did not have much of a choice. The real obstacle of course with the pill is...us. Why? Perhaps fear and terror that we'll choke our cat. It may seem easier to understand if you know that I have never learned to swallow pills for fear of choking. So how could I manage to give my cat a pill?
Ok... so we had the vet demo yesterady and took it all in step by step (force their mouth open, tilt the head up etc.)... but when it came down to it, neither I or my husband had the will to stick the pill popper (tool that the vet provides to place the pill in the cat's throat) into the back of our cats mouth. We did try of course, but each time the cat snapped and wound his tongue in a twither. After 3 tries throughout the day, we gave in to our inadequacy to complete this task. Charlie is relieved of course that its over for now. He is sleeping wistfully in his new favorite cozy spot, a box that came last week with lots of crinkly brown paper. Ahh.... he escaped for the time being and is in kitty dreamland.
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