Yesterday, Andy was a pill. It took till a bit after 9:00 AM before I finally caught him to give him his blood pressure medicine. I suspect part of the reason it took so long was I sometimes scruff Andy to catch him or to settle him down to wrap the towel around him to immobilize him a bit to give him his medicine.
Scruffing a cat (grabbing it by the loose skin on the neck) may not be a good idea, though Momma Cat does it with her babies to move them. I read that yesterday after I scruffed Andy, who then was very wild and almost wouldn’t let me wrap him in the towel.
Yes, I scruffed Andy up till then if I had to, and he got a lot of scruffing when I caught him, then tried to wrap him in the towel yesterday. Learning that it hurts the cat is enough for me to stop doing it. I always heard it produced endorphins so kitty was in a natural druggy state because of this rough business. Maybe so in kitties, but their loose skin isn’t holding up 10 or so pounds of adult cat, either.
Also, I learned that it might be a challenge to the cat’s self-esteem. Oh dear!
Well, I don’t know the veracity of what I read, just that it might explain part of Andy’s reluctance to be medicated some days. Yesterday, for example. It might not all be reaction to nasty-tasting medicine. I mean, they lick kitty butt with those tongues! Surely that’s at least equal in nastiness to any medicine.
Today, I resolved not to scruff Andy under any circumstances. I walked up to him where he lie on the seat of the old beat up backless computer chair the boys won’t let me toss. I reached down and picked him up. No fuss. Easy! Usually, he scampers away, and we begin a minutes to hours long cat and mouse game (hee! hee!) till I catch him, towel him up, and squirt the medicine in his mouth.
Over to the medicating chair we went. Towel wrapped around kitty, I squirted the medicine into his mouth. It was over in less than half a minute from picking Andy up to the fun part where I rub his nose, scratch his ears, stroke his head and tell him what a really good boy he is for taking his medicine like a big kitty! Of course, the part he likes better is when I loosen the towel so he can hop down to the floor for the treats I am about to put out for good boys. 🙂
I’ll see how things go from now on out, but the zero-scruffing rule seems to be a good move for both cat and man.
I never knew this either although I have never had to scruff Ali.
one of hubbys caregivers holds her and I pop her four a day predisone tablets down her. She gets two at a time 12 hours apart-10 mgs each time-20 mg a day.
I force her mouth open and drop the pill down the back of her mouth, gentle hop dyer mouth shut and breath in her nose.
She swallows within a minute.
In the morning she also gets her liquid pain meds, and she eats her lysine mixed with her wet food mid morning with no problem.
I could not do this alone.
She is getting a long acting antibiotic shot once a week from our vet until all of the signs of the calicivirus are gone. The virus itself does not respond to antibiotic but it stops secondary stuff from happening which is important due to her feline immune disease.
I hope things continue to go well for you getting the meds down Andy.
Tim said the same thing you did-they lick their butt so how can any medicine taste as crappy as that. 😛
I haven’t seen Andy for several minutes, and he hasn’t had his medicine yet. I suspect I have an “interesting” day ahead! One never knows, though. Some days it’s a simple matter of picking him up, then others it’s a game that takes hours to play out. I hate to think what it’d be if I had to go through all the medications you do for Ali…! Dougy probably wouldn’t be a problem. Andy, on the other hand, has had more experience needing medicines and baths to clean off diarrhea (when he was a kitten). That makes him a little more suspicious when I approach him. Generally, my best best with Andy is to let him decide when he wants to come to me for a little face rub or whatever, then snatch him up for medicine time!
It will be fine in the end! 🙂
It is, and Andy has that Persian cat sweetness that overcomes any negatives. He doesn’t stay mad or upset long, and it was only a matter of minutes before he came over to me for whisker and chin rubs, something we have going between us every morning at about the same time each day and various times throughout the day.
Awwww 🙂
From what I’ve seen and read for the most part it’s really meant to work on kittens alone as they have such a light body mass and extra strategy skin in that place. It’s said to be very uncomfortable for some larger cats, and it looks like Andy has had his say on that front heh 😉
– sonmicloud
I’m surprised I’d never come across anything about scruffing till late this past week. I feel awful about poor Andy, but we’ll do things right from now on!
Fear not, these things are easily done and I’m sure he’ll already have forgiven you, or will just bring it up as a guilt trip forever when angling for extra treats. One or the other ;p
– sonmicloud.
If he could, he would! Andy may be a sweet little guy, but he doesn’t like his self-esteem sullied!