Cat Chat 2

[Azigiu]

Ah. Understood. But it is entirely your opinion that it is "inappropriate" and I find it incredibly unfair that you don't threaten to report anybody else except for me when they are just as guilty. The rules do not say "hey, don't talk about vegan diets", they say specifically that you can't ask questions or post answers about what to feed your animals. They don't target any specific feeding choice. Better report people who ask and ignore their posts. ^^

[Thalassic]

Ah. Understood. But it is entirely your opinion that it is "inappropriate" and I find it incredibly unfair that you don't threaten to report anybody else except for me when they are just as guilty. The rules do not say "hey, don't talk about vegan diets", they say specifically that you can't ask questions or post answers about what to feed your animals. They don't target any specific feeding choice. Better report people who ask and ignore their posts. ^^

The whole reason why the rule was put in place was over vegan diets. I'm sure someone can link you to a post that had all kinds of sources regarding that. But we should probably move on from that now.

I'm kind of at a loss at this point.

Yesterday I took my cats to the vet, and one of them was given antibiotics that I have to give him twice a day for two weeks.
But the problem is, giving him the pill (or rather, 4th of the pill) has so far been.. extremely painful and mostly unsuccessful..

The first attempt, I got my brother and dad to hold him down while I tried to open his mouth and throw the piece into his throat. I got bitten really badly (worst in my life tbh) and after that I don't want to get my hands anywhere near his mouth. I know he didnt do it on purpose, but it hurt extremely much.

I skipped the second attempt due to still not being over the first one. (I cried a lot)

The third attempt I put the piece into a tiny slice of a sausage. Even though the vet has him on a diet of special kibble, I figured a tiny slice of a sausage can't be that bad, especially if it gets him to take the medication. That was successful.

And just now I tried the sausage thing again. first he kept chewing the sausage and letting it fall out of his mouth, and then just ate the good bits. And then he refused to take the sausage at all. I took a spoonful of his wet food and mixed the remaining piece in, and tried to give it to him like that. He ate like half of it, and then started gagging and spitting and spat out the medication. Not the food, just the meds. And now he won't take any food from me at all..

I really don't know what to do anymore..

I'm looking for some help, though.

[Azigiu]

But the reason for the rule shouldn't matter. It's the rule itself, as written, that should matter and as it currently stands, it doesn't distinguish between different diets. You can't ask about what to feed your cat. At all. It doesn't matter if you're going to be politically correct about it and feed raw, or if you want to know what Walmart brand is the best, or if you want advice for a vegan diet. It says that you can't ask about what to feed your cat. Chickpea broke this rule, Middy broke this rule, Transkitty broke this rule and a multitude of other people broke this rule. Nobody is innocent. Nobody in specific should be targeted. We all broke the rules.

But that's off-topic and not about cats, so I'll slink away now. I hope I helped you with your cat, Chickpea, and I hope he lives a long, prosperous life and that he likes his new food.

[Thalassic]

But the reason for the rule shouldn't matter. It's the rule itself, as written, that should matter and as it currently stands, it doesn't distinguish between different diets. You can't ask about what to feed your cat. At all. It doesn't matter if you're going to be politically correct about it and feed raw, or if you want to know what Walmart brand is the best, or if you want advice for a vegan diet. It says that you can't ask about what to feed your cat. Chickpea broke this rule, Middy broke this rule, Transkitty broke this rule and a multitude of other people broke this rule. Nobody is innocent. Nobody in specific should be targeted. We all broke the rules.

But that's off-topic and not about cats, so I'll slink away now. I hope I helped you with your cat, Chickpea, and I hope he lives a long, prosperous life and that he likes his new food.

4- Avoid talking about diets
-this should be talked about with your vet as they know best,cats are obligate carnivores and need meat.
things such as where to get the food ect is allowed but asking what you should feed is not.

With the emphasis on "obligate carnivore", it seems obvious to me what the rule refers to, that being non-carnivorous diets, but if it doesn't seem that way to you, you could always PM the thread owner and ask them to make the rule more specific.

[Nyxeva]

Eschaton, you may need to ask your vet if there's a liquid version of his antibiotic. Loki won't take pills either (unless I crush them and hide them in her wet food), but I got very good at giving her liquid medicine orally.

Many liquid meds come with syringes that you can use to avoid getting bitten as well. You can also look into a pill shooter, depending on the size of his meds. It will place the pill too far back for him to spit out and keep your fingers away from his teeth!

[Thalassic]

Eschaton, you may need to ask your vet if there's a liquid version of his antibiotic. Loki won't take pills either (unless I crush them and hide them in her wet food), but I got very good at giving her liquid medicine orally.

Many liquid meds come with syringes that you can use to avoid getting bitten as well. You can also look into a pill shooter, depending on the size of his meds. It will place the pill too far back for him to spit out and keep your fingers away from his teeth!

I tried mixing it in some more wet food in hopes it would mask the flavor, but now he refuses to even touch that..

I'm not sure how to get a syringe into his mouth, though? I mean, I still have to get him to actually open it somehow, which is how my fingers were injured last time, not the hand that was trying to get the pill into his mouth.

[Lunarsnow]

@Εschaton

My cat personally takes well to being swaddled in a towel to restrict his movement and have someone else pop the pill to the back of his mouth while I stroked his throat to get him to swallow. Afterwards he got a treat and some petting for not spitting it up. Try wrapping him but not giving him the pill to see if he's okay with getting wrapped up then you just gotta pop it in real quick once it's actual med time. Some cats may just get more stressed by being confined so this may not work well with your cat.

There's always trying to crush it into a powder and mixing it with a bit of food, but then you run into the issue of the cat possibly not taking the full dose. And of course since he's obviously aware of the flavor now and hates it, powder might end the same way.

If you're too wary about putting your hands in his mouth, you can have your brother or father open his mouth with their thumb and fingers and give him the pill while you hold him or scruff him and tilt his head up. If you have a clean syringe handy you can also fill it with water and squirt a small bit in his mouth to help him swallow. I'd also recommend a tasty treat afterwards both for a reward for swallowing and to lessen the chance of the pill getting caught in his throat.

And then if all else fails try and get a liquid version from your vet to syringe it straight in his mouth.

[Azigiu]

.

[Thalassic]

@Lunarsnow
again that doesnt really cover how to actually get into his mouth? with a pill or a syringe.
I would really prefer to stick the meds I've already got, as it's already money spent after all (and I'm pretty much broke at this point, after all the vet visits, and I'll still have to come up with some money in 2 weeks to get one or both of the cats vaccinated, and one of them neutered..). I don't really know if they even have a liquid version as an option, but I worry it might just be money I don't have at this point.


@Azigiu
Well, for one thing, the people who actually suggested it to be made into a rule, after a (or several?) heated arguments about vegan diets know that the rule is about vegan diets. And again, if you have problems with how it's worded, just PM the thread owner and request that they specify in some way.

[ive]

Hi everybody! Most of you don't know, but I got a kitten about a month to a few weeks ago. And she's been a bit..hyper. Tbh I seen a few of my friends calm their cats and kittens, yet their tatics never work on mine.. Any help? Or should I just leave her to be hyper?