OS DAILY Tuesday 10th February

meanmarie

Evening all,

Still no word from Oz...am waiting another hour or so and will ring Brisbane...lines are down all over Victoria so no point in trying to contact Beechworth.

Moggins....hugs and good wishes.

Luca being a pain about taking his medicine, I hate trying to make sure he takes it...any of you cat people have any advice? I have been mixing it with his food...morning and evening but he seems to leave the food that has the medication in it!

Night all

Marie

EssexHebridean

Hi Marie - is it liquid or pills? Neither is good when it comes to cats but I always think pills are slightly more of a nightmare. With either though I have always opted for the "tip head back as far as possible before dropping said medication so far to the back of the throat it's past the point of no return" approach. Follow with a treat of a suitably tempting nature that it takes the medication on the way with it. Good luck.

Happyroly

Evening all :hello: not had much time to catch up last few days, hope everyone is ok.
Had a lovely day today, out and about with my MSE friend, Pash, as always we had lots to talk about, plenty of laughs and a good pub lunch
Snow just about gone but very cold still in South Yorkshire.
Niece went flying on the ice yesterday and has been signed off work for the week (but doesn't get paid). She has a bad back anyway (family trait) so this won't have helped.
Littlest cat, Amy, has been to vet's today for her jab which helps her keep eating, she has been having these for a couple of years and, as expected, they are not as effective as they used to be.
Hope we get some special news from Rmac soon.
Hugs to those who need them and furry purrs to all the pets.

Happyroly

Marie - I give our Amy tablets, DH holds her, I open her mouth and approach from the side and put tablet right to back of her mouth and............ down it goes (she has a throat problem but this method still seems to work ok)
The other ploy I have used is crushing it (really, really crushing it) and mixing it with tuna. That works particularly well with Rosie as I wouldn't like to put my fingers in her mouth as I might lose a couple!!!

edit - I agree with EH about the follow up treat - a saucer of cream seems to help take the taste away!

Happyroly

I have been thinking about the posters from Australia and hoping that they, their friends and their families are safe. What a terrible tragedy, those poor people. Hearbreaking listening/reading the stories.
Puts the credit crunch and a bit of snow into perspective.

Floss

meanmarie wrote: »

....Luca being a pain about taking his medicine, I hate trying to make sure he takes it...any of you cat people have any advice? I have been mixing it with his food...morning and evening but he seems to leave the food that has the medication in it!

I used to have to wrap our old cat up tight in an old towel, tuck him under my arm, squeeze his jaw on each side (forefinger & thumb) to force his mouth open, chuck the tablet in and then rub his throat to stimulate the swallowing reflex......and if that didn't work, it was wrapped in a sliver of frozen smoked salmon .....he loved it so much he didn't chew it, just swallowed....made medication expensive though!

meanmarie

Thanks for all the tips on medicating Luca, the morning steroid is thankfully very small so that seems to work better as he is hungry....the evening blood pressure one is larger and he seems to hate it no matter how finely I crush it....this evening gave it to him with some of his 'old' food and I think that it may have worked, last time I looked he was still head in bowl. Tried the towel way before but ended up with too many scratches, couldn't seem to get it right!

Have spoken to cousin in Brisbane and his brother in Beechworth is ok so far, they are of course being watchful and expect that weather may warm up again at weekend and expect that they may have to be ready to flee if that happens...his lovely home and wonderful stuff that will be totally irreplacable, but then things are never as important as lives....I can now sleep to-night

Marie

katholicos

i wrap the tablet in a bit of ham or put it in the middle of a small piece of cheese, my pets have always just swallowed the thing whole and not known i had sneakily got them to have their meds!

Floss

meanmarie wrote: »

...... Tried the towel way before but ended up with too many scratches, couldn't seem to get it right!......

It's trial & error, but all the feet need to be tucked away and the towel wrapped tight as if swaddling a baby. Our Stanley used to love this when he'd been out in the rain or the cold, as a way of getting warm & dry..... he'd stand still while he was rubbed dry with a towel, especially that bit between his ears, and would dry his pads on the corner!

EssexHebridean

Cat-wrapping - quick guide:

(This is at least the only way I've ever made it work!)

You need a BIG bath towel - preferably a bath sheet as it gives you most protection. Approach your cat from behind with the towel folded over along the top edge by about 4 - 6" The fold should be facing back towards you. You want to get the top (folded) edge of towel right at the base of the skull - where head meets neck. At this stage it helps if you are crouching/kneeling. As soon as you have the towel onto the cat you need to sweep your right hand round and in front - thus enfolding the cat in the first sweep of towel. Gripping the moggy gently back against your knees helps. You obviously need to make sure you're going rond the chest not the neck! :eek:
Once you have the end of the towel round from the right, follow through with a similar movement with your left hand. you may need to carry out some nifty swapping of grip on the towel from hand to hand at this point - quick reactions are helpful as you do need to work fast. If the cat is braced back against your knees, by the time you get to this point you have got an effective hold on it. Bring both "ends" of the towel around to grip behind the neck with one hand, and use the other hand to bring the two bottom "corners"diagonally across the cat - each should gently secure one rear leg to prevent bunny-kicking, scratching or escape. The beauty of using a big towel is you have much more to work with and a secure "wrap" is more likely. You should end up in a position where all four corners can be gripped in one hand at the back of the cat - they could probably be tied or clipped together or failing that held by someone else while medication is administered to one very grumpy, but totally helpless puss-cat. Our old vet taught me this method and with a bit of practise I've found it works marvellously - he did offer one final bit of advice though re releasing the cat - untie and stand well back!!! :rotfl: :rotfl: :eek: