Cannonballing the cat
Jul. 20th, 2004 01:38 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
spatchAbbie had himself an infection while he was sick, so the vet prescribed antibiotics. I currently have 30mL of Amoxicillin for the ol' fellow, which he is to receive in 3mL doses twice a day for 10 days.
As you may have well guessed, that's a lot of medicine for a cat. The problem is compounded further by the fact that the cat absolutely hates to take his medicine. He simply won't take pills at all. Thankfully in a brief flash of foresight I asked the vet for a liquid prescription -- there's no way in hell I'm gonna hold an 18-pound cat down, pry his jaws open, and shove a pill down his throat twice a day for 10 days on my own. After last year's medicinal adventure when we tried liquid meds for the first time, I've hit upon the proper way to give Abbie medicine in liquid form.
You just have to get it all over him.
Ok, that's not exactly the primary strategy, but it seems to work well as a backup. I have to hold the cat down and gently place the tip of the dropper in his mouth near the back teeth, gentle pressure applied on the bulb ready to deploy, and when he opens his mouth to go "ack! ack!" that's when the medicine goes in. It's surprisingly effective, even when he lashes his head back and forth and tries to push the dropper away with a paw. The liquid goes everywhere, though, and I figure that if I get any on his fur, that's all right, because he's only going to lick it off anyway.
I've also noticed that not only is amoxicillin a bright pinkish purple, it's also hard to get out of clothing.
The dropper I have only takes 1mL at a time, so 3 a day twice a day can be a particularly exhausting ordeal (hint: prepare the first dropperful before you secure cat.) To help morale today I decided to play Caddyshack with Abbie, cause it's his favorite movie. I took the part of Carl Spackler, barely-coherent assistant groundskeeper, and Abbie played the role of Ty Webb, best player on the course who runs into Spackler late at night while practicing for the Big Game.
"Here, here, you gotta cannonball it," I told Abbie, dropping medicine down his throat. "Cannonball! Cannonball comin!" Somehow he refused to appreciate the reference and squirmed about as defiantly as usual.
In retrospect I never thought I'd be sitting in a chair holding a cat down trying to squirt medicine down his throat while hollering "Cannonball!" but there you go. That's life in the big city.
As you may have well guessed, that's a lot of medicine for a cat. The problem is compounded further by the fact that the cat absolutely hates to take his medicine. He simply won't take pills at all. Thankfully in a brief flash of foresight I asked the vet for a liquid prescription -- there's no way in hell I'm gonna hold an 18-pound cat down, pry his jaws open, and shove a pill down his throat twice a day for 10 days on my own. After last year's medicinal adventure when we tried liquid meds for the first time, I've hit upon the proper way to give Abbie medicine in liquid form.
You just have to get it all over him.
Ok, that's not exactly the primary strategy, but it seems to work well as a backup. I have to hold the cat down and gently place the tip of the dropper in his mouth near the back teeth, gentle pressure applied on the bulb ready to deploy, and when he opens his mouth to go "ack! ack!" that's when the medicine goes in. It's surprisingly effective, even when he lashes his head back and forth and tries to push the dropper away with a paw. The liquid goes everywhere, though, and I figure that if I get any on his fur, that's all right, because he's only going to lick it off anyway.
I've also noticed that not only is amoxicillin a bright pinkish purple, it's also hard to get out of clothing.
The dropper I have only takes 1mL at a time, so 3 a day twice a day can be a particularly exhausting ordeal (hint: prepare the first dropperful before you secure cat.) To help morale today I decided to play Caddyshack with Abbie, cause it's his favorite movie. I took the part of Carl Spackler, barely-coherent assistant groundskeeper, and Abbie played the role of Ty Webb, best player on the course who runs into Spackler late at night while practicing for the Big Game.
"Here, here, you gotta cannonball it," I told Abbie, dropping medicine down his throat. "Cannonball! Cannonball comin!" Somehow he refused to appreciate the reference and squirmed about as defiantly as usual.
In retrospect I never thought I'd be sitting in a chair holding a cat down trying to squirt medicine down his throat while hollering "Cannonball!" but there you go. That's life in the big city.
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(no subject)
Date: 2004-07-20 12:02 pm (UTC)But good luck...it's a miserable job.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-07-20 12:16 pm (UTC)I would suggest trying to put the liquid medicine in through the corner of the mouth, as well.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-07-20 01:02 pm (UTC)When we were dosing Ms. Mixmaster T, she of the 7 big pounds of catflesh and the ultra-funky flow, it took BOTH me and Jan to hold her down for her liquid. I actually have a scar from one of the rounds of cat-burritoing.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-07-20 08:40 pm (UTC)He's a conniving little bastard.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-07-20 02:54 pm (UTC)Enjoy. :)
(no subject)
Date: 2004-07-20 06:55 pm (UTC)that's right, they become caddyshack fans
(no subject)
Date: 2004-07-20 08:39 pm (UTC)Also, he hates the film's sequel.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-07-20 08:26 pm (UTC)De kitties, dey love de butter.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-07-22 11:17 am (UTC)One thing that helped with Absalom (aside from the kitty burrito/collar bondage system and the sitting on her and the having another person help) was to mix the liquid medicine with water so that when she spat it out it didn't stain my clothes as bad.