Sedating cat with no appetite.

Kanye

I have an unusual situation with two cats. They were rescued as kittens and I keep them indoors all of the time. They are quite affectionate with us but are generally scared of other humans. We cannot pick them up for longer than a few seconds before they start to freak out and run and often hide.

One of them seems to have a serious infection in his face and I have to take them to the vet. The vet gave me some diazepam to give them but the one with the infection is so bad that he is refusing food and water.

Does anyone have any tips because this poor little guy is in a bad way and I really need to get him seen to.

Thanks.

Pumpkinseeds

We have a former feral and to be honest the sedation never worked with him, it made him wobbly for a bit and then he would panic which of course made things a lot harder. Our chap reverts to being feral when we try to put him in his carrier. What we have to do is close him into one room, it's a 2 person job, we use a large top opening cat carrier and just grab him either by hand or with a towel and put him in the box.

It does mean manhandling him and it does make us feel awful, which is why he only goes to the vet when it's really necessary. It's awful when they're hard to get in the box, I think we could use a course of valium in advance of getting him in the box. Is there any treats that puss likes that you could crush it into? Favourites in our house are things like the juice from tinned salmon or tuna, we crush pills to powder and disolve the pills in that. The smellier the better really and if it's heated to luke warm then the smell will be even stronger. If puss can't smell food they'll be less inclined to eat.

Hope all goes well.

Nody

Honestly the only option I really see in your case is to hold him (in a towel if need be) and do the pill trick to get him sedated. He's not going to be happy but if he got a serious infection he needs to go into the vet and it is the least traumatic way I can think off (or simply skip the pill and take him in as is and let the vets deal with it; above post has some good comments as well).

Kanye

Thanks for the replies. I have tried giving them both sardines with the pills crushed into them but the healthy one knows there's something amiss and won't eat and the sick one just hasn't got the energy.

I'm afraid it looks like it'll have to be the traumatic way. Funnily enough, I've lost my own appetite from the stress of it all!

I'm on my own here as well which doesn't help matters because both cat boxes are front-closing! I'll try and update regarding how it goes (more just for my own sanity) later.

Thanks again.

Alun

One of our cats is very difficult to give pills to, and also isn't remotely interested in fish like tuna or sardines (strange cat!), but is mad about cheese, so we've discovered that if you put them into a small amount of cream cheese like Philadelphia they disappear in a fraction of a second. No need to crush them in our case.

If that doesn't work, like others have said, you'll just have to manhandle them, although I know from experience that that's almost impossible when you're on your own especially if the cat's a bit of a nervous one like ours is too. Good luck!

Pumpkinseeds

You might have to just drop a large towel over him and put him in the carrier in the towel. They usually wriggle out of the towel when they're in the carrier anyway. The vet might sedate him once he's there, Jazzy our former feral always has to be sedated when we take him in and Toby had to be sedated last time he fought them so much.

I took 1 of my parents cats in a week or so ago and it was a nightmare, they asked me to phone and let them know in advance that he'd need sedation next time:o

anniehoo

Pumpkinseeds wrote: »

You might have to just drop a large towel over him and put him in the carrier in the towel. They usually wriggle out of the towel when they're in the carrier anyway. The vet might sedate him once he's there, Jazzy our former feral always has to be sedated when we take him in and Toby had to be sedated last time he fought them so much.

+1 I'm not sure why your vet is asking you to sedate them yourself when it's possible to pick them up, albeit for a short time and put them in a crate to bring them to the vet,where they should sedate them there if necessary.

I'd be reluctant to sedate them myself if there's any chance of them escaping as you don't know what will happen to when they don't have their full wits about them.

Kanye

I'm just back from the vet and settled.

The diazepam had almost no effect on the cat who ate it so it was still a battle to get him into a box. The other one was too exhausted to resist much.

At the vet, both cats with elevated temperatures but the vet said the healthier one could come home with me after his booster and a check up.

The sick one is staying overnight to have an operation to lance the infected area, clean it out and stitch him back up. He'll be on a lot of antibiotics and anti-inflammatories for the next while if all goes well with the op. Worried sick about him but he's in the best place he can be.

His brother is now lost without him and is patrolling the house looking for him. It has been a stressful day so far for all involved!

Edit: just in response to the above, in order to catch them, I had to lock them into the bathroom one at a time, corner them and physically force them into the boxes. I was just hoping that if they were more docile as a result of the sedatives, catching them might be easier. It wasn't but lesson learnt. I'll just have to go back to college and do veterinary medicine so that I can do it all at home!

Pumpkinseeds

He's in the best place and it'll do him good to get some fluids into him and let the infection out. It's awful to see them in pain and really horrible and stressful trying to get them in the carriers when they're afraid of them. Ironically they can't get back into the carrier fast enough once the vet takes them out:rolleyes: Mine love to sleep in the carrier under the stairs but as soon as they see it in the kitchen they run for the hills.

Pumpkinseeds

Any news on puss yet?

Kanye

Hi PS. I collected him last night around 6pm. The two cats have to be kept separate so I brought him into the bathroom. As soon as I opened the box, he shot off up on top of the shower, dangling by his claws into an 8ft drop! I nearly lost my life.

Managed to coax him back so that he dropped a much shorter 3-4ft on the other side of the shower door. Even that was a bit much for him and he ended up in a heap.

Thankfully, he didn't aggravate his wound or injure himself elsewhere. Spent the next few hours talking to him and calming him down but he was totally out of it with the anaesthetic/painkillers.

He's in better form since this morning, mewling away looking for attention. He is having trouble eating and drinking with his collar and he hasn't figured out why he can't get past certain objects when the collar gets stuck so he's kind of just lying about for now, looking pretty depressed.

His brother still isn't sure what's going on and why he can't see him and tbh, I think he's a bit bored without him. They've literally never been separated before.

One thing is worrying me, when I tried to feed him this morning, he didn't really bother trying to eat. He ate last night but I don't think he's had anything so far today. It may be just because the collar's in the way but he'll need nutrition to get better faster.

Pumpkinseeds

1 of our cats had to wear the collar for ages. What we did was cut a bit off the top of the cone to shorten it. We used a bit of sticky surgical tape all around the edges of the cone to stop it being sharp but you could use sellotape as well. He still hated it but it was easier for him to get around and still prevented him from getting at the stitches in his jaw. It's awful when they're all groggy from the anaesthetic.

It makes you feel like a monster but when you think of what the consequences would be if they didn't get the treatment it makes it easier. They always feel a bit knocked about for a few days, a bit like ourselves after surgery really.

Kanye

He's supposed to start oral antibiotics today, 1.5 fairly large pills twice daily. The problem is, he has only taken a small amount of food since Wednesday, maybe quarter of a pouch of fish in jelly which, I thought would be easiest for him. I was thinking about blending some tuna into some cat milk and dissolving the tablets into that and see if he takes it. I should say, he has tried once or twice to get at his food but we haven't found a bowl or plate that he can get his mouth to with that collar on him.

To my knowledge, he has only taken water twice, once on Wednesday and once this morning. He also doesn't seem to have gone to the toilet since we got him home. I don't know when the last time he used the toilet is because before that, the two of them shared.

I haven't really slept worrying over him so I apologise if this post doesn't make much sense. I will be on to the vet today anyway. They said they would remove his drain this evening or tomorrow morning so I'm going to try and push for this evening.

morgana

You are making perfect sense. Its a huge worry when a cat is not eating. I would not dissolve the tablet as that would probably intensify the smell. I usually hide it in a little pate ball, use several if the tablet is too big to be swallowed unnoticed. That usually gets gobbled up no problem.
Another thing that helped to entice an unwilling cat to eat are WHiskas treats (those temptation crunchies). I ground them up in an old blender (or put them in a bag and take a hammer to it :P) and then put them over the food. That helped at least for a while.
Even if you get him to take him cat milk will help. Any bit of nutrient you can make him take will help keep him ticking over.

Pumpkinseeds

Maybe put the plate/bowl on a raised surface. Poppy bolt eats and throws up if we don't raise her bowl so we usually put it on a box of tissues. That's just high enough for her to eat and it stops her bolt eating. We also have the dry food on top of an upside down ceramic plant pot:o, sounds crazy but it works for us:)

Kanye

Good news! I mixed some tuna up with Whiskas cat milk (not much) and put the pills in in quarters. I spoon-fed him the mixture and he eventually gobbled it all up! Such a relief!

It was a super messy operation all in all because the tuna kept falling down into his collar so I was having to scoop it out.

Still no sign of him going to the toilet but I suppose if he hasn't eaten there's not much to come out! (Sorry.)

galah

One tip, get a carrier that opens from the top - pretty sure most pet stores have them for about 20 quid. Lifesaver!

As an expert in trying to hide pills for my very much clued in cat (currently on steroids) here my tricks:

Crush pill and roll it into bits of smoked salmon
Crush them and also crush some cat treats like dreamies, and cover the pills with the crumbs from the treats
Hide the pills in fragments of those aldi stick treats
Hide pills in bits of raw meat such as chicken or mince (you can also cook the meat)
If all fails, I dissolve pill in water and inject this into cats mouth. Not easy though.

Or ask the vet for an antibiotic injection if possible.

Best of luck ;-)

chamaid

Apparently Valium can cause liver failure in cats. Google it.

Pumpkinseeds

I read something in a pet tips article once about mushing up food into a puree and getting kittens used to eating it as it's gradually squeezed out of a syrninge, the idea was that if they saw it as a treat from a young age that you could hide medication in it and they wouldn't suspect. How practical that is in reality I don't know. We had some success hiding the finely crushed pills in Primula cheese and ham spread. It's in a squeezy tube, it's probably unhealthy as hell but Jazzy is a suspicious little guy and he loves cheese.

Pumpkinseeds

chamaid wrote: »

Apparently Valium can cause liver failure in cats. Google it.

Our vets have always been very reluctant to give us a sedative for cats. We tried it twice with Jazzy with very poor success. It just made him wobbly and his back legs were like jelly. All that happened was he freaked out and was harder to catch than he normally would be.

A top opening wire carrier was the only way we got him into the vet last time. It's always a 2 person job getting Jazzy into a carrier and we use big carriers.

Nody

Pumpkinseeds wrote: »

A top opening wire carrier was the only way we got him into the vet last time. It's always a 2 person job getting Jazzy into a carrier and we use big carriers.

I know that one for sure. We got two sisters; if we don't grab both at the same time one will alert the other and we got the enjoyment of trying to corner a frantic cat who don't want to go (even only taking down the cage two days in advance will have them go hide for a day...) but the top opened entry is brilliant exactly because of that (rather than trying to squeese both through the front entrance with legs pointing all ways).

Then again our friend's cat is probably the most extreme case I've ever seen. The moment he comes close to the building of the vet he'll start to drool, once in the waiting room he'll start to foam around his mouth (you'd think he had rabies ) and once in at the vet he'll go completely berzerk foaming, hissing, trying to run away and claw everything and everyone and pee. As far as we've been able to tie it down it comes down to his last operation in there and something must have seriously spooked him while in there and he now associates the place with whatever happened (and that's over five years ago he had the operation).

Pumpkinseeds

Nody wrote: »

I know that one for sure. We got two sisters; if we don't grab both at the same time one will alert the other and we got the enjoyment of trying to corner a frantic cat who don't want to go (even only taking down the cage two days in advance will have them go hide for a day...) but the top opened entry is brilliant exactly because of that (rather than trying to squeese both through the front entrance with legs pointing all ways).

Then again our friend's cat is probably the most extreme case I've ever seen. The moment he comes close to the building of the vet he'll start to drool, once in the waiting room he'll start to foam around his mouth (you'd think he had rabies ) and once in at the vet he'll go completely berzerk foaming, hissing, trying to run away and claw everything and everyone and pee. As far as we've been able to tie it down it comes down to his last operation in there and something must have seriously spooked him while in there and he now associates the place with whatever happened (and that's over five years ago he had the operation).

Jazzy reverts to being totally feral when he sees the carrier. The first bit of suspicion he has he runs to see if the catflap is locked and when he sees it is he just panics and has even run up walls. All of us end up freaked out and upset, we're usually bleeding in a few places. He only goes to the vet when he's ill, it's just too too too stressful for anything else and he gets more wary each time.

After the last time we had him there he had some teeth removed and when we put him in the safe room when we got home he actually dug holes in the carpet inside the door trying to get out. He's so terrified he always has to be anaesthetised to be treated. Other than that he's like any other cat.

SillyMangoX

chamaid wrote: »

Apparently Valium can cause liver failure in cats. Google it.

I've looked that up before and the figures are scary yet I used Valium on my cat and he never showed any signs of liver damage, now we were using the smallest possible dose and only used it maybe 3-4 times, but it's very effective, also is an absolutely amazing appitite stimulant. Like the second the Valium kicked in he would nearly eat yourself! But we had to use it as a muscle relaxant when trying to express his bladder, I'd imagine there would be much much safer alternatives if the cat just had to be sedated.