This morning I made this poor creature throw up and cry.
Earlier in the week, I had to go to the vet to pick up her insulin. I hoped that they wouldn't remember that she's been licking her fur off, but of course they did, and I left with the insulin and a new prescription for a pill to calm her compulsive hair removal.
When I was growing up, Dad would always give the cats their medicine, so he could be the bad guy and my sister and I could be the good guys. Living alone, I am both good guy and bad guy to Sylvie.
She's a handful. I'd rather give a pill to a great horned owl.
To administer the pill, I wrap her up in a towel like a kitty burrito, with her head poking out one end. I have a pill shooter that supposedly puts the pill on the back of the tongue for immediate swallowfication. As soon as I walked out with the towel, she started drooling and tried to hide under the futon.
I dragged her out. I folded up a kitty burrito. I shot the pill into her mouth. Thick, viscous drool foamed from her lips. The pill dangled from one fibrous strand. I stuck it back into the pill shooter and tried again. The burrito unraveled. The pill fell on the towel. I stuck it back into the pill shooter and tried again. The whole cat spasmed and the burrito completely unfurled and she barfed up a big wad of compacted hair and food onto the towel. She moaned and two huge tears squeezed out of her eyes.
I'm sorry, kitty.
I held her until the drooling stopped. I opened some canned chicken for her as a treat. She lapped it up and wrapped around my ankles, looking up for more. When I got home from work, she was as affectionate as she's ever been.
Of course in this picture she looks pissed. "What u doin' wakin' me up?"
Giving this cat pills simply doesn't work. I am at a loss trying to help her with the fur-pulling compulsion. Anybody out there have any ideas?
3 comments:
Aw, kitty.
Sorry I can't give you a magical solution. I've never had much luck with the Cocoon O' Cat technique either.
Two thoughts: has the vet already done checks to rule out physiological reasons for the licking?
http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&A=2565&S=0&SourceID=42
I've found giving 'uncooperative patients' liquid is easier than getting them to swallow pills. A few years ago I started to see signs in pharmacies claiming they could provide any prescription in liquid form for kids. Maybe your vet or another one can provide the medicine that way? Or maybe a vet or pharmacy can take your pills and give them a good pureeing and turn them into a liquid form for you?
The vet is thinking she's suffering an allergy or has developed a compulsion.
I tried the compounded medication and I think it was worse, possibly because of the large size of the dose. The pill was not water soluble and it was not fun cleaning several cc's of "chicken" flavored oil from the hardwood flooring.
She's been much better this week - fur is coming back in on the legs and bum. The grain-free cat food would allieviate a possible allergy to some filler in her previous food (though by no means was that food cheap either, and thankfully was not on the Chinese recall list).
You said that you had to pick up insulin for your kitty. Maybe kitty is anxious about not feeling well. Maybe its about what she is taking insulin for (diabetes?). Maybe she doesn't feel well and licking herself helps her feel in control of something. Most would like to feel in control of somethings in our life. Can vets help with anxiety? Please give her a hug for me. Bless her furry little heart. Bee.
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