[DMcCunney]

My SO once spent several hours in the local emergency room after trying to pill a cat.

My late cat Kvetch had chronic medical problems that medication reduced but could not cure. One of them was infected sinuses that were constantly clogged. (She liked to eat raw garlic. We assumed it was one of the few things she could actually smell with her sinus condition.) Another was digestive problems that caused diarrhea, and made using the litter box a messy affair.

We usually securely wrapped a cat that needed a pill in a towel before sticking the pill down the cat's throat. My SO didn't successfully secure Kvetch, and got fang and claw trying to pill her. She got a betadyne rinse and a tetanus shot at the ER.

We reported this to the vet the next time we went, and I asked that the next meds be in liquid form we could squirt down the cat's throat with an eyedropper. The vet complied, but was mystified by the tetanus shot. "I don't know why they do that. There are nasty staph infections you can get from cat bites, but not tetanus." I just said "They aren't vets, and don't know that. A tetanus shot is SOP for a puncture wound."

Kvetch got her name from the tendency to complain loudly about things that displeased her, and many things displeased her. When I brought her out of the examining room after a vet visit, a patron waiting to see the vet said "So that's what was making that noise like a foghorn!" "Yes. This is Kvetch. Now you know how she got her name..."
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Dennis