The Vent and Rant Thread

[kindlekitten]

One thing i can say about my mother, (in spite of the things I'd like to say), she could get a pill down a cats throat before they even knew they were being held.

[badgoodDeb]

Originally Posted by kindlekitten

One thing i can say about my mother, (in spite of the things I'd like to say), she could get a pill down a cats throat before they even knew they were being held.

Have her patent that! And/or put out a youtube video, so we can all watch the details of how it's done.

If it's too late for this (condolences) then perhaps we can start an afterdeath youtube channel .....

[kindlekitten]

Yeah, we haven't spoken for 4 years and I'm fairly certain she'll be cold in her grave before my sister peeps

[poohbear_nc]

Originally Posted by Hitch

Really?

I've never tried cream cheese. I use malt-flavored hairball remedy, the gooey kind. Wrap the pill in it and GENTLY shove it down the mouth/throat area. That usually works, but pilling a cat is an act of high-wire acrobatics coupled with dancing through a waterfall of razor blades, even the best of them. (Although Zep will eat any damned old thing, so...of course, he NEVER needs a pill.) ;-)

Hitch

I've had the best luck with the cheese spread in a can - that you're supposed to squirt onto crackers - put a squirt on the end of each finger (one has the pill) - and make it a treat to lick off as fast as she can before the other cats horn in and steal some.

Of course, I've also had the cheese spread spat into my hair/eyebrows when the pill is discovered.

So for now, the tranqs are for me!

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by poohbear_nc

<snip> Tom - don't get me started on trying to get pills into my cats ....

Sorry, Pooh. My brain must have been skipping a few beats when I wrote that.

Originally Posted by CRussel

Cats and pills. I have had remarkable success with cream cheese. For dogs, cream cheese or peanut butter, but for cats, cream cheese. They'll line up to take it off my finger.

I love Norton, but pugs are dumb as a rock. Norton refuses to learn anything except every one of my tricks for getting him to eat his monthly combo heart worm/flea & tick pill. I can never fool him the same way twice.

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

@pooh: Perhaps you could ask the vet for some tranquilizers for use on trim the cat day.

Originally Posted by Hitch

OMG, was THAT who was supposed to get them?

Hitch

Heh!

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by badgoodDeb

For dogs, I have great success with 1/2" slices of a cheap hot dog. The dogs never even chew them, so they don't notice that part of it is knobby. Haven't found a good solution for cats, so it's good that my current baby doesn't require pills. Currently.

So far hot dogs work best with Norton, but only on days he likes hot dogs. He's a strange one. He's a very picky eater whose desires change drastically from day to day, but once I finally figure out what he wants on any particular day, he eats it all with gusto and then shows his gratitude by trying to service my leg. The little perv.

[CRussel]

Dogs LOVE peanut butter. And it's sticky enough that you usually don't get the pill spit back out. I've trained every dog I've ever had that the "Pill" command is yummy. Current dogs are all happy with cream cheese. And they get a baby aspirin twice a day.

[Stitchawl]

I used to crush up pills that Felicity had to take for some infection she had. We'd cut a slit in a slice of sashimi, dump in the powder, give the 'Come get some fish' whistle, and she'd have it swallowed before she was even aware it was there.


Stitchawl

[bjones6416]

Originally Posted by CRussel

Dogs LOVE peanut butter. And it's sticky enough that you usually don't get the pill spit back out. I've trained every dog I've ever had that the "Pill" command is yummy. Current dogs are all happy with cream cheese. And they get a baby aspirin twice a day.

I know! They are all supposed to love peanut butter, anyway. My elderly pug mix seems to think it's poison, though, and won't touch it. :-P (And I think he's the only dog I've ever met who doesn't love it.)

[ProfCrash]

Cooper and Caya we can just hold the pill and they eat it. Heck, Cooper gets tums for his tummy, he has a lot of acid and ends up vomiting bile if he doesn't get treats in between meals.

Cooper is actually very food sensitive. He loves to eat the tomatoes off the vine but he always get sick. It took us about 6 months to find a food he can tolerate, Taste of the Wild Lamb ended up working. We went through seven or so other foods and he was on a prescription food in between attempts with another food. It was no fun, lots of vomit and diarrhea while working on this.

Cooper is having fun with the Little Man. At 2, the Little Man loves to jump. Cooper sees it as a game and comes over to jump with him, or lick him. LM loves to run outside and likes chasing people so we will get Cooper running and LM will chase Cooper. Caya accepts LM and has backed off of her jealousy. LM does want to play tug with Caya but Caya wll have nothing to do with it. I think she knows she would hurt him because of how hard she tugs. But she loves tug with us.

[Freeshadow]

Well, tomatoes are a no-go for everyone having trouble with acid. Why should animals be different?

[ProfCrash]

We don't feed him tomatoes, he picks them off the plants. We have wrapped the plants in mesh but he figures out how to get under it. He is very determined to get to the tomatoes and then he throws up. He is a good dog but not the brightest dog.

He did the same with cucumbers and other foods. He has a sensitive tummy and doesn't realize it.

My Mom thinks we are crazy feeding him Tums but it helps him feel better and they are not all that expensive.

[red_phoenix]

Originally Posted by ProfCrash

We don't feed him tomatoes, he picks them off the plants. We have wrapped the plants in mesh but he figures out how to get under it. He is very determined to get to the tomatoes and then he throws up. He is a good dog but not the brightest dog.

He did the same with cucumbers and other foods. He has a sensitive tummy and doesn't realize it.

My Mom thinks we are crazy feeding him Tums but it helps him feel better and they are not all that expensive.

I have a dog with a sensitive stomach too. I give him Pepto Tablets. His Vet actually recommended the Pepto. I tried liquid but he wore more than he got in him. The tablets he swallows right down. His Vet pointed out that the advantage to the tablets is they dissolve in the stomach which is exactly where you want them...not coating their front.

[cromag]

When we still had Shadow and he needed to take antibiotics I discovered Greenies Pill Pockets. Greasy, hollow balls that would hold a pill in the pocket. He loved them.

[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