1-27-17 Friday

Posted on by Robyn

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I’ve had several people ask about whether NotMalachi’s FIV+ status puts the other permanent residents at risk.

It doesn’t. FIV is spread via deep bite wounds. NotMalachi is, as far as I can tell, completely docile. He was so docile and so wanted to be friends with the other cats before we took him to the vet that I don’t expect his personality to change drastically once he’s finished healing up. It’s entirely possible that he’s just suckering us in with this adorable lapcat shtick and he’s actually a fierce beast. If he turns out to be mean or aggressive, then we will find another home for him.

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So, how do you administer the pain meds to Malachi? Which is a also a way for me to get some tips as Atticus will now have to start taking pills for his thyroid. His diabetes has pretty much gone into “remission”, and he no longer needs the insulin, but he’ll be getting a pill daily now. Not bad for an old 18-yr old dude.

GD said: Can I toss in my two cents worth? How I pill a cat… I sit down with my shins on the floor (kneeling) and my feet together. I back the kitty (his butt first) between my legs. Kitties always back up when trying to pill them. They can’t back up past your crotch and feet. BARRIER!!! You can, also, use your thighs to gently squeeze (which holds him from moving left or right. In this position, when you tilt his head back and open his mouth), you can see right down into his mouth/throat and it is much easier to pop the pill in over the tongue hump. Close the mouth with on hand and gently stroke his throat downwards toward the floor (encourages swallowing). The more practice you have, the quicker you will be…and kitty will be pilled before he even knows it! Follow up with a little treat.

Beth T said: I use this technique, except for the throat rubbing, never found it to help. I do also have a medication syringe loaded with some water which I squirt in the side of the mouth to help the pill go down, don’t squirt too much at once. You always take your pills with water, right?

Alyslinn said: I use liquid compounded meds to get around the pill problem. (one of mine has thyroid meds also)

I have to admit that Fred does most of the pilling when it comes to the cats – I do know that he uses a little squirt of canned goat milk to wash down the pill – which not only washes down the pill, it also gives the cats a taste of something they like. In other words, it’s a treat. But the pain medication NotMalachi is on is a liquid. As long as Fred avoids the painful side of NotMalachi’s mouth, then he doesn’t have a problem giving it to him.

I also recommend Connie’s post What I Know – How I Pill a Cat.

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Ok, I’ve been around long enough to remember your Spidey posts…I thought you might get a kick out of what showed up on the Emergency Kitten twitter.

That is TOO cute!

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LADIES AND GENTLEMAN!

I AM PLEASED TO INTRODUCE TO YOU…

THE KITTEH FORMERLY KNOWN AS MALACHI…

PLEASE SAY HELLO…


TO FRANKIE!

Yes, his name is definitely Frankie. (Murphy was a very close contender – to the point where I suggested to Fred that we name him Franklin Murphy. Fred didn’t care for the sound of that.)


“Really, lady? You thought we needed another one?”


“I just got THIS little brudder, I don’t need anudder!”


“But I thought I was the new guy!”

Frankie is spending most of his time sleeping – but at least he’s trying out different sleeping places. He’s also using the litter box like a champ. His mouth is still bothering him (he yawned and then yelped yesterday), but hopefully he’ll feel better soon.

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Yesterday, the guy from the utility company came through our yard to read the meter. Dewey and Archie, who were snoozing in the front room, raced off like their butts were on fire.


Dewey took shelter next to Alice, who was clearly thrilled.


Archie found shelter in the giraffe cave.

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Previously
2016: “Babies! You can come out any time now, the lady says!”
2015: If that’s not a judgemental little face, I don’t know what is.
2014: This is Orlando, I think.
2013: No entry.
2012: Everett, Sally, and Lucy made Tommy an honorary black Pepper.
2011: “Pay no attention to the Rhyme behind me.”
2010: Cheesecake pose.
2009: No entry.
2008: No entry.
2007: No entry.
2006: No entry.
2005: No entry.

Comments

39 thoughts on “1-27-17 Friday”

  1. Congratulations, Frankie! You’ve landed in kitty Paradise!

    He just has that sweet orange kitty face.

  3. Frankie! Perfect name for him.
    I like the idea of a little squirt of water or such to wash down the pill, but I never needed it. I will keep it in my back pocket, though, for the day I have a kitty that does. 🙂

  4. Aw, welcome Frankie!

    So, did the utility guy check in at the front gate with Sheriff Mama before being allowed to check the meter? I’m sure he had to show his credentials/ID before she issued him a visitor badge.

    Thanks for the tips! I’m going to try the water, but I also like the idea of using goat’s milk. Atticus loves him some goat’s milk, so that should help.

    1. hahaha… that was great… I totally pictured the Sheriff giving utility guy the once-over & stern instructions not to dilly-dally 😀

  6. If your cat is food motivated at all, I recommend Pill Pockets. Our cat who had to take thyroid medication looooooved them. The thyroid pill was small enough that I only had to use half a pill pocket a day. He used to beg for more after his pill. And pro tip they’re much cheaper on amazon than in the stores.

      1. Oh man, that’s funny! I don’t know if Atticus would do that, although my Gandalf would have. Not only would he have eaten the Greenie and left the pill, he would have made sure I saw him doing too. And then asked me what dafuq I was gonna do about it. *sigh* I miss that boy…

      2. don’t use the whole pill, break off a part of it and smoosh it around the pill. Then use some decoy pill pocket pills that are about the same size.. they can chew those looking for a pill and when they don’t find one they usually inhale the rest

    2. My outdoor 12yr old calico had hyperthyroidism. Cream on the ear was originally recommended or I-131 Treatment, a pricey kind of radiation. While she didn’t mind the cream, the treatment would cured her. Worth every penny. Although, news from the Vet, she was the worst patient ever. All claws, All the time. Poor Baby!

      Yea Frankie! Finally, he catches a bit of good luck. Well Done.

  8. Today’s post gave me a laugh I sorely needed and started my Friday off in a nice way…. I adore the Dewey/Dennis/Stefan/Frankie dynamic.

    I love Archie to bits and just wish he’d make friends with … well… ANYONE!

  9. Frankie – that’s a great name!
    I depend upon pill pockets for pilling. All my cats love them. They’re also cheaper at Chewy and I get my canned food there so whenever canned food comes, pill pockets come too.

    2. HEEHEEHEEHEEEEEEE! (Wait, are we dating ourselves by getting that reference?)

      Now I’m gonna have that song in my head all day.

    3. I probably shouldn’t admit this, but I just found a box of clothes in the back of my closet with my RELAX t-shirt in it. I’m still laughing.

      Hi Frankie sweetie!

  15. My cousin has a cat with thyroid problems and found it too difficult to give the cat a pill (her mother is terribly demented and has top priority) so the vet gave her a med she can give as ear drops. I have no idea if this would be possible for Atticus but I thought I should mention it.

    1. It used to be a clear gel that you would put on the skin inside their ears. So now it is drops? Nicer!

    2. Either would be good! When I first started giving him the insulin shots, I worried he’d start acting like a thug, and put up a fight, but he never did. I’d say “come kitten, time for your insulin”, and he’d come over and stand still while I gave him his shot. So, I hope he doesn’t give me a hard time…

  16. Congrats to Frankie and his new family!
    Awhile back, the eldest of our herd (now 19) started losing her appetite and the vet could find nothing wrong that would cause it. Apparently some older cats just do that and the solution is the human old school antidepressant, remeron, taken every 3 days. It works very well for her. Our problems started with the pills. They are low dose and small and have to be cut into 1/4 for such a small being. Even with a new, sharp pill splitter, we had trouble getting a proper dose and ended up with lots of remeron fragments. Giving her the pill was an ordeal. Our vet gave us lessons, but we never had a lot of success and even if we were sure she swallowed and we held her for 30 minutes after, many times she would hop down, go under a bed and spit out the pill. She hated the pill pockets. We had a compounding pharmacy make her meds into a liquid, and tried both tuna and chicken flavor. She hated both and after taking it, she would power drool, and based on her eating, she never kept a lot down. Our vet and the pharmacist did some research and found that more and more drugs are being found to work in cats’ ears and what we needed had recently been found to be effective. What we get is not drops, like Ahatatany suggested, but a cream that comes with an easy way to dispense the exact amount. I sneak up on her every 3 days when she is napping and rub the dab of cream inside on the hairless part of her ear. Then I rush to wash my finger. It has been a game changer in our family and from now on we will ask them to check to see if any drugs that our pets might need can be administered that way. I am so grateful to our vet and compounding pharmacy, as well as to the research vets that are finding more and more meds that can be given so easily and improve the quality of life for all of us.

    1. Atticus had dropped 4 lbs in 10 months, which is a lot for a guy that weighed in at 15 lbs. He’s now down to 11, despite eating like Henry VIII at a wedding banquet. I’m so relieved that it’s his thyroid, and that it can be easily controlled, and not something else. That his fructosamine level is now normal, and that he no longer needs the insulin for diabetes was a bonus. For an 18 year old guy, he’s in pretty good shape. OK, so he has cataracts, 7 teeth left and is deaf as a post (and when boyfriend can’t find me in the middle of the night? Half of Toronto can hear him wailing for me.), but his kidneys are good, no arthritis, heart is in good shape, he’s still the same chill guy he was as a kitten and no litter box issues.

    2. Kathy, you should be able to find finger cots at medical supply shops so you can protect your fingers when applying the transdermal cream. I went though boxes of them as Zoey was on several meds for her kidneys the last 3 years of her life. She had transdermal prednisone and a couple of other meds.

      Also as an alternative to pill pockets, not sure if you can buy these in the States, but the Laughing Cow (or La Vache Qui Rit) makes Apericubes, flavoured cheese cubes. Zoey lost her taste as her kidney disease progressed, but these very savoury soft cheese cubes remained appetizing to her. Her favourites were blue cheese, tomato and ham! They usually come three flavours to a box, or you can get them just plain. Cheaper than pill pockets too!

  19. two of my cats take a pill daily. the trick I use is that I start out by giving them a little treat, then pill them in the way that Connie described, then… more treats! I found that by giving them a little treat (one piece of jerky) before the pill they now get excited about pill time! after the pill they get treat bonanza (5 or 6 pieces) and they seem to completely forget about the pill. they actually line up for pills now by going to the spot I always pill them.

  20. I can attest that FIV does not endanger other cats in the household. We are currently on our third FIV+ cat, and we’ve never had any problems with the cats. We suspect that the first one we had, who came into our household in 1999 as a rescue (he died in 2011), got it from his mother, as he was a kitten when we got him. The second was also a rescue who turned out to be FIV+. Since the first one hadn’t been a problem, we figured she wouldn’t be either. Both were the sweetest, most docile cats you’d ever want to meet. The current FIV+ cat is also sweet and very human-centered. There are occasional hissings between various cats, and even the rare paw-raise, but none have ever tested as if the virus spreads.

    1. That’s great to know. We have cats who are getting older (they’re all turning 11 this year), and we’ve wondered what would happen if we had to give our Buffy a pill regularly. An occasional one–like a sedative when we had to travel a long distance–wasn’t too terrible, but she’s not at all food-motivated (the only thing she will reliably eat other than her dry food is the sauce off cheap canned ravioli), so none of the usual tricks will work.

      I’ve got that bookmarked now in case we need it.

  22. Ok, don’t rely on Dewey and Archie for protection. They are NOT bengal tigers, no sir! Frankie is the perfect name for this little dreamboat! They will work it out, I’m sure. My little Emily used a compounded cream inside her ear for thyroid for over 5 years and she made it to 21!

  23. Welcome Frankie!

    Also, I have a question. I have a cat who’s about 2 now, and a cat who is 12. Neither of them like to play (which is understandable for my old man). I’m wondering if this is because they’re mainly outdoor cats and get plenty of stimulation outside?
    As a side note to this question, my younger cat does NOT like toys with bells. And I haven’t tried catnip toys on either of them

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