I wrote about our Maine Coon kitten Luna under the Showing and Ethical Breeding Thread because my problem is specific to the MC breed but as this has gone on much longer than I expected, I'm opening it up to a wider audience hoping for more help.
This is a bit long so bear with me.
Luna is an almost 10 month old purebreed Maine Coon. No history of trauma that would give her any reason to hate being groomed. She was raised underfoot, groomed since a kitten, and I periodically groomed her since we got her at 3 months old although admit not as much as I could have since her coat was slow to come in and she really didn't need it much.
However, she never really enjoyed it from the get go. It was always a small battle with her. I thought it was because she was young, and viewed the combs and brushes as a toy. She'd bite them, kick them away. No matter how calm I was with her it was a challenge. I tried every tool imaginable and not one of them was something she could tolerate. I could manage to do the top of her sometimes, but never get her belly and britches where she needs it the most.
This got much worse after she was spayed. At that time, she got downright fractious when they put the IV into her. I feel that she might now associate being touched there with the surgery. She got MUCH worse at the vet then too. Before that, was fine there but after started getting shut down and anxious when I'd bring her in.
I also wonder if perhaps, she is just ultra sensitive to being touched. She really isn't a cuddly cat at all. She loves being near us but not on us. She will sleep all night on pillows above my head, touching and licking me but, not up against me. She'll tolerate being pet on her head, chin and that's about it. Does not like her body messed with much at all. When you pet her, it also always elicits a lick response which I find odd. Needless to say clipping her claws isn't easy either - but I can manage if I wrap her, purrito style, although this is getting more difficult as she gets larger (she's like toddler sized now LOL). I also wonder, if it's partially because she had some minor health issues when small where we had to administer medications to her frequently and even still, we have to periodically give her eye medication for chronic dry eye due to feline herpes virus flareups. Maybe she just is tired of being messed with. I guess I would be too.
Anyway...her coat over the past few months has finally really started to come in. Her tail is glorious. But oh my, she is getting mats on her belly now and I can not get to them. My other cats all were fine with me working on them, loved being groomed. She's a nightmare. This week I decided I'd get her professionally groomed but wound up bringing her to the vet instead to just get her belly shaved along with a sanitary trim.
Well, that did NOT go well. Left her off there, and 1/2 hour later got a call to come get her. She freaked out completely as soon as they started working on her. Mind you, the techs there all know her really well and love her. But she just flipped out on them. Came running back to get her. She was utterly stressed out, shaking. The vet suggested that we try again another day, but, she gave me a 'script for gabapentin to use to calm her down before she arrived. I asked her if it would be ok if I try using it at home on my own and she was fine with that. Said I should try using 1/2 the suggested dose and see if that works for her.
So, tomorrow, since I'm working from home due to the Covid-19 situation, we're going to try doing this and hope we can get her mellow enough so that I can get to those mats and work them out. I'm crossing my fingers this works. I'm confident I can do this since I've done it for my other cats, but I need her placid, not kicking and biting at me.
Anyway, has anyone else used gabpentin for this use? Would love to hear your experience with this medication. Tips/tricks not necessary as I've already done everything possible to attempt to groom her without it. If anything, I wish I could just let her be, but obviously that's not possible as it would be negligent of me to do so.
Anyway, here's Googie. I mean Luna (we call her Googie more than Luna most of the time)
This is a bit long so bear with me.
Luna is an almost 10 month old purebreed Maine Coon. No history of trauma that would give her any reason to hate being groomed. She was raised underfoot, groomed since a kitten, and I periodically groomed her since we got her at 3 months old although admit not as much as I could have since her coat was slow to come in and she really didn't need it much.
However, she never really enjoyed it from the get go. It was always a small battle with her. I thought it was because she was young, and viewed the combs and brushes as a toy. She'd bite them, kick them away. No matter how calm I was with her it was a challenge. I tried every tool imaginable and not one of them was something she could tolerate. I could manage to do the top of her sometimes, but never get her belly and britches where she needs it the most.
This got much worse after she was spayed. At that time, she got downright fractious when they put the IV into her. I feel that she might now associate being touched there with the surgery. She got MUCH worse at the vet then too. Before that, was fine there but after started getting shut down and anxious when I'd bring her in.
I also wonder if perhaps, she is just ultra sensitive to being touched. She really isn't a cuddly cat at all. She loves being near us but not on us. She will sleep all night on pillows above my head, touching and licking me but, not up against me. She'll tolerate being pet on her head, chin and that's about it. Does not like her body messed with much at all. When you pet her, it also always elicits a lick response which I find odd. Needless to say clipping her claws isn't easy either - but I can manage if I wrap her, purrito style, although this is getting more difficult as she gets larger (she's like toddler sized now LOL). I also wonder, if it's partially because she had some minor health issues when small where we had to administer medications to her frequently and even still, we have to periodically give her eye medication for chronic dry eye due to feline herpes virus flareups. Maybe she just is tired of being messed with. I guess I would be too.
Anyway...her coat over the past few months has finally really started to come in. Her tail is glorious. But oh my, she is getting mats on her belly now and I can not get to them. My other cats all were fine with me working on them, loved being groomed. She's a nightmare. This week I decided I'd get her professionally groomed but wound up bringing her to the vet instead to just get her belly shaved along with a sanitary trim.
Well, that did NOT go well. Left her off there, and 1/2 hour later got a call to come get her. She freaked out completely as soon as they started working on her. Mind you, the techs there all know her really well and love her. But she just flipped out on them. Came running back to get her. She was utterly stressed out, shaking. The vet suggested that we try again another day, but, she gave me a 'script for gabapentin to use to calm her down before she arrived. I asked her if it would be ok if I try using it at home on my own and she was fine with that. Said I should try using 1/2 the suggested dose and see if that works for her.
So, tomorrow, since I'm working from home due to the Covid-19 situation, we're going to try doing this and hope we can get her mellow enough so that I can get to those mats and work them out. I'm crossing my fingers this works. I'm confident I can do this since I've done it for my other cats, but I need her placid, not kicking and biting at me.
Anyway, has anyone else used gabpentin for this use? Would love to hear your experience with this medication. Tips/tricks not necessary as I've already done everything possible to attempt to groom her without it. If anything, I wish I could just let her be, but obviously that's not possible as it would be negligent of me to do so.
Anyway, here's Googie. I mean Luna (we call her Googie more than Luna most of the time)