Getting the cat in the box

[Ms. Freya]

It's official. As of today I have to be the one who takes 2 out of our 3 cats to the vet. DH emailed me at work that after a 45 minute struggle, 4 large cuts, one traumatized big orange cat and one husband on the verge of a breakdown he had to reschedule Wendel's vet appointment because he couldn't get Wendel into the carrier...I'll be using my built time to take him early next week. 

So...any advice on how to get a large, strong cat who's leary about being handled into a cat carrier? Wendel can be picked up, but not held for very long. Part of me thinks I might plunk him in a pillowcase, then dump the whole pillowcase into the carrier. Part of me thinks I'm worrying about nothing, though and it will be fine.

Thoughts or advice?

 

[txcatmom]

Wow.  We went through this one week ago today with our cat Eko.  The scratches are just now healing on my arm.  Eko was so stressed he expressed his anal glands (stinky.)  And we have to take him back next week! 

I've decided it is time to get serious about training them to accept the crate.  I have 3 cats, 3 crates.  I cleaned them all and set them up in the laundry room.  I'm doing things they like like brushing their teeth (because treats follow) and giving out treats in there.  Right now they will take treats from in front of the crate.  I plan to slowly work on getting them to go in (with treats), shutting the door briefly, carrying them around, maybe even work our way up to getting the car and driving around the block.  We'll see how it goes.  It was just getting so bad.  When my female, Emily, heard me getting the crate ready for Eko she hid under the bed for hours.  I don't know what we will do when we have to load them all up for the pet hotel this summer.  I'm hoping my training program will make things better by then.

Short term solutions would be...1) Turning the crate on end and dropping them through the door (if you have the hard type like me.)  This was still difficult, but would have been impossible in the standard position.  2) I plan on wrapping Eko in a towel next time to lessen the scratching.  (I'm assuming my plan to get him comfy with the crate will take more than one week.)  Your pillowcase idea was similar.

I did spray calming spray in the crate (on paper towels) which didn't help with loading but did make him calm and friendly at the vets.
 

 

[ritz]

I go through this every time I have to take Ritz to the vet.  I worry myself to death about it.  *I* need calming spray--Valium anyone?

You might try giving your cats Rescue Remedy (homeopathic drug) in food.  Also calms them down, and can be used on an as-needed basis.

Cats can sense your anxiety, so try to detach your emotions from your actions.  The few times I had to pill Ritz, I did it by blocking out my emotions.

Work with your cats' habits.  I know Ritz' routine; as soon as I walk in the door from work, she lays down, fully stretched out, welcoming me.  So knowing that, as soon as I got home and she did this, I scruffed her and put her into the cat carrier. I can't pick her up and hold her--don't know how and she has never let me hold her but I do know how to scruff a cat.  So pick up your cat which ever way is the most comfortable to YOU; your stress level will be less and so, by extension, will your cats.

Try to time it so there is as little delay between putting her into the cat carrier and putting her into the car.  Ritz calms down when in the car.

I also think putting the crate on end and putting her in feet first helps.  My vet said to first put the cat in and then put a blanket in on top of the cat, calms them down and if they are fighting to get out of the cat carrier, they will brush against the blanket, not the metal.  (Last vet visit, Ritz broke several nails trying to escape from the cat carrier.)  In addition, put a blanket on top of the carrier.  That helps calm the cat down a lot.

BTW:  I use to leave out the cat carrier as part of the furniture.  It didn't help.

 

[txcatmom]

No, we've also left one out as a fixture in the laundry room.  They will nap in it from time to time.  But you are right it didn't really help when it was time to be forced in there.  I'm hoping to get them into the habit of going in on their own every day for treats, etc...  I'm sure we'll have setbacks after vet visits, etc...

I've even read about one cat family that eats in their crates.  That's where their meals are served.  She had no problem getting them all in their crates when a fire alarm went off.  That's my goal...to have them that comfortable with it.  We'll see.

 

[orientalslave]

Using a top-opening carrier makes all the difference to both getting the cat in and getting it out.  I have two, one is plastic and the other is plastic-covered wire.  The later is absolutely cat-proof - the latch is a long rod that slides through loops on the top.

And in my view, the best way to get a cat in who doesn't want to go in is to hold it firmly by it's scruff.  It doesn't hurt the cat (not so sure if it's vastly overweight), and it tends to calm the cat.  Put cat in, you might have to unhook some claws to do that, continue to hold it and tuck tail in if necessary, shut lid, slide hand out.

I also close various doors in the house before getting the carrier so the cat can't hide somewhere I can't get hold of it.

It can help some cats to cover the carrier in the car.

The biggest drawback with the wire carrier is that you need to put it on plastic and/or newspaper in case the cat wees, poos or pukes in the car.

Once you have a cat going in the carrier of choice, close the lid for a few minutes, open it and treat the cat.  When it's OK with that, close lid, put in car, take out of car soon after and treat.  Then go on a short journey nowhere, let cat out, treats.  I did this with my first two cats as at the time my holidays were in my holiday home which was 7 hours drive away, and it worked - I ended up with cats that travelled well.  I've not done it since but for some reason they've all been OK except for Rufus, who always had a tendancy to being travel sick.

If you Google for 'wire cat carrier' and click 'images' (on the left) you will see plenty of pictures of the sort of carrier I mean.  All the ones I've seen my vets use, and all the ones I've seen rescues use are the wire type and I suspect there's a good reason.

 

[Ms. Freya]

Thanks for the replies!

Wendel was well over his trauma by the time I got home, DH not so much.

OrientalSlave, thank you for mentioning the top-loading carriers. I was looking a them online and thinking that might be a good idea. Wendels' not overweight and I can easily scruff him. DH can't - he's convinced he'll hurt them...and of course they've all figured this out and are very good at getting free of him.

I think I might go price out one of those carriers. I've been teaching Wendel to tolerate being held, but it never occurred to me to train him in the carrier.

 

 

[ritz]

I live in a small one-bedroom condo, and the living room/dining room/kitchen are all together (no doors).

When I need to get Ritz into a smaller room, I bring out the vacuum cleaner.  She runs to the bedroom and I shut the door  So at least I don't have to drag her out from under the sofa. 

 

[Ms. Freya]

I live in a small one-bedroom condo, and the living room/dining room/kitchen are all together (no doors).

When I need to get Ritz into a smaller room, I bring out the vacuum cleaner.  She runs to the bedroom and I shut the door  So at least I don't have to drag her out from under the sofa. 

Nice!

Well, I bought a big top loader this afternoon, put some treats in (the girls went right in...no problems there

) after a few minutes, lifted Wendel and plunked him in the box. The big opening was a god-send.

Total time to box Wendel in my trial run: 30sec. Total scratches: 0.

I'm feeling a bit better about Tuesday. If it stays that easy, the new carrier was well worth the price tag. (almost $60

the only top loader I could find was safety rated for airlines...so at least I know he's safe in it....) I'm thinking we're going to make a point of boxing all of them every week or so, just to make it less traumatic and to make sure we can get them in there.

 

[orientalslave]

It strikes me that if every time a cat is put in a carrier it goes to the vet, is prodded and poked, quite possibly has a thermeter stuck you-know-where and then has a pill put down it's throat and/or a needle then it will of course hate the carrier.  However if most times nothing nasty happens - indeed something nice happens - going in the carrier should be a whole lot easier.

 

[Ms. Freya]

It strikes me that if every time a cat is put in a carrier it goes to the vet, is prodded and poked, quite possibly has a thermeter stuck you-know-where and then has a pill put down it's throat and/or a needle then it will of course hate the carrier.  However if most times nothing nasty happens - indeed something nice happens - going in the carrier should be a whole lot easier.

I agree. Out of all three of the cats, Freya's the best about boxing and traveling - you just have to open a box and tell her to get in and she walks right in. When we sat down and talk about it we figured it was because she was an only cat for the first year and a half we had her, so we took her with us when we traveled. So to Freya, the box only goes to the vet every now and then, the rest of the time it means she just gets to go somewhere with us. I'm hoping that if we can equate carrier with treats and a trip more than needles and poking, maybe we'll have an easier time for everyone.

DH is still a bit traumatized from yesterday...

 

[orientalslave]

<snip>

DH is still a bit traumatized from yesterday...

Maybe he needs more practice!  :-)

 

[Ms. Freya]

More practice at staying calm and not falling or the cat's pathetic "OMG, I'm in a box!" sounds.

Everything went off without a hitch.

Top-load carrier was $60 well spent. It took 30 seconds to get Wendel in the box (it took longer to get Sybil out of it since she;s decided it's her new favorite place to hang out.

) and he slept on the way to the vet. He was such a good boy at the vet and DH and I have pinpointed that the problem isn't so much the cats, it's DH's nerves, which then get that cats worked up. So DH is going to practice boxing them and giving them treats in the boxes so that it's not something he worries about so much.

 

[orientalslave]

Hope you get DH better trained in the next few weeks.  And glad you think that style box worth the $60!