How Many Vets Actually Have Pets of Their Own?

[bfls]

This is more a vent than a serious question. I currently have a cat that is on a lot of medication and I just want to look my vet in the eye and say "Seriously?!" It's not as if you can explain to your cat why you are doing all these things and treats & cuddles only get you so far for so long.

Five weeks ago my cat, Harry, had a sore eye. I took him to my regular vet who provisionally diagnosed a sequestrum and recommended seeing a specialist. In the meantime, he was prescribed

1. Antibiotic eye drops 3 times a day
2. Antibiotic paste 2 times a day (fortunately he'll eat this mixed in his food)
3. An anti-flammatory/pain killer liquid to be squirted into his mouth once a day

Four weeks ago we saw the specialist. He confirmed the diagnosis, said to continue the above regimen and added artificial tears to be administered 2 - 3 times a day, at least 10 minutes after the antibiotic eye drops. In other words, I had to put drops in Harry's eye 5-6 times a day.

Three weeks ago Harry had surgery to remove the sequestrum. His post-op medication became

1. Antibiotic eye drops 4 times a day for 2 weeks
2. Atropine eye drops once a day for 3 days
3. Artificial tears 2-3 times a day for 2 weeks
4. Antibiotic paste 2 times a day for 10 days (mixed in food OK)
5. Anti-inflammatory/pain killer liquid orally once a day for 2 weeks
6. Oral kitty morpine 2 times a day for 5 days

The eye drops all had to be given at least 10 minutes apart, so I was now up to eye drops 7-8 times a day.
One week ago, at Harry's two week post-op check up, his eye was healing well () but there was a small patch of cornea that is still not fully healed. His medication is now

1. Antibiotic eye drops 3 times a day for another 2 weeks
2. Artificial tears 2 - 3 times a day until the next check up in a month's time

Seriously people?! My vet said apologetically to me "I know it sounds like a lot" but that is because it is a lot! Have they ever actually had to carry out their instructions with their own pets?

 

[Norachan]

It does sound like a lot. I currently have one semi-feral cat that needs pills twice a day to keep his kidneys from getting any worse and one of my other cats has just got over an eye infection that needed two different kinds of drops, ten minutes apart like your cat. It takes two of us to give her the eye drops and we couldn't hold her for the ten minutes in between. Of course if we let her go she'd gallop off and hide, then have to be hunted down and held again. The only way we could do it was to put her in a carrier and have one of us hold her while the other gave her the eye drops. With a really difficult cat the easiest way to give eye drops is to soak a cotton-wool with the drops and wipe the cotton across her eyes. You get through a lot of drops that way, but sometimes it's all you can do.

Our vet has two cats of his own, so he knows what we're going through.

Has your vet showed you how to wrap a cat in a purrito? If the drops are available in a cream ask for them. That's a lot easier to use than the drops.

 

[bfls]

It does sound like a lot. I currently have one semi-feral cat that needs pills twice a day to keep his kidneys from getting any worse and one of my other cats has just got over an eye infection that needed two different kinds of drops, ten minutes apart like your cat. It takes two of us to give her the eye drops and we couldn't hold her for the ten minutes in between. Of course if we let her go she'd gallop off and hide, then have to be hunted down and held again. The only way we could do it was to put her in a carrier and have one of us hold her while the other gave her the eye drops. With a really difficult cat the easiest way to give eye drops is to soak a cotton-wool with the drops and wipe the cotton across her eyes. You get through a lot of drops that way, but sometimes it's all you can do.

Our vet has two cats of his own, so he knows what we're going through.

Has your vet showed you how to wrap a cat in a purrito? If the drops are available in a cream ask for them. That's a lot easier to use than the drops.

Fortunately, my Harry just freezes when I grab hold of him so I don't have any trouble getting medication in/on him. However, catching him is the tricky bit. For the first 5 days after surgery, when he was on the full laundry list of medication, I kept him confined to one room so he couldn't easily get away from me. However, I'm not prepared to keep him confined for weeks at a time so now I have fun of chasing him around the house mutiple times a day. Sigh.

 

[catloverfromwayback]

That is a lot! I had to put drops and ointment in my mother’s eye every two hours during the day a few months ago and it drove me up the wall. They’d kept her in hospital while she had to have it hourly. It was easier when Daisy had to have Chlorsig ointment in her eye for an ulcerated cornea a few times a day, but I shudder at the thought of having to do so many medications as you are.

 

[BellaBlue82]

Sigh, I know it does sound extreme. I can empathize with you on that, when Nico was sick I had an entire day routine of medication. It feels overwhelming for not only you, but I'm sure kitty too. It stinks when you know they need these to help him heal, so you muscle through.
My vet has 5 pets in all - two dogs, two kitties (both she rescued and have IBD), and a horse! Lol So I do feel better knowing she most likely has gone through this with her animals.
Try to hang in there, the more calm you are the easier/quicker the medication process goes. I want to say it was like a switch in my brain, where I just focused on being quick and thorough so Nico would spend less time squirming in my arms. After medicine, I would act all bubbly and tell him he was such a good boy!! Lol I know it sounds dumb, but I really think it worked. He struggled less, plus he knew he would get a treat afterwards.