How to handle my cat being traumatized at the Vet

[bodisha]

Hello and thanks for any advice or suggestions anyone can offer me

So my cat, toothless, started acting out of character yesterday and she woke me up around 4 AM and I could tell something was wrong. So I took her to a local vet emergency hospital. It turns out she has a pretty bad UTI. Now when Toothless got there she was a little cautious but curious and she was initially ok. At one point the Vet touched her in a way she didn't like and she freaked out pretty badly. So the Vet decided to have her sedated to continue the exam. Unfortunately, the tech that was assigned to do this had a horrible bedside manner.

My cat is normally VERY sweet and has zero aggression in her, but the tech refused to approach her with any respect. Instead of approaching her slowly and letting Toothless relax with what was going on. She walked into the examination room and immediately started grabbing her and covering her face with a towel. Which scared Toothless and she began hissing, growling, and trying to scratch at the tech. Which is behavior I've never seen out of her. The more scared Toothless got the more determined the tech seemed to become. Unfortunately, all this seemed to do was escalate Toothless's anxiety into a full-blown panic. Which in turn caused Toothless to start fighting her extremely hard. Eventually, Toothless got away and started hiding under things in the examination room.

I was trying to get the tech to slow down and let me calm Toothless down, but this tech was on her timeline and didn't seem to have any patience for calming her down. The next thing I knew she and another tech had some sort of cat net and were trying to trap Toothless with it. Which they managed to do after a few minutes. All this seemed to do though was terrorize her and make things worse. Once Toothless was in the net she was so angry/fearful she ended up requiring 3 sedative shots to put her under enough to begin the exam.

She's been home for about 12 hours, and she still isn't herself. She normally is right by my side but now she isn't hanging out in her normal spots. She's also normally very vocal and meow's constantly, but since she's been home she hasn't meow'ed once. She ate some food when I got home, but she hasn't shown any interest in her treats at all. All in all, it seems like this vet trip took a serious toll on her. So I have 2 issues now she's home.

First, how to help her get over what happened at the Vet. She lets me come to her, and she seems to enjoy it when I pet her, but she is not coming to me at all. So at this point, the only thing I can think of is just give her space. Which sort of leads me to the second issue. I have some med's (Liquid) I have to give her for the next week. I know about the burrito trick with a towel... But can anyone suggest how to help her through having to receive her meds without retraumatizing her? I'm worried that a week of me wrapping her up in a towel and sticking syringes down her throat twice a day is just gonna keep freaking her out.

Once thanks for any advice

 

[di and bob]

I wouldn't do that..... I put liquid meds in a lickable treat called Delectable Lickables in the stew flavors. they are in the cat food treat section. you could put her antibiotic on a dish and squeeze a little treat on top of it. Or get her favorite wet food, mix the med in a tiny amount and put another tiny amount on top. Not a whole lot about a tablespoon, total. Keep the rest in the fridge for her second dose and let it warm slightly. or try a small amount of tuna juice. You don't want to taumatize her more. It may take a few days for her to calm down. I'm sorry they treated her like that, my vet would have never done that. You might try another vet or next time tell them you will bring her in a carrier and they can sedate her in that. i have a carrier that you can access the cat through the side, and one through the top.

 

[Kris107]

I'm sorry your cat had to go through that. That's terrible. Getting the meds in her is very important, so I'd still try. Make sure she takes the full recommended/prescribed doses. She may not react the same way to you as the vet tech. Approach her when she is relaxed. A lot of cats take a while to some down from sedation too, so she may act really off until that's fully out of her system. Just try to go back to your normal routine and she should come around.

 

[bodisha]

I put liquid meds in a lickable treat called Delectable Lickables in the stew flavors. You might try another vet or next time tell them you will bring her in a carrier and they can sedate her in that. i have a carrier that you can access the cat through the side, and one through the top.

Thanks for the tip... I tried to mix the sedative in with her wet food. Unfortunately, she just sniffed it and walked away. I'll try your other suggestions though. I really want to avoid having to cause her any more stress if I can. And the place I took her to was an emergency hospital... They were the only place that was close to me and open at that time of day. They suggested I set up an appointment in a month with a vet... So I'm gonna start asking a few friends who are cat owners for local recommendations.

 

[rubysmama]

I'm so sorry that happened to Toothless That must have been so upsetting for both of you. I'm glad to hear it wasn't at your regular vet, as if it was, I was about to suggest going to someone else. Getting recommendations from your friends sounds like a good idea.

As for the meds, here's a couple older threads on the topic, that include tips.
Liquid Medication Tips?
Tip for giveing liquid medication to a cat

 

[Furballsmom]

I'm worried that a week of me wrapping her up in a towel and sticking syringes down her throat twice a day is just gonna keep freaking her out.

Hi
Would you have a vet tech from your regular vet clinic who lives close and could stop by and help out?

 

[Meowmee]

Hello and thanks for any advice or suggestions anyone can offer me

So my cat, toothless, started acting out of character yesterday and she woke me up around 4 AM and I could tell something was wrong. So I took her to a local vet emergency hospital. It turns out she has a pretty bad UTI. Now when Toothless got there she was a little cautious but curious and she was initially ok. At one point the Vet touched her in a way she didn't like and she freaked out pretty badly. So the Vet decided to have her sedated to continue the exam. Unfortunately, the tech that was assigned to do this had a horrible bedside manner.

My cat is normally VERY sweet and has zero aggression in her, but the tech refused to approach her with any respect. Instead of approaching her slowly and letting Toothless relax with what was going on. She walked into the examination room and immediately started grabbing her and covering her face with a towel. Which scared Toothless and she began hissing, growling, and trying to scratch at the tech. Which is behavior I've never seen out of her. The more scared Toothless got the more determined the tech seemed to become. Unfortunately, all this seemed to do was escalate Toothless's anxiety into a full-blown panic. Which in turn caused Toothless to start fighting her extremely hard. Eventually, Toothless got away and started hiding under things in the examination room.

I was trying to get the tech to slow down and let me calm Toothless down, but this tech was on her timeline and didn't seem to have any patience for calming her down. The next thing I knew she and another tech had some sort of cat net and were trying to trap Toothless with it. Which they managed to do after a few minutes. All this seemed to do though was terrorize her and make things worse. Once Toothless was in the net she was so angry/fearful she ended up requiring 3 sedative shots to put her under enough to begin the exam.

She's been home for about 12 hours, and she still isn't herself. She normally is right by my side but now she isn't hanging out in her normal spots. She's also normally very vocal and meow's constantly, but since she's been home she hasn't meow'ed once. She ate some food when I got home, but she hasn't shown any interest in her treats at all. All in all, it seems like this vet trip took a serious toll on her. So I have 2 issues now she's home.

First, how to help her get over what happened at the Vet. She lets me come to her, and she seems to enjoy it when I pet her, but she is not coming to me at all. So at this point, the only thing I can think of is just give her space. Which sort of leads me to the second issue. I have some med's (Liquid) I have to give her for the next week. I know about the burrito trick with a towel... But can anyone suggest how to help her through having to receive her meds without retraumatizing her? I'm worried that a week of me wrapping her up in a towel and sticking syringes down her throat twice a day is just gonna keep freaking her out.

Once thanks for any advice

Sorry this happened. I would report the DVM and the tech to the appropriate places registering a complaint.

Your cat should not be sedated to do an exam, that’s a copout in most cases. You can give them some thing like gabapentin before they go there to help. Keep them calm if they get nervous etc. when they go there.

Something like that sort of happened to my Xena recently. It was at the ER already in the nervous state from having CNS symptoms from toxoplasmosis and somehow he escaped out of his carrier and supposedly tried to bite somebody. They were going at him with gloves and had to throw a blanket over him. It was written on the record that he was running around for three minutes before they caught him.

Xena is also a big love bug and would never bite anybody or do anything unless they did some thing the wrong way and he was just very nervous.

Then I had let them sedate him because it was an emergency. There was no other alternative. Although if you can believe it, Dr told me I could just go home and I’m observe him because probably he was more worried about his tech getting bitten than what was going on with Zena.

He said because he was running around etc. He was OK now. At first at home he had displayed symptoms of what could’ve been a blood clot like dragging his hind legs. But he was also spinning in circles, which is not a symptom of a blood clot.

I think one of the main reasons Xena got so upset other than that he was already very stressed out from everything that happened and having to go to the doctor at night, was one of the techs brought on regular basis, her very large dog who I heard barking several times in the emergency room- on the basis that he was a “service dog “who could recognize seizures. I find it hard to believe that that would be allowed in an emergency hospital, where you have cats who are already stressed out.

There are other reasons that I am going to be making a complaint about that place as well as a place that was negligent in Merlin’s care, and another hospital.

Of course, the awful drug telazol was used…which had just been given to my Merlin who passed away from toxo pneumonia a few days later who should never have been sedated for an xray. He was a tame cat and wasn’t doing anything that would require it.

So, I recommend for your cat to take gabapentin for a couple of days before she has to go to a Dvm and go to a different place for sure. I did not witness what happened with Xena. I don’t think they did some thing like what you just described. If I had been witnessing that I would’ve told them to stop and leave immediately.

As for medicating/ pilling her, if you had a method that was working, I would just try continuing with that and the suggestion about putting the medication in food or the licky treats as a good idea. I managed to medicate two of my cats who would not take pills by putting it in their food.

Many of my cats in the past, I crushed the medication and put it in a capsule, put some oil on it and then just put it in their mouth etc. if they let me.