Impossible Cat

[susieqz]

i'll try that the next time i see her in the bath room.
she doesn't mind getting picked up, but i better be able to sit down in 2 steps
or she starts to struggle, 2 more n she's really fighting.
i'm pleased that she's not afraid, but she'll fight because she disapproves.
i carry her carefully, so it doesn't hurt, but she doesn't care.

 

[foxxycat]

Drifter is such a good girl to take her pills in her tuna. I have to use the pill gun on my cats. I'm giving them their Drontal the first week of November. Wish me luck. I get so nervous, thinking the tablet might go down the wrong way. But one girl on here said that only liquid goes down the wrong way, not tablets. Is that true? If it's true, that will make me feel a lot less worried. Orange or Foxxycat, have you ever pilled a cat with a pill gun? Got any good tips?

Yes I use a pill gun every day. I just tip head up and put finger on side of mouth to get them to move tongue around then i push it in there and shoot it. I also give syringe of water first before pilling. I coat end sticking out of pill gun w butter. This ensures it slides down. Then shoot the pill in mouth with head tipped up at 2 o'clock position. Follow with more syringes water. My cat hates the water more than pilling. But shes an unusual cat. She lets anyone do anything to her at the vets. Not your typical pissy cat.

I am so happy to hear Drifter stayed in. As time goes on you can ignore her meowing to go out in middle of night. She will stop. As long as use litter box. Move it into living room tonight. Then in morning move it back to bathroom.to make sure she sees it.

You said you smelled something ....sure it wasnt you passing gas?!

 

[susieqz]

well, i no longer have to look for cat droppings. she is just having very bad gas
i can live with it, but i wonder if i should alter her diet.?
it' hard for me to balance her diet because i don't really know what she's eating.
i know she eats mice, ground squirrels n cute little evil bunnies plus bugs, but i don't know how much.
hoho, it's cold tonight so the window near me is closed.
if she tries to get back in after going out, she's out of luck.

 

[maggiedemi]

You could try adding half a can of Friskies a day to her diet. Just avoid the fish flavors, they make my cats' pee & poop stink. There are at least 20 flavors without fish, so there should be something Drifter likes. My cats like the Shreds best.

 

[susieqz]

someone should explain to me why there are no mouse flavor foods.
drifter never hunted bacon.

she has settled in nicely. i went to bed at 10:30pm, got up at 6:00am.
as far as i can tell, she spent the night at the foot of the couch.

i could have slept later. she was happy. i just woke up.
let her out for 15 minutes n she was happy to come back in.
37 degrees out there.

ican't understand why there was no insane meowing, or conversely,
why was there insane meowing yesterday.
might have something to do with a fight we had last night.

 

[maggiedemi]

What was the fight about, your grilled cheese sandwich? Glad everything went well. She didn't have to go pee at all? I think they don't make mouse flavored foods because humans would think that is gross and also maybe because mice carry diseases? I offered my cats bacon once and they wouldn't eat it, maybe it was too salty.

 

[maggiedemi]

Thanks Foxxy for the tips. Do I aim for the back of the throat or tongue with the pill gun and the side of the cheek with the water? I have a syringe from when Demi had to take liquid antibiotics in his food, it goes up to 3ml, how much water should I shoot in their mouths after the tablet? Any good videos that I could watch on doing this? I'm way overdue for giving them their de-worming because I get so nervous.

 

[susieqz]

well, once again, i will be accused of animal cruelty.
we were cuddling/playing.
she was on her back n i was rubbing her tummy.
all of a sudden, she bit me.
it didn't hurt, but it shocked me.
i shouted n whacked her on the nose.
this blew her mind.

understand, this happened in less than a second.
no planning.
i had no need to thump her on the nose.
she responds to my voice just fine.
but drifter will have to learn to live with my automatic
responses.
she won't do that again. this idea that negative reinforcement
doesn't work on cats is stupid.
anyway, i threw her out for 15 minutes.
when i let her back in, she was skittish for a minute, but
we made up.

 

[maggiedemi]

My cats would tear my hand off if I rubbed their tummy. Yeah, their bites don't hurt very much, it's their nails that do. It depends how hard you thumped her nose, I know some people do give a little tap on the nose sometimes. I don't do that because the horn works so well. I bought a whistle the other day, I'm going to try that because I can blow softer on it than the horn. I have to teach my cats not to claw people because it is against the law if they get reported. I think they only get two or three chances and Maggie would use up her 2 chances in one day if something happens to me.

 

[foxxycat]

it was probably instinct to thump the nose-she probably got over stimulated-watch the tail-if it starts tick tocking side to side-retract hand slowly. that's their body language-pupils dialate. tail slashes..then ears go down like airplane-but my cat never gives me airplane ears..she would slash her tail that's how I knew she was pissed off.

Maggie=let me find those videos...I only give a couple sips of water before- drop at a time-about 4 to 5 drops- I give a drop=let her drink-swallow..after pill I give 2 ml water-but it's drop by drop because she will shake her head and water goes flying...kind of annoying but it's better to have enough water to wash down said pill OR you can feed them after=either or both will work.

 

[susieqz]

why exactly do you want to blow softly?
if there's a legal issue, you should correct this.
i doubt i hurt drifter.
this was just a knee jerk reaction that i had no control over.
if it didn't happen so fast, i would have just shouted, because i know that works fine.
she responds well to my voice, just like dogs.

 

[foxxycat]

oh and most cats hate their tummy rubbed...it's a trap=don't fall for it.

 

[susieqz]

fox, she seemed to want her tummy rubbed.
thanks for the warning signs.
i won't stop what i'm doing, but i'll correct faster in a smarter manner.
i would thump her nose if she needed that, but she really doesn't.
my voice scares her just fine.

 

[foxxycat]

Maggie=here's the youtube video of pill popper-I don't do it like they do-I use my thump and index finger=I gently squeeze both sides of mouth to get her to open-and of course natural reaction is to lick/swallow..that's when I insert the pill popper to back of tongue-push the button-pill goes down-they have no choice but to swallow-then I pet her-pick up syringe of water-add drops of water to mouth immediately after..

here's the video=I don't tip their head back as far but some people do.

 

[foxxycat]

If it helps=Honeybee had horrible gas when we first got her..holy S$ee!! I have no clue why she was gassy but it was horrible..I was blaming Jon on stinking up the living room..then he would say it was probably me farting but then blame it on the cat...I said no I don't pull a "Jonny", he will fart then say "Honeybee!" hahahaha

 

[maggiedemi]

Thanks Foxxy, I will watch the video and practice. Sue, yes if somebody came over and Maggie injured them, especially a child, and they reported it, she would only get a few chances, then they would take her away and probably euthanize. So I have to teach her not to claw people. I wanted the whistle because I can blow more softly with it, the horn is really too loud to use that close to her ears when she tries to claw me. Plus the horn is huge, the whistle is smaller and on a string, I can carry it around my neck.

 

[susieqz]

would mag even approach another person?
drifter hasn't met anybody but me, but i bet she'd
run n hide from any child or adult..
please let's not get the law involved with pets we love.

 

[maggiedemi]

No, she would never approach a stranger. But if a child came over and tried to pet or grab her, I don't know what would happen. I just want to teach her for her own safety that it's wrong to hurt people. I think she can learn.

 

[maggiedemi]

Hope I didn't upset you. I just want to teach her not to scratch people, like you taught Drifter. I was just thinking about it because I saw this episode of My Cat From Hell and they took away the cat because it clawed the baby. It's not like I would ever let kids around my cats anyway, but it got me thinking.

 

[susieqz]

i'm sure you can train her to never scratch you.
but, do you have people who are willing to help
her learn about other people?
i have done this with puppies.
every single time someone comes to the house, even UPS or fed ex,
i ask them to pet the puppy.
pretty soon, the puppy likes strangers.