Need Advice. How to give Semi feral meds for URI??

[maichelle1996]

I volunteer for a small rescue group. I just got a 8 month old cat to foster to try and Socialize since he’s very scared and does not like to be touched. Well this morning I noticed he was Squinting one eye and sneezing. I’m HOPING it’s nothing or something he can fight off without meds as he will be a NIGHTMARE to try and Syringe meds into. He’s not mean but runs and hides if you so much as try and touch him. Have two questions. One since he’s NOT a tiny kitten and has been Vaccinated is there a chance if it is a URI he can fight it off without meds? Question two if I do need to give him meds what tricks do any of you guys have in giving a VERY scared cat meds??
Any and all Advice is welcome. Unfortunately giving him to someone else is not an option

 

[FeebysOwner]

Hi. Do you think he would take meds in a liquid form - as in put each dose in a dish and add some canned tuna or chicken water, just enough to mask the antibiotic taste? Then, afterward, you could give him a piece of tuna or chicken as a treat?

 

[Meowmee]

I volunteer for a small rescue group. I just got a 8 month old cat to foster to try and Socialize since he’s very scared and does not like to be touched. Well this morning I noticed he was Squinting one eye and sneezing. I’m HOPING it’s nothing or something he can fight off without meds as he will be a NIGHTMARE to try and Syringe meds into. He’s not mean but runs and hides if you so much as try and touch him. Have two questions. One since he’s NOT a tiny kitten and has been Vaccinated is there a chance if it is a URI he can fight it off without meds? Question two if I do need to give him meds what tricks do any of you guys have in giving a VERY scared cat meds??
Any and all Advice is welcome. Unfortunately giving him to someone else is not an option

I would try mixing it with food first. I was able to scruff Merlin and syringe liquid meds into his mouth even when he had bitten me outside. I still do that now but very lightly, not really scruffing and he lets me do it mostly. He was pretty friendly and tame overall for the most part though he was pretty aggressive when I did his tnr two years ago at his release. But I trained him out of biting that way as well.
A uri is a virus and strictly speaking it does not need an antibiotic although many dvm will give one for it. If he is not very ill which it sounds like he is not, he can probably overcome it with no meds and maybe just some tlc and lysine in his food. I would work on getting him calmer and more used to you being around him. Maybe some calming things like the pheromones sprayed on his bedding etc. not the diffusers.

 

[FeebysOwner]

And, in addition to Meowmee 's advice, if he doesn't get better, this could be a herpes flare up which can lead to a secondary infection, at which point in time you will need an antibiotic. Do you know if he was tested for herpes? It is one of the leading causes of URIs.

 

[maichelle1996]

No he was not tested for herpes. He was a street cat till about a two months ago so no one knows his history before that. The rescue does not test for that as I think it would be to expensive. He did get two distemper shots which I believe also help to prevent or decrease certain URI. Hoping he can fight this off as I have no clue how to give him meds when I can’t even touch him

 

[Meowmee]

No he was not tested for herpes. He was a street cat till about a two months ago so no one knows his history before that. The rescue does not test for that as I think it would be to expensive. He did get two distemper shots which I believe also help to prevent or decrease certain URI. Hoping he can fight this off as I have no clue how to give him meds when I can’t even touch him

Put lysine in his food. It treats herpes and viruses.

 

[di and bob]

I get the Lysine Plus treats which has DMG for supporting the immunity system. I give two in the morning and one at night for the proper dose of DMG (which is very expensive as a liquid). I treated my ferals viruses, which developed bacterial infections, with the liquid antibiotic mixed in a small amount if tuna juice. Feeding the rest after he lapped that up. He only showed up once a day so only got it then. I gave it ten days instead of seven. He never refused tuna juice!

 

[shadowsrescue]

I give my feral cats meds in baby food. I buy the Gerber stage 2 (in small glass jar with blue label). I use the Turkey or Chicken flavor. It should only have chicken/turkey, water and modified food starch. No spices or other additives. My cats love it and take most anything mixed in a small teaspoon full.

 

[walli]

worst case you can get meds made into a treat at a compound pharmacy
Roadrunner pharmacy in phoenix, I had to cut up the treat and put it in her dry food
and she ate it! she is not much of a wet food eater, but you could prolly do that too!
the treats are soft so easy to cut, unless she will eat the treat without hiding in food
my walli wouldn't eat without me hiding it in her food.

 

[theyremine]

Two of my ferals were very sick with URI (herpes) when I brought them home to socialize. They readily took oral meds in tuna water with a bit of tuna. I gave them famciclovir, antibiotics, and lysine with no problem.

 

[supermax1943]

With my ferals (all very smart!!) I give them whatever treat I am going to use to hide the medicine in all by itself. Once they lap it up or eat it up willingly, then I put the medicine in. For example: if I am using tuna juice I will give the cat just the tuna juice by itself. Once the cat laps the juice up happily then I secretly add the medicine. And, secretly is important. If the cat sees me put something 'strange' into whatever I am giving it, 9 times out of 10 he/she will walk away. Same for baby food. I feed that first and alone before adding medicine. I will do this even for my older feral cats who have been through this process before. They are just too smart. If I don't "trick" them in some way I will never get the medicine 'down the hatch'. Got love them! And at the same time, outsmart them!

 

[supermax1943]

Oh, and YES on the Lysine!! Look for the Lysine in treats (I think Chewy carries them). I am able to get most of the feral cats to take that on the first try. And, if you are giving a "small" pill to a feral cat, sometimes it will work to hide the pill in the Lysine treat. I keep the Lysine treats around all the time because I don't know of a feral cat that can't benefit from having one occasionally.

 

[supermax1943]

I didn't want anyone to be up in the air about the Lysine treats.....Chewy does carry them....the only ones that my feral cats eat without a fuss is the Vetri-Science Lysine Plus....not cheap. a bag is $15.00 but there are 120 bits in a bag.