Taking semi-feral cat to the vet

Weezil

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I adopted a 4 year old cat (long-haired tortoiseshell) from a no-kill shelter about 7 months ago. The volunteer at the shelter who helped me with the adoption said Mama (that was her shelter name, so I kept it) was very shy, and said that since I had no kids or other pets, I would be a perfect adopter. When I brought her home, she hid under the bed for 2 weeks. I kept her food, water and litter box in the bedroom (it's a very large room) where it still remains today,.

When she was done hiding under the bed, she approached me and eventually she would sit on the couch beside me, she liked to be petted and enjoyed playing with her toys and in the kitty tunnel. She did NOT like to be picked up at all, and would run if I made sudden movements. I have had her to the vet twice since I adopted her--once to see the tech to get her nails cut (she wouldn't let me do it) and once for a dental visit which involved an overnight stay and removing 2 teeth. The vet gave me some tranquilizers to give her for further vet visits (acepromazine)-- I had to use one a couple weeks ago because she really needed another nail trim which I did at home, rather than have another battle getting her into the carrier. It calmed her down a little bit, I was able to get a better grip on her to work on her (I did all 10 nails!) but she has to be the fastest-moving cat I have ever seen! (Probably from her feral background).

Anyhow, now I discovered she has a mat on one of her back legs, and I doubt very much if I can remove it at home, tranquilizers or not and now from the previous vet visits and getting her into the carrier, she has become worse. She won't even sit with me on the couch anymore, I guess because of my previous "examinations" that resulted in vet visits. I feel horrible because I thought we were really making progress, but I'm not going to ignore her and let things get worse. I could never understand (before Mama) how people could say "Oh, I can't take my cat to the vet" and just let things go. I am wondering if I made a mistake adopting a semi-feral (I have no idea how long she was in the colony) but on the other hand, I do not want to give up on her. I think she is really picking up on my anxiety and it is just an ongoing battle . Sorry this is so long, but I would welcome any advice!
 

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I know how you feel. I was able to get a feral cat to come on our porch last October and she’s been there ever since. It’s closed in and I visit her 3-4 times a day. In the beginning when I went on the porch she would run and hide. Every time I went on the porch I will talk to her so she would get use to my voice. It took four months before she would allow me to pet her so at least now she comes up to me, rubs against my leg and I can pet her and I was even able to give her a flea treatment. I want to be able to bring her to The vet for shots so I can bring her in the house with my other cats but she won’t let me pick her up at all. I don’t know how I‘ll be able to get her in a carrier. I have been feeding her for over a year when she was still outside and she did have kittens, last fall she had her second litter but I wasn’t able to take care of them. I had already taken in her first litter of 3 ( I already had 9 indoor cats besides) so when they were old enough I called a place in Boston and they came out and trapped her and the kittens. She was spayed and got her rabies shot. I asked them to bring her back because she was familiar with the area.
 

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First, no, you did not make a mistake. You are exactly the human that this cat needs. Second, she'll start trusting you again in time. Many of us have had these set-backs. They do get over it in time...their time, not yours. Long haul here. SO...tranquilize her, get her to the vet, get ANY AND ALL mats taken care of, and be patient. Time is your best friend. You can make yourself less threatening to her by sitting on the floor, at her level. Read aloud, talk to her (without eye contact). These are tricks that we use with very shy cats when they first enter a home, so it is sort-of a "do-over," but with cats, you get do-overs!

These articles may help, as well:


I've found it helpful to keep my carrier in the living room at all times, with the door taken off. I will put treats inside the carrier daily.
 

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I have 4 former ferals myself so I understand your situation. One of my ferals developed a couple of mats last fall. Out of desperation ($500 estimate from vet and my anxiety about getting her to the vet's) I did a search here and found a thread about removing mats with olive oil. Tried it and it worked! Saved $500 and a possible visit to Urgent Care. And best of all my cat was not "freaked out" at all.
 
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Weezil

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First, no, you did not make a mistake. You are exactly the human that this cat needs. Second, she'll start trusting you again in time. Many of us have had these set-backs. They do get over it in time...their time, not yours. Long haul here. SO...tranquilize her, get her to the vet, get ANY AND ALL mats taken care of, and be patient. Time is your best friend. You can make yourself less threatening to her by sitting on the floor, at her level. Read aloud, talk to her (without eye contact). These are tricks that we use with very shy cats when they first enter a home, so it is sort-of a "do-over," but with cats, you get do-overs!

These articles may help, as well:

[/URL]
[/URL]
[/URL]

I've found it helpful to keep my carrier in the living room at all times, with the door taken off. I will put treats inside the carrier daily.
Hi! Thank you for your help. I talked to the vet today and will be bringing her in next Tuesday. (He is off this week, but will be in the office next week). Hopefully the techs can remove the mat (after I tranquilize her at home) but if not, he will be in the office and can administer another tranquilizer if she needs it. I moved the carrier today to the living room, she looked at it and didn't react. I took that as a good sign! So we will be going in next Tuesday. I will keep you posted, and thanks for your response!
 
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Weezil

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First, no, you did not make a mistake. You are exactly the human that this cat needs. Second, she'll start trusting you again in time. Many of us have had these set-backs. They do get over it in time...their time, not yours. Long haul here. SO...tranquilize her, get her to the vet, get ANY AND ALL mats taken care of, and be patient. Time is your best friend. You can make yourself less threatening to her by sitting on the floor, at her level. Read aloud, talk to her (without eye contact). These are tricks that we use with very shy cats when they first enter a home, so it is sort-of a "do-over," but with cats, you get do-overs!

These articles may help, as well:

[/URL]
[/URL]
[/URL]

I've found it helpful to keep my carrier in the living room at all times, with the door taken off. I will put treats inside the carrier daily.
This is just a little update, maybe it will give you a better idea of what I'm dealing with here! I brought the carrier in the living room and threw a couple treats in there. I tried this with her 7 months ago when I first got her, and it worked.....ONCE. I thought maybe she would have forgotten that going in the carrier resulted in a trip to the vet! Anyhow, threw the treats in the carrier, she walked right up to me and HISSED and retreated to the bedroom. So much for that. Mama is a very street-smart cat! I will tranquilize her next week and stick her in the carrier. I will keep you posted!
 
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Weezil

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I have 4 former ferals myself so I understand your situation. One of my ferals developed a couple of mats last fall. Out of desperation ($500 estimate from vet and my anxiety about getting her to the vet's) I did a search here and found a thread about removing mats with olive oil. Tried it and it worked! Saved $500 and a possible visit to Urgent Care. And best of all my cat was not "freaked out" at all.
Thanks for your reply, but I don't think Mama (my cat) would sit still for that! I am allowed to pet her, but that is the extent of it. I am just going to take her to the vet next Tuesday when my vet will be in the office. The techs there can remove the mats, but if they need to sedate her (after the tranquilizer I will give her at home) the vet has to administer it. Thanks for the tip, though!
 
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Weezil

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I have 4 former ferals myself so I understand your situation. One of my ferals developed a couple of mats last fall. Out of desperation ($500 estimate from vet and my anxiety about getting her to the vet's) I did a search here and found a thread about removing mats with olive oil. Tried it and it worked! Saved $500 and a possible visit to Urgent Care. And best of all my cat was not "freaked out" at all.
I have 4 former ferals myself so I understand your situation. One of my ferals developed a couple of mats last fall. Out of desperation ($500 estimate from vet and my anxiety about getting her to the vet's) I did a search here and found a thread about removing mats with olive oil. Tried it and it worked! Saved $500 and a possible visit to Urgent Care. And best of all my cat was not "freaked out" at all.
 
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Weezil

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I know how you feel. I was able to get a feral cat to come on our porch last October and she’s been there ever since. It’s closed in and I visit her 3-4 times a day. In the beginning when I went on the porch she would run and hide. Every time I went on the porch I will talk to her so she would get use to my voice. It took four months before she would allow me to pet her so at least now she comes up to me, rubs against my leg and I can pet her and I was even able to give her a flea treatment. I want to be able to bring her to The vet for shots so I can bring her in the house with my other cats but she won’t let me pick her up at all. I don’t know how I‘ll be able to get her in a carrier. I have been feeding her for over a year when she was still outside and she did have kittens, last fall she had her second litter but I wasn’t able to take care of them. I had already taken in her first litter of 3 ( I already had 9 indoor cats besides) so when they were old enough I called a place in Boston and they came out and trapped her and the kittens. She was spayed and got her rabies shot. I asked them to bring her back because she was familiar with the area.
Thanks for your reply! We are going to the vet next week.....will keep you posted.
 

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Hi, Weezil! I just joined this site to reply to you here. Over five decades I've dealt with numerous cats of my own and others, including mat issues.

I strongly suggest that you radiate confidence with your cat, faking it or not; cats certainly do pick up on our signals. Congrats on clipping Mama's nails yourself; for that and other very minor issues you certainly do not want to get into the habit of putting your cat through the stress, and you through the stress, time and money of going to the vet. Eventually you will likely have to pill your cat, give her supplements, liquid medicine, brush/clean her teeth, or even bathe her regularly after a surgery, so it will behoove you to develop your confidence in caring for Mama independently sooner rather than later, and that means whether or not Mama likes the process.

Having to drug your cat to cut its nails or get it into a carrier after *seven months* of patient love and kindness is overkill, and leads me to wonder if you received Mama's full history; 'very shy' is much different than feral - was Mama an indoor cat before it was taken to the shelter or not? (Stray cats are also different than feral; strays are housecats (who received human contact their first few months) but are lost or abandoned.) If I were a cat I'd be scared of going to the vet too. I'm sure Mama's terror works as a great motivator for you to learn to do more care of her at home.

When a teen I asked my cat's vet why my cat struggled with me but not with the vet. The vet replied, "it's simple - when it struggles, I hold it a bit more firmly. If it continues to struggle, I hold it even more tightly; eventually it will stop struggling, then I let up on my hold until and unless it starts struggling again." That's held true in my experience, meaning, you must show your cat it will not win, and then it will give up, and most importantly, NEXT time you want to do the same thing (like clip its nails), it won't struggle as much, and then eventually it shouldn't struggle at all. I've cared for ferals, stray cats, and very shy cats as well; I'm NOT suggesting that you get into a big, stressful battle. But if you're acting very meek and backing off as soon as your cat objects, you're teaching it to object and fight your attentions. I just read above "I am allowed to pet her, but that is the extent of it"; that's not at all a constructive attitude ... just for one example, how are you supposed to give her the daily grooming she needs? It's not up to Mama, it's up to you.

Nails: Easiest would be to ask a friend or neighbor to stand while holding Mama with the cat's back to their chest, and enjoy the ease and speed of clipping her nails. Otherwise wrapping Mama in a large towel (except for one extended paw at a time) works at first, but it's a bit much / overkill unless Mama's very bite-y. Mine do best when I let them sit up in my lap (with my left ankle on my right knee, with the cat's tail down the center) when doing their front paws, then I scoot them down on their back a bit to do the rear paws. But in any event, do it fast, and when done make sure you give Mama her favorite treat.

The seven months you've had Mama is more than enough to have trained her to put up with nail trimming (unless she's a feral cat that wasn't raised with humans as a kitten), and you certainly don't want drugs or a vet visit for it, so I'm glad you're managing it now.

Mats: I'm wondering how you're grooming her daily if she developed a mat. If you're not grooming Mama daily she's going to get mats. You may not yet have all the grooming tools that come in handy with long-haired cats, or you may not be insisting on grooming her.

1. You could try using the cat grooming tool shaped like a "J'; it has a flat metal handle with a slightly curved, flat metal end, the outer of which is smooth, and the inner side of which is a razor edge. You simply slide the curved part under the mat and pull gently outward as you saw it back and forth. But I didn't like this one for other than very small mats because the base is about a centimeter high, and so it can pull at the skin if there's not enough loose hair at the mat base. Cat's skin is always very sensitive, but often moreso from the pulling of the mat over time.

2. Thin mat: If it's not wide either, hold the top of the mat and very carefully cut it away sideways using a sharp scissor, or the tool mentioned above held sideways (a scissor will pull less on the skin). If the mat is wide, hold the base of the mat tightly enough that the cat won't feel what you're doing. Slide one side of a sharp scissor between the skin and mat, and cut it. Repeat this a few times until the outermost parts of the mat start to fall away, or, *while holding the base of the mat* (to make sure you're not pulling the skin), pull away the outside parts of it with the tip of your metal grooming comb (I'd get one of these).

3. Thick mat: Hold the base of the mat. Stick the lower side of the scissor through the mat about 1/2 inch from the top of it and cut; repeat this across the mat until you can easily cut the rest of it away sideways, or pick it away with the metal comb.

4. I've used an electric shaver to entirely shave cats filled with mats, and to very easily cut out a mat sideways. You must have a helper to hold the cat. Also, long-haired cats often enjoy being shaved (lion cut = not the neck or legs) from July - Sept. if you live in a hot climate. I've paid a groomer to annually shave a tame long-haired cat who loved the result; not only was he cooler, but he could feel being petted much more acutely.

If Mama has the ultra-soft, very thin hair that sticks to everything and mats very easily, I suggest that you apply grooming spray before you groom her. I had one extra-long-haired cat (if there is such a version, lol, but she had 2+ inch long hair) for which this spray made at least a 60% improvement in the ease of grooming her, and I think she appreciated it too. The one I used was "Nature's Miracle Ultra-Grooming Spray" (conditioning formula with pro-hydrate enzymes).

I ended up with a pantheon of grooming tools for my ultra-long haired (initially also extremely shy and anti-social) cat. Another good tool has a handle with a metal tip of only say five thick teeth in a line which end in rounded points; that's needed to get particularly to the deep, softer part of the coat, especially in the fall and spring. Because she's very skittish, you may want to try the soft silicone glove groomer with many short nubs; it won't help you actually groom much other than her face, neck and maybe her legs, but it won't hurt and it may accustom her to being fully groomed over time.

I take my cats out in my car a few times a month (to pick up food or do another short errand, or to 'walk' them in a quiet park after dark when no cars are nearby) so that they don't think every outing is to the scary vet office. This trains them over time to realize nothing bad will happen to them, that 'outside' isn't a threat, and it also allows me to travel with them by car a longer distance occasionally without them getting stressed. I think you might want to try this, just as far as taking them out into your car to do a short errand say 3x a month; over time Mama should become used to it.

I'd say this is enough for now! Bottom line: I suggest that you cut the mat out yourself by any means needed. If you don't have a friend to help hold her head, wrap Mama in a towel with just her back leg sticking out. Don't forget the treat immediately afterward. Whether Mama is a feral or just skittish, she has to get used to being handled for grooming, etc. Feel free to ignore all this; it's just what has worked for me over the years. Good luck!
 

Clovis

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I don’t know how I‘ll be able to get her in a carrier.
Have you tried feeding her in the bottom of a hard carrier, then a ~week later with the top on it too, to get her used to it? Then you could close it when she's eating. I've done this, but only using the full carrier (swinging door and all), and it worked fine. Your mileage may vary of course! ;-)
 
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Weezil

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The shelter I got Mama from is a no-kill shelter and they are in partnership with a shelter in a neighboring state (a high-kill shelter) that brings in a lot of feral/semiferal cats. When I got Mama, she was 3 years old. I received her medical records when I adopted her (including her vaccination/health records from when she was in the high-kill shelter) and was listed as a feral/community cat. She did have an ear tip. (Hope I am not confusing you with her history!!) Anyhow, at the shelter I adopted her from, one of the volunteers was assisting me, and she really didn't know Mama's history, as she came from the high-kill shelter. She told me Mama had been in their shelter for several months and when the pandemic first started last year, they had to put all the cats into foster homes for a few months until they could start adoption processes again. Mama was very shy in the foster home and spent most of the time hiding from her foster family's dog and kids. When she came back to the shelter, she said a lot of people would look at her, but she was just too shy to make any connections, so she never got adopted. The volunteer told me that since I had no kids or other pets, I would be a perfect candidate to adopt her. I had had cats before (Mama is my third) so I thought she would be fine with me. It took her several weeks to come out from under the bed, and I was very happy with the slow progress I was making. She didn't run from visitors like she did (she wouldn't come near them, but would sit in the same room with them), and she sat beside me on the couch, letting me pet her. Since the nail trim and my discovery of the mat, she won't do this anymore, but she will come around me, just won't sit beside me. I really think Mama came from a completely feral background before I got her-- she just has a lot of "street smarts" that I have never observed in other cats from a questionable background. but I think with time and patience she can gain confidence. I don't think I would be able to remove this mat myself and would rather have my vet do it. When she had to stay at the vet's overnight for her dental procedure, amazingly she was fine when I brought her home!! So maybe if she goes in to get the mat removed, she will realize living here is not so bad, and I am not the bad guy here!
Hi, Weezil! I just joined this site to reply to you here. Over five decades I've dealt with numerous cats of my own and others, including mat issues.

I strongly suggest that you radiate confidence with your cat, faking it or not; cats certainly do pick up on our signals. Congrats on clipping Mama's nails yourself; for that and other very minor issues you certainly do not want to get into the habit of putting your cat through the stress, and you through the stress, time and money of going to the vet. Eventually you will likely have to pill your cat, give her supplements, liquid medicine, brush/clean her teeth, or even bathe her regularly after a surgery, so it will behoove you to develop your confidence in caring for Mama independently sooner rather than later, and that means whether or not Mama likes the process.

Having to drug your cat to cut its nails or get it into a carrier after *seven months* of patient love and kindness is overkill, and leads me to wonder if you received Mama's full history; 'very shy' is much different than feral - was Mama an indoor cat before it was taken to the shelter or not? (Stray cats are also different than feral; strays are housecats (who received human contact their first few months) but are lost or abandoned.) If I were a cat I'd be scared of going to the vet too. I'm sure Mama's terror works as a great motivator for you to learn to do more care of her at home.

When a teen I asked my cat's vet why my cat struggled with me but not with the vet. The vet replied, "it's simple - when it struggles, I hold it a bit more firmly. If it continues to struggle, I hold it even more tightly; eventually it will stop struggling, then I let up on my hold until and unless it starts struggling again." That's held true in my experience, meaning, you must show your cat it will not win, and then it will give up, and most importantly, NEXT time you want to do the same thing (like clip its nails), it won't struggle as much, and then eventually it shouldn't struggle at all. I've cared for ferals, stray cats, and very shy cats as well; I'm NOT suggesting that you get into a big, stressful battle. But if you're acting very meek and backing off as soon as your cat objects, you're teaching it to object and fight your attentions. I just read above "I am allowed to pet her, but that is the extent of it"; that's not at all a constructive attitude ... just for one example, how are you supposed to give her the daily grooming she needs? It's not up to Mama, it's up to you.

Nails: Easiest would be to ask a friend or neighbor to stand while holding Mama with the cat's back to their chest, and enjoy the ease and speed of clipping her nails. Otherwise wrapping Mama in a large towel (except for one extended paw at a time) works at first, but it's a bit much / overkill unless Mama's very bite-y. Mine do best when I let them sit up in my lap (with my left ankle on my right knee, with the cat's tail down the center) when doing their front paws, then I scoot them down on their back a bit to do the rear paws. But in any event, do it fast, and when done make sure you give Mama her favorite treat.

The seven months you've had Mama is more than enough to have trained her to put up with nail trimming (unless she's a feral cat that wasn't raised with humans as a kitten), and you certainly don't want drugs or a vet visit for it, so I'm glad you're managing it now.

Mats: I'm wondering how you're grooming her daily if she developed a mat. If you're not grooming Mama daily she's going to get mats. You may not yet have all the grooming tools that come in handy with long-haired cats, or you may not be insisting on grooming her.

1. You could try using the cat grooming tool shaped like a "J'; it has a flat metal handle with a slightly curved, flat metal end, the outer of which is smooth, and the inner side of which is a razor edge. You simply slide the curved part under the mat and pull gently outward as you saw it back and forth. But I didn't like this one for other than very small mats because the base is about a centimeter high, and so it can pull at the skin if there's not enough loose hair at the mat base. Cat's skin is always very sensitive, but often moreso from the pulling of the mat over time.

2. Thin mat: If it's not wide either, hold the top of the mat and very carefully cut it away sideways using a sharp scissor, or the tool mentioned above held sideways (a scissor will pull less on the skin). If the mat is wide, hold the base of the mat tightly enough that the cat won't feel what you're doing. Slide one side of a sharp scissor between the skin and mat, and cut it. Repeat this a few times until the outermost parts of the mat start to fall away, or, *while holding the base of the mat* (to make sure you're not pulling the skin), pull away the outside parts of it with the tip of your metal grooming comb (I'd get one of these).

3. Thick mat: Hold the base of the mat. Stick the lower side of the scissor through the mat about 1/2 inch from the top of it and cut; repeat this across the mat until you can easily cut the rest of it away sideways, or pick it away with the metal comb.

4. I've used an electric shaver to entirely shave cats filled with mats, and to very easily cut out a mat sideways. You must have a helper to hold the cat. Also, long-haired cats often enjoy being shaved (lion cut = not the neck or legs) from July - Sept. if you live in a hot climate. I've paid a groomer to annually shave a tame long-haired cat who loved the result; not only was he cooler, but he could feel being petted much more acutely.

If Mama has the ultra-soft, very thin hair that sticks to everything and mats very easily, I suggest that you apply grooming spray before you groom her. I had one extra-long-haired cat (if there is such a version, lol, but she had 2+ inch long hair) for which this spray made at least a 60% improvement in the ease of grooming her, and I think she appreciated it too. The one I used was "Nature's Miracle Ultra-Grooming Spray" (conditioning formula with pro-hydrate enzymes).

I ended up with a pantheon of grooming tools for my ultra-long haired (initially also extremely shy and anti-social) cat. Another good tool has a handle with a metal tip of only say five thick teeth in a line which end in rounded points; that's needed to get particularly to the deep, softer part of the coat, especially in the fall and spring. Because she's very skittish, you may want to try the soft silicone glove groomer with many short nubs; it won't help you actually groom much other than her face, neck and maybe her legs, but it won't hurt and it may accustom her to being fully groomed over time.

I take my cats out in my car a few times a month (to pick up food or do another short errand, or to 'walk' them in a quiet park after dark when no cars are nearby) so that they don't think every outing is to the scary vet office. This trains them over time to realize nothing bad will happen to them, that 'outside' isn't a threat, and it also allows me to travel with them by car a longer distance occasionally without them getting stressed. I think you might want to try this, just as far as taking them out into your car to do a short errand say 3x a month; over time Mama should become used to it.

I'd say this is enough for now! Bottom line: I suggest that you cut the mat out yourself by any means needed. If you don't have a friend to help hold her head, wrap Mama in a towel with just her back leg sticking out. Don't forget the treat immediately afterward. Whether Mama is a feral or just skittish, she has to get used to being handled for grooming, etc. Feel free to ignore all this; it's just what has worked for me over the years. Good luck!
 

Mamanyt1953

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And with each trip you make, and then bring her back home, she trusts, just a bit more, that it really is home!
 
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Weezil

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This is to everyone who replied to my post about getting Mama to the vet. It wasn't that hard to do today, ground up the pill and put it in some canned food, and waited until it had taken effect, grabbed her and put her in the carrier. I just took her to the vet techs rather than the regular vet I see, they removed the mat (free of charge!!) and then since I already had her there, I had them cut her nails, so the whole visit cost me $15!! No complaints here! And thanks to everyone for listening!!
 
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