Cats and Trails and Garden Tales
Musings on cats, travel, gardens and life
Poor Tiger – the dreaded visit to the vet
I hated to do it, because of the stress it causes for both of us, but it goes with the territory.
Tiger’s a sweet boy, a senior cat of 17 in human years, and had been sniffling, sneezing, and wheezing for a few weeks. Time to head to the vet in the new carrier.
We tricked him into it (he’s not nearly as fast as Benji) and the howling began immediately and lasted most of the journey. Twenty minutes later we were in the office, where the carrier became his new favorite place.
“I’m scared, Sue.”
“I know, Tiger. I don’t like going to the dentist either, but I go because I know it’s good for me. At least you get to bring a hiding place with you.”
“I’d rather go to the dentist, Sue. How much longer?”
“Trust me, Tiger. You wouldn’t. Anyway, it will all be over soon.”
The new vet was a cat person, with four of his own, and tenderly cared for Tiger, doing most of the exam through the various openings in the carrier. Much better than the old, hard-sided one.
“Right, Tiger?”
The ride home was quiet. I was given antibiotics for a respiratory infection to be administered twice a day. Tiny pills I will attempt to hide in treats. Good luck with that.
And instructions to help Tiger lose some weight. He’s up to 14.5 pounds. I can’t even lose my own excess weight, but will do my best to help him. Less food, more activity. (I may try it myself.)
And that’s all for Saturday #Caturday.
~ Susanne
Cats and Trails and Garden Tales 
Poor Tiger but at least he survived.
Yes, indeed! 🙂
They always know when the vet visits are coming 😌
Yes, their least favorite thing in life. 😖
Those eyes 🥰
He’s a very handsome cat! Big, beautiful eyes. 😻❤️
Thank you. Those beautiful green eyes captured us many years ago! 😻
Aw, so sweet, Susanne!!
Poor guy. I hope he feels better soon. I have to give some of my cats Gabapentin before we go because they get so upset.
I thought about giving gabapentin but last time it made him punch drunk! Maybe I’ll give him a small amount next time to see if it helps. In the meantime, I hope I’m successful getting the antibiotics into him.
I’ve had luck in grinding the pills to dust and mixing them with butter. Antibiotics do tend to be bitter, but the butter helps it stick to their mouths. I’ve also wiped the butter on their feet so it can be licked off but you have to get it worked in since cats are adept at shaking it off.
Thanks for the tip! I never thought about putting it in butter before and may give that a try. Today I grounded it to powder and added it to his food, he ate some but not all.
Aww, poor Tiger! But his kennel looks very comfy and I’m glad he is on the mend. 17 is a good long life–I wish him many more years!
Thank you, Terri. He’s doing okay for a senior kitty. Now I just have to get the antibiotics into him, easier said than done!
I dont envy you that task! ❤️
I have never understood why Vets insist on giving you pills or capsules that you have to hide in treats/food and usually have a 25% fail rate. Surely they could give the same dose by injection of some kind? Humans get I/V antibiotics after all. Better to keep a cat in overnight on a drip than trying to get pills down them twice a day for a week.
Best wishes, Pete.
It’s not easy for sure. I put the pills in the treats, and he eats the treat and leaves the pill. I’m crushing and adding to food, so he’s getting some of it. If it doesn’t do the job, I’ll ask for the liquid form, as squirting in the mouth might be easier.
Ollie was very good at eating the treat (Usually cheese or ham) and spitting out the pill. I always had to resort to forcing his jaws open and pushing the pill to the back of his tongue. And he had to take a LOT of pills during his 12 years, including a daily arthritis tablet for the last 6 years of his life.
Dear Ollie. 🙂 I hope we don’t get to that point. Hopefully, we’ll get through the next two weeks!
Oh my word, those eyes! Poor Tiger, I think all cats hate being in their carriers, probably because it invariably ends at the vet. And how true that once you get there, they don’t want to come out. But now that he has his medicine, he should be feeling fine in no time. 😀👍🏻
Yes, those eyes look tortured, don’t they? Now my challenge is getting the antibiotics into him. I’m trying the food method and I think he’s getting most of it.
That’s good. I had a cat once that was really good at avoiding pills. When I would crush them (or open the capsules) and put it in his food, I would put it in a very small amount of food so he’d eat it, because of I put it in his regular size serving, he’d eat around it.
Yes, I’m having that same problem with Tiger, so I’m doing my best to really crush the pill, otherwise those intact bits will remain!
💜
I have a carrier that opens from the side that my cats are pretty happy with. It’s called “Sport Pet Designs Foldable Travel Cat Carrier – Front Door Plastic Collapsible Carrier Collection” and amazon has them.
This is a new carrier that I got on Amazon. It has openings on the two ends, and top and worked pretty well.
it seems that as long as there are multiple openings, it’s much better.
Yes, it was much easier to get him in and out, and the vet used the top opening during the exam.
Our dog actually likes the vet! That is a first for us. I feel the way Tiger does about anyone making suggestions about my weight.
All my cats hated getting in the box and going to the vet, especially Tiger. And bringing up weight definitely adds insult to injury.
Hehe! Poor Tiger! I’m glad he’s going to forgive you!
I think he has! Though he’s suspicious of the pills.
Totally understandable!
Hi! I know I’ve already commented on this post, but I just saw it on Pinterest, and it has the link that says “Visit Site” so I was able to access it from there. For awhile now, whenever I try to post things from my blog on Pinterest, that “Visit Site” button doesn’t show up. My older posts do, though. Did they change the method for doing this? How did you do it? Or is it a hit-and-miss kind of thing? 🤔🐱🐼
All I ever do is click the Pinterest button on the bottom of my post and save it to the folder I like. I rarely go back again so haven’t noticed any new behavior. I’ll have to go explore a bit and see if I notice anything different.
Hmm… I read some comments from somewhere, where different Pinterest users were having the same issues. So when I saw that yours went through I thought “Yay, it’s fixed”. I’ll have to try it again. Maybe it’s because I’m using my phone and not the laptop 🤔
That’s a possibility. I notice other differences in WordPress when I’m on the phone app, maybe same with Pinterest.