Not very clever... but brave.

[johnpalmer]

I've been fooling around in an old-ish computer game called Sacred, and there's a character who has that line as an occasional blow-off after defeating an enemy. "That was brave. Not very clever, but brave."

Yesterday, I decided that, given the difficulties of herding cats, I'd take both of my cats to the vet the same day. Skitty had problems with her teeth, and Chibi had to be re-evaluated for his nose.

Well, I was right to be concerned about Skitty; her teeth problems were more serious than I thought, and they had to do an extraction on one molar that had some kind of lesion that was affecting her jaw. I thought she'd been hiding more than usual, and figured it might be because of sickness. She's on a course of antibiotics and painkillers.

Chibi... alas, last time I was there, they'd suggested he might have an autoimmune issue, but they apparently changed their minds about that. They sent me home with these capsules full of powder that I'm supposed to give him. I'm starting to hope he can swallow them whole, because other than that, I can't think of any other way to get the powder inside him.

You see, my cats graze all day on dry food, so when there's canned food out, they don't come running to gobble it up. If they did, I could sprinkle the powder on his food. But they don't have consistent eating patterns, so I'd never know which cat ate the powder.

Then again, that might change. Skitty is on a canned-food restriction for two weeks, so maybe I can train them to eat when food is set out.

(BTW: does anyone know how long it's safe to leave canned food out in the bowl?)

Anyway... wrangling two cats, with various illnesses and sensitivities is not my idea of a good time. But, it's done, and Skitty is healing and Chibi is... well, still stuck with frequent sinus infections. But maybe this powder will help. (See? This is me, being pessimistic. I think I'm going to have to push them to search him for tooth fragments.) And it's another vet visit done with, for a while at least.

Comments

[kathrynt.livejournal.com]

(BTW: does anyone know how long it's safe to leave canned food out in the bowl?)

12 hours if it's hot. If the cats are meowing for more food but there's still canned food out, it's gone off. If you ignore that (at your peril) and suddenly start smelling something like very strong smoked salmon, put on rubber gloves before you scrape out the cat food, because chances are good it's gone maggoty. ASK ME HOW I KNOW.

[johnpalmer.livejournal.com]

So, how do you know... never mind, I can guess :-).

[the-morsel.livejournal.com]

please forgive the drive-by -- I am not sure about LJ etiquette -- but I do have some suggestions. My friends' cat takes powdered meds mixed with some water tuna came in. Mix them in a small bowl and let the cat drink it.

If the cat won't, or to make sure the right cat gets it -- mix the powder with some Vita-Gravy for cats or with tuna water, just enough to flavor it and make it the right consistency. Suck it up in a needle-less syringe and squirt it into the cat's mouth.

[johnpalmer.livejournal.com]

The tuna-water trick sounds like a good one; I have plenty of syringes from various medication adventures in the past. But, today, I was able to pour it into his mouth, so that was something... I'd rather flavor it so he enjoys it, but at least I can get it inside him!

[ladysprite.livejournal.com]

Canned food is safe for several hours, at least. And depending on what the medicine is, if they don't eat quickly and the capsules are hard to give, talk to your vet - they may be able to make up the meds as a flavored liquid or treat.

[johnpalmer.livejournal.com]

I might do that, but... well, I guess I'm just skeptical. I've finally looked up the ingredients. It's shiitake mushroom, western larch extract, and lutein.

I'm glad they didn't just reach for another antibiotic course, but I was kinda hoping they'd follow up on the auto-immune theory because at least I understand what they're doing there. But now, to support his immune system, I'm giving him a mushroom omelet with a side of wood. And it might be a good idea, I won't argue, but I just don't feel good about it.

[kightp.livejournal.com]

One way to encourage Chibi to take his meds might be to reduce the amount of dry food you put out in the morning. They won't starve, but they'll be *hungry* when you come home, and the wet food+powder trick might just work.

*sigh* It's no fun when the kitties are sick. I think the cortisone cream is helping with Mojito's rash - she's not scratching it as much, so it's starting to heal - but then I look at it in a different light and wonder...

[johnpalmer.livejournal.com]

I'm not putting out any dry food right now. Skitty isn't supposed to have any, so I figure it's best to just keep the temptation away.

Here's hoping Mo's healing up. Don't forget to wash the area if you can; keeping the scratches clean will help them heal.

Kitties and gooshy food

[phoenixpdx.livejournal.com]

Hey, John, we have two kitties (of the Magnificent Seven) that get gooshy food once a day. Fancy Feast...because that is what they will inhale without thinking about it. I strongly suggest this method.

I also strongly suggest you just give the two of them gooshy food until the powder is gone.

Take the dry food away the night before you start feeding and medicating. Give them both canned food in the AM (put them in separate rooms, if you can). They should hoover it up in about 20 minutes...sometimes we have to take Smokey's away and then give it back to her a few minutes later and she then finishes it ("oh yea! I liked this. I remember now..."). The only time she doesn't eat is when her mouth hurts if her auto-immune stomatitis is acting up.

I wouldn't leave the canned food out. You want them to really WANT the food when it's offered. If they don't finish it, cover it with plastic wrap and stick it in the fridge. Then nuke for 10-20 seconds, stir to make sure there aren't any hot spots in the food, and re-offer.

Warm food gets eaten faster than cold food...part of it is how much it smells.

You can stir the powder into the gooshy food and as long as it doesn't have a strong smell or bitter taste, Chibi should just inhale it without noticing. (They don't do this as much as the dog does, but when cats get Fancy Feast after dry food for a long time, they don't pay much attention to what else is in there, IME )

Good luck, and yell if you have any questions, because we've done the "special feeding" thing for a long time with various cats of ours.

Re: Kitties and gooshy food

[johnpalmer.livejournal.com]

Nod. I was thinking of the "don't leave it out too long" tactic. I don't think I'll do that just yet, but maybe tomorrow (when Skitty is officially not supposed to be in a lot of pain any more).

I hadn't though of separate rooms, but,if I'm feeding them at specific times, it would work. It doesn't work for dry food for grazing, because I won't keep them locked in separate parts of the apartment all day. But it would work just fine for set mealtimes.

Two words...

[(Anonymous)]

Pill Pockets (http://www.greenies.com/en_US/Products/felinepillpockets.aspx).

My girlfriend and I call them "kitty crack" -- my cats have never in their 12 years been so excited about something to eat. I can put a fairly large capsule in one, smoosh it closed, and even my finicky cat wants it badly.

Re: Two words...

[johnpalmer.livejournal.com]

I had a cat sitter say that Chibi was the first cat she'd seen that didn't like them. (But she was really, really surprised, so you were giving good advice for most cats.)

I'm also learning that my cats are a bit hesitant to eat canned food - read as, 48 hours worth of light eating so far. I used to think canned food was what cats preferred, but I'm starting to think that conventional wisdom is either flawed or old, or that I have strange cats. The only time they've been excited about food was when I decided to open the bag of dry food to give the one cat a nibble.