shesh i've had it 6x- back from the vet update

[mudnuri]

Here we go AGAIN trying to get this stupid thing to post, #6 this time

Boots is back home after a day at the vet's having blood work done.

1st- kidneys and liver are fine

2nd- hair loss, licking caused by a seasonal allergy- given a steroid shot for this. Should last about 3 weeks, with the hope that the seasonal allergy she is having problems with will be gone by then. Should see results in 24-36 hours, her stopping the licking etc.

3rd- she has a serious thyroid issue. This is the bad news- boots does not/can not take pills. We can crush them and put them in tuna- heck- a sardine, she will not eat it. give her tuna or sardine from the can- she'll eat it, put the pill anywhere near it, she wont. We can do the mouth held shut deal- help her swallow- for about 30 minutes she pretends the pills gone, then she spits it out somewhere for you to find later.

The other option is a liquid put on can food. She doesnt eat can food, and with 2 cats there is no way to know if she ate enough of the food to get enough of the medicine etc.

The thyroid issue if left untreated will lead to congestive heartfailure. Her blood pressure is high and her heart races...

I am going to talk to my mom about what to do. She's 15, and I know that left untreated this thyroid issue will cause a painful death. What I dont know is, if left untreated for a few weeks, it will cause her pain while we enjoy a couple more weeks of her company...

This decision SUCKS...its the first time I've had to make the decision for one of my animals. They all stayed with my mom when I moved out after highschool, so she always dealt with this. Boots and Dusty, are the only 2 I have that were mine, and are mine again...

Pixie dust or whateva accepted

Brandy

 

[MsDisney23]

 

[dbogen]

First off for you and your fur baby. My 15 yo baby has had 4 rounds of antiboitics in her lifetime 3 were liquid and 1 pill. I found what worked was to hold her upsidedown in DH arms and just squirt the liquid or drop in the pill. While she was yelling at me she swallowed the pill. Another thing that worked this last time was to grab her by the scruff of the neck and lift until her front paws came off the ground( I know it sounds mean but that it what the vet suggested because that is waht mama did) and just squirt the med into the side of the mount. Grabbing the scruff makes them submissive. Now if yours is anything like mine, you will have to corner her first before you can do anything.

On a side note about putting it in the food, growing up I had a dog that would finish the whole bowl of alpo and leave the heartworm pill licked clean in the bottom of the bowl. Sneaky little creatures.

Best of luck with your decision.

Deanna

 

[chrissyk]

You can give Boots a pill, but you're going to need the help of another person to do so. We've been giving our cat pills off and on for years. What you have to do is to hold her on her back with her paws in the air. The second person pushes her mouth open at the jaw hinges, tosses the pill into her throat, closes her mouth and blows in her face to force her to swallow. It works. It's awkward the first few times you do it, but you'll get the hang of it. We've never had any success w/putting pills in our cat's food, BTW.

 

[Laura]

Can you crush the pill in water and give it to your cat via a syringe?

 

[Shelby5514]

Ask your vet if they can put the pill into a gel form. My cat is on thyroid meds and this is what I do since she is unable to "pill". It is SOOO easy all you have to do is wipe the gel on the inside of the ear flap once a day alternating ears. Yes it's that simple. The med she is on is Methimazole PLO Gel and they put it into a syringe. You have to use rubber gloves or it will soak through your skin too. I bought a box of latex gloves and just cut off a finger at a time since that's all you really need. A box of 50 gloves will last you 250 days! The gel is a little more expensive, mine figures out to about $30/mo verses I think $20/mo. But oh SOOO worth it! You do have to give the dose around the same time every day, so I give Shelby her meds around 10 before I go to bed. We had to get her blood work re-tested after a month on the PLO to make sure the dose was right and I think we'll have to again after 6 months. The only side affect I've noticed so far is she is sneezing alot. I asked the vet about it when I took my other cat in for his annual and he said that it could just be allergies, but as long as there's no discharge from the nose not to worry. So far, so good. Here's a pic of the syringes and if for some reason your vet can not get the PLO and he's prescribing the same meds PM me and I'll give you the name of my vet. I'm sure he'd get it for you!

 

[mudnuri]

$20 for a months worth of pills? SHESH I was quoted a lot more than that. they did say they could script out the pill into a gel form, however because she has had issue's with her ears, they discouraged that. She is there quite often for ear "infections" for lack of a better word where they have to clean then, then apply a topical antibiotic.

We've tried in this cats 15 years, every which way to give her pills...I dunno if she can handles the stress 2x a day for the rest of her life...god this sucks

brandy

 

[helenabear]

Good luck to you!

You did say you can get a liquid right? Just put it in a syringe and squirt it down the throat. Trust me, my cat has jaws of steel, and you just have to put it in the space between the lips (you can usually squeeze your way in) and gently squirt until it is all gone. I give my cat two diferent liquid meds a day!

And not sure what you will have to give, but my two meds cost me about $23/month.

Seriously good luck with everything, but don't give up hope yet on it. Liquid meds are SUPER easy to give to a cat (compared to a pill)

 

[chrissyk]

Check around to different vets to see how much they charge for the meds. Also, is this something that is a veternary-only medicine, or is it also a regular medicine? Our cat is on a human medicine, and I can get it at CVS pharmacy WAY cheaper than I can get it through the vet. It would be even cheaper online with a 90-day script, but no vet will write a script for longer than one month with refills

As for the meds...don't give up. I'm in the same boat as you right now with our cat. He had another urinary blockage this week, and now I HAVE to get him to take this nasty Methagel stuff long-term in order to hopefully get his urinary crystals under control. I'm having zero luck getting him to take the Methagel, but I refuse to give up. I'm trying everything I can think of...eventually I'll hit on a way to get it into him. Don't give up on getting the medication into your cat either.