My ex-feral HIGHLY DISLIKES eye and oral meds. :/

Hello TCS community. 

So, my Miballs recently had really red eyes and also a lot of goopy discharge. I took him to the vet and they diagnosed him with conjunctivitis or in other words, pink eye.   He came home with eye ointment and oral antibiotics to be administered twice a day. 

He was SO GOOD when the vet put the ointment in his eyes, I'm not sure if it was because he was in a different environment or what but he hates it at home.   I feel like he hates me now because I'm the bad person who he thinks is harming him, but I wish he knew that I was just trying to help him get better. He even clawed me this morning (I wasn't even giving him meds, I was just petting him). 

Aside from him hating me, I hope he doesn't take this temporary situation as my family trying to hurt him (he was a feral who has just become comfortable enough to be our pet) and in turn, run away or something alone those lines. 

Please, if any of you have dealt with a similar situation...I would love to know your techniques/tips and the outcomes. 

Thank you!   

My sister had a similar situation.  One of her cats was extremely skittish and relatively new to my sister's home when the cat developed an eye infection.  My sister had quite the struggle putting the ointment in and the cat was not happy at all.  For a bit the cat would pretty much run every time she saw my sister coming.  Once the treatment was done though the cat went back to normal and didn't continue to associate my sister with bad things.  Good luck with your cat.  It will get better when the treatment is done. 

I think all kitties hate having ointment put in their eyes, even the ones that weren't ferals at one time.  As soon as the medicine is finished he will be fine.   I think kitties act differently at the vets office as a stress reaction.  Some sweet cats turn into hissing biting demons, others kind of partially shut down.  It sounds like your kitty falls in the latter category.

They do have an antibiotic now that is an injection that lasts a week, the vet charged me 50.00 for it but to me it was worth it, I have a terrible time giving oral medication! You might try L-Lysine treats, they build up their immune systems and help with a lot of conditions. I agree with the above, your cat won't like you right now, but he'll get over it. My sweet tempered cat DOES turn into a spitting, hissing, demon at the vets, and the naughty  high energy one just sits there! 

I don't have any advice re: the eye ointment. Unfortunately, I just don't think there's an easy way to do it. My Pushy has been through three tubes of ointment over the last six months and is now on eye drops, and he now runs from us at mealtimes because he's associated them with us squirting stuff in his eyes. Luckily he has a hearty appetite and can't stay away for long.

As for the pills, I second Di and Bob's suggestion of an injection if that's possible. Our cat Wiggies is terrible to pill and we had huge struggles even though he's normally quite docile, so the vet ended up giving him the injection instead and it worked great.
Pushkin on the other hand is easy because he'll eat almost anything so we can hide small ones in his food rather than trying to shove them down his throat.

I think your cat will forgive you once the ointment is done! It's such a shame that you have to do this to an already skittish cat. I wish there was a way to communicate to animals that we're only trying to help!

I feel for you. We just took in a nearly-3 year old kitty last week, and so took her to the vet yesterday. She has (as I suspected) ear mites and a bit of conjunctivitis. They cleaned out her ears really well so at least she is no longer scratching like mad, but I do have ear drops to give her for 10 days, and was told to buy and use Polysporin eye drops for her eyes. She is not too bad with the ears as I can do it while she is cuddling on my lap and while it compels her to shake her head she is okay. The eyes are harder as I need to tilt her back to do it and she seems to know something is up. I basically burrito wrap her and just try and time it for a blink...but she is already suspicious of the towel, ha. Ointment might be much easier, so I might call vet and see if I can use that instead!

She seems to hate me for 2-3 minutes after, and then is fine and snuggling up though. Still, I feel horribly bad as I DO feel like the big meanie in the house. I also wish she knew I was trying to HELP her. 

I try and remind myself that at least it is not as bad as having to force feed a tiny Netherland Dwarf rabbit vaseline via a syringe (used for constipation which in rabbits becomes deadly fast). 

I am sure your kitty will come around, though he may be skittish until treatment is over. 

Isn't it funny that they associate that towel with bad things SO fast, but NOTHING works for them being on the counter?!!

Di and Bob said:

 
Isn't it funny that they associate that towel with bad things SO fast, but NOTHING works for them being on the counter?!!

Click to expand...

Isn't that the truth!

Maybe I need to start giving her the eye drops when she is on the counter....hmmmm. 

 Wow, thank you for all the feedback! I am very grateful for all of you. 

I have resorted to the towel now, but somehow his arms just pop right out cause he knows what's up. I still feel very bad about being the meanie, so I just try to get it over with as quick as I can. 

However, I was filling the syringe up today and it seems like I'm nearing the bottom of the bottle! Wish it was the same for the ointment though, I still have half way to go. 

Thank you again!