I have no clue! help!

Hi.

I and a new cat owner and live alone. I just adopted a very shy cat, mimi, three months ago and she is about one year old now. After three months effort and patient, She eventually allows me to pet her.

However, mimi seems sick these days so I bought her to vet today. Vet said she caught the cold and have eye infection. So vet gave her shots and force feed her the initial tuna flavor medicine and applied eye ointment on her. She is not allows to have any wet food or treat since she has some stool problem. Vet thinks she may have some food digestion problem that I should keep her food plain and simple for a while. I need to feed her the tuna flavor medicine twice a day for 5 days and applied the eye ointment on her twice a day for a week.

Tonight after a few attempts, She refused to eat the medicine even I break it apart and mixed with the dry food. She was meowing for food but not even want to tried the medicine. She may be already associate the medicine with the bad experience in the clinic. And the eye ointment also another mission impossible, She jumped out immediately if she the tube close to her eye. I have no one to help me to hold her. And she will not even willing to comes out under the bed if there is stranger in the house.

Now. She is not even willing to let me approach her….

Can anyone give me ome idea what should I do?

Thanks,

May

I feel your pain- I've had to medicate my little one a few times, especially to take care of issues she came to me with. I would say if none of the advice you get on the board helps, call or go to the vet & get a crash course in how to do this- they should have given you instructions on how to give them the meds.

Take her into a small space; I go in the bathroom in my apartment. Try wrapping her up in a towel or blanket, kinda like you would swaddle a baby. Make sure to get all her paws in the towel so she can't use them to get leverage or to interfere when you have to get the ointment in her eyes.
When you put the ointment in, use one hand to spread her eye apart, by pushing on the fur/skin right by her eye. After you get the ointment in, squish the skin around her eye together so it forces her to blink a few times. This helps make sure the ointment gets in her eye like it should.

If the other medicine is in a pill, you can probably force her to take it if she really won't eat it with her food (it would have been easier if she could have some wet food!). Same deal, wrap her up in the towel/blanket. If you squeeze the sides of her mouth, it should force her to open it. Stick the pill as far back as you can, and then hold her mouth closed so she can't spit it back out. Stroke her right under her chin and down her neck to encourage her to swallow.

This sounds not very nice, but she's got to get the meds! Let her restore her dignity after this- in a little bit, she'll be back to her lovey self!

Good luck; feel free to PM (private message) me if you have questions.

I agree with the towel idea it can help... May I ask how you got Mimi??

Thanks,

I got mimi from a cat shelter and she was born in the shelter. She got adopted once before me but got return to shelter. The excused I know was because the person wants a lap cat and mimi is not like.

I really like her. Three month later, she will come and always sleep some where close to me but not too close :-). If I tried to approach her, She will run away and comes back in a few minute after she figure out that was no harm. We play catch the fuzzy mouse toys fetch game very well. I feel she is the cat I always want. Only the medication processes are always a pain for both of us.

I wish she is always healthy that we both does not have to goes through those struggles.....

The advice given is good. But sometimes, if I have a really difficult time with giving meds, putting the cat in a pillowcase so that her paws really can't get out helps!

I think putting the meds in a mild treat, like chicken baby food, is going to be your best bet. IME "tuna-flavored" medicine is a load of hooey - from what my cats "tell" me, it seems to be butt-flavored instead of tuna, to put it bluntly! Plain chicken baby food will be unlikely to cause digestive upset but even if it does, it's more important that she gets her medicine.

Another thing that does help is keeping the medication refrigerated. It makes it taste less bad.

You also can always ask the vet for pills instead of liquid. There are some meds that I personally always get in pill form because I know the liquid tastes absolutely horrible no matter what you do to it. Getting a pill down is usually a much less harrowing experience for both you and the cat.