- Joined
- Mar 16, 2024
- Messages
- 4
- Purraise
- 3
We want to sedate our cat Maurice just a little. We know we can give a cat an antihistamine to accomplish this and want to ask about the experiences of people on here who have used them on their cats. I'm also under the impression that some antihistamines might be better for cats than others. I'd really, really appreciate anyone's help with this. This is not something we take lightly. Some background:
We have two cats, Little Tom (almost 12 years old) and Maurice (almost 9 years old). Little Tom is the queen of the household, very chill and whip-smart. She was a stray who walked into our house one day when we opened the door. The vet thought she was about three months at that time. Maurice is a re-home who we adopted when he was about six months. He's very affectionate, but very extra in many ways. This issue is about Maurice's behaviour, but also how it affects LT's health.
We adopted Maurice when LT was about 2 years old. He likes to be around her a lot. She doesn't share his feelings. We have to work at keeping them apart because he stresses her out. It's of course impossible to keep an eye on two cats in the house 24/7. We thought some of Maurice's behaviours were kitten/young-cat related and he'd grow out of them, but he never did. He's extremely destructive and doesn't have any ability to control himself it seems. He'll be cuddling and purring (which he likes to do) and suddenly he'll bite you, which from his behaviour he clearly means to be a "love bite," but he does it hard. He just has zero awareness of his strength and power, which is considerable. And it's difficult specifically on LT because he's a big, strong boy weighing in at about 16.5-17 pounds, while Little Tom is a rather petite 10.5 pounds.
He's a physically healthy cat, but has pica, but more to the point an obsession with certain things. He loves to destroy cardboard, rip at it and spit it out. Sometimes he eats some incidentally. But his big obsession has been our wall-to-wall carpeting. He has a thing about going to where the carpet meets the wall and pulling it away from the wall. He digs at it, bites it to get it out. Then he rips at the carpet fibers and eats some. Due to this, our house has cardboard covering over half the floor to stop him. He also likes eating things like shoe laces too.
If I were to explain to someone what Maurice is like, I'd say picture the behaviours of a kitten and that's Maurice. His thought processes and behaviours convince me he's mentally challenged and he has the brain of a kitten, because if Maurice were a kitten doing the things he does, they'd seem pretty normal as he explores his new world. I've heard cats can't be mentally challenged, but that's what I think.
To try and make him calmer, we give him theanine, a mixture of Rescue Remedy and Calms Forte in distilled water and valerian for a day or two at a time. Longer than that and the valerian makes him more excited. He also gets at least one, big play session every, single day. Nothing we've done is ever more than marginally successful.
The consequence of all this to Little Tom is that the stress due to Maurice began manifesting itself physically a few years ago, when Little Tom would start retching after Maurice did something to annoy her. She would hiss, then retch. We give her nettle leaf, as this ultimately seemed to be a light form of asthma triggered by stress. And the nettle leaf has helped a lot. But a few weeks ago, it escalated for Little Tom. She quite suddenly had a bout of what we learned was IBD (Idiopathic Vestibular Disease). Thankfully it was the idiopathic one I can only say, but it was scary. She quite suddenly couldn't walk properly, like she was drunk. It was right after an incident with Maurice. It subsided in less than 24 hours and after 48 hours, you wouldn't even know anything had happened to her. Obviously we were relieved. But now it happened again last night. Not as severe as the first time, but also after an incident with Maurice.
Due to this, we decided it's time to sedate Maurice in a small way to get him to chill. We love that big dude, but he's the definition of Extra. It's for LT's sake if for no other reason. I'd appreciate knowing what antihistamine people on here use and how much they give (per kg. or lb.) and how often. Thanks in advance for any help.
We have two cats, Little Tom (almost 12 years old) and Maurice (almost 9 years old). Little Tom is the queen of the household, very chill and whip-smart. She was a stray who walked into our house one day when we opened the door. The vet thought she was about three months at that time. Maurice is a re-home who we adopted when he was about six months. He's very affectionate, but very extra in many ways. This issue is about Maurice's behaviour, but also how it affects LT's health.
We adopted Maurice when LT was about 2 years old. He likes to be around her a lot. She doesn't share his feelings. We have to work at keeping them apart because he stresses her out. It's of course impossible to keep an eye on two cats in the house 24/7. We thought some of Maurice's behaviours were kitten/young-cat related and he'd grow out of them, but he never did. He's extremely destructive and doesn't have any ability to control himself it seems. He'll be cuddling and purring (which he likes to do) and suddenly he'll bite you, which from his behaviour he clearly means to be a "love bite," but he does it hard. He just has zero awareness of his strength and power, which is considerable. And it's difficult specifically on LT because he's a big, strong boy weighing in at about 16.5-17 pounds, while Little Tom is a rather petite 10.5 pounds.
He's a physically healthy cat, but has pica, but more to the point an obsession with certain things. He loves to destroy cardboard, rip at it and spit it out. Sometimes he eats some incidentally. But his big obsession has been our wall-to-wall carpeting. He has a thing about going to where the carpet meets the wall and pulling it away from the wall. He digs at it, bites it to get it out. Then he rips at the carpet fibers and eats some. Due to this, our house has cardboard covering over half the floor to stop him. He also likes eating things like shoe laces too.
If I were to explain to someone what Maurice is like, I'd say picture the behaviours of a kitten and that's Maurice. His thought processes and behaviours convince me he's mentally challenged and he has the brain of a kitten, because if Maurice were a kitten doing the things he does, they'd seem pretty normal as he explores his new world. I've heard cats can't be mentally challenged, but that's what I think.
To try and make him calmer, we give him theanine, a mixture of Rescue Remedy and Calms Forte in distilled water and valerian for a day or two at a time. Longer than that and the valerian makes him more excited. He also gets at least one, big play session every, single day. Nothing we've done is ever more than marginally successful.
The consequence of all this to Little Tom is that the stress due to Maurice began manifesting itself physically a few years ago, when Little Tom would start retching after Maurice did something to annoy her. She would hiss, then retch. We give her nettle leaf, as this ultimately seemed to be a light form of asthma triggered by stress. And the nettle leaf has helped a lot. But a few weeks ago, it escalated for Little Tom. She quite suddenly had a bout of what we learned was IBD (Idiopathic Vestibular Disease). Thankfully it was the idiopathic one I can only say, but it was scary. She quite suddenly couldn't walk properly, like she was drunk. It was right after an incident with Maurice. It subsided in less than 24 hours and after 48 hours, you wouldn't even know anything had happened to her. Obviously we were relieved. But now it happened again last night. Not as severe as the first time, but also after an incident with Maurice.
Due to this, we decided it's time to sedate Maurice in a small way to get him to chill. We love that big dude, but he's the definition of Extra. It's for LT's sake if for no other reason. I'd appreciate knowing what antihistamine people on here use and how much they give (per kg. or lb.) and how often. Thanks in advance for any help.
