Since I'm going on vacation at the end of the month (yay! finally!)
my Mom said last year she'd stay at my house overnight all week to
take care of kitties. Since Shadow requires daily pilling, we
agreed she should come ahead of time to make sure she could first,
lift him, and second give him his pills. After I showed her how to
lift him (big fat cat, but docile) she positioned herself over him
but of course he wasn't cooporating by standing up. I said, you
have to lift him under his tummy to get him to stand, but you can't
lift him up to the counter that way, must support his chest and
rear-end. It took her a long time, Shadow kept moving away from her
LOL, and finally was getting really annoyed with her. Finally he
went to the kitchen on his own and she was able to lift him to the
counter. He has this thing he does when he is not comfortable up
there where he leans into you and puts his paws on your arm so you
can lift him back down and he kept doing that to her. That leaning
thing started back when he had a feeding tube and he got annoyed at
me and wanted down from the counter and his feedings. She did well
giving him the pill and it went down on the first try. I warned her
that will spit it out if you don't place it right. She did
purrfectly. She was a little uncomfortable with the water chaser in
a small syringe but managed to get just enough into his mouth to
chase the pill without choking him. She's going to give his pills
just before he eats so I told her not to worry about that part, the
food will wash it down. When the pill was done, I told her not to
forget to tell him he's a good boy, rub his ears, and tell him "all
done".  lol Well she hollared out to my dad, "have you ever seen
such spoiled cats??" So he leans into her to get her to put him
down (he won't jump anymore) but she didn't hold him right and he
yowled at her. Yikes. So I said, maybe I should just board him? but
she said no, (thankfully!) and after a bit went to "practice"
picking him up again. This time she did it just right, he wasn't
stressed and put him back down gently like he's used to, and I felt
better about the whole thing. I even had her give him his chicken
pieces that he gets after pilling which makes him forgive everyone
immediately, but the mention of Shamrock's raw liver treat he gets
on the weekend grossed her out so he'll be going without. Shamrock
was his usually lovey-playful self so he'll be fine. Bonnie even
came out after a bit and was relaxed with both of my parents which
is new. At least my mom will be able to call on my cell if she runs
into problems.  

Then they were off to go get lessons on taking care of my brother's
daughters bird for the week.  lol