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Cat Forum / Health and Behavior / November 2005Stupid question about my cat and antibiotics
With luck this won't be an issue in the morning but I have a question about my cat and his antibiotics. Sometime between the time I went to bed monday night and the time I woke up on tuesday one of my cats managed to cut one of his toe pads on his rear paw. It was a nasty cut that about cut the pad in half. I had things I needed to do that morning but when I got home that afternoon I took both of my cats to the local vet. They were both due for their shots so I decided to combine trips. The vet took a look at the paw and decided that while the cut looked bad to me was already healing and didn't warrant stiches. The little guy had an elevated temperature and just to be safe I was given antibiotics to give him twice a day. While I was there I had the brilliant idea of having him fixed. The thought was that it would save a trip to the vet. Since the cat is ~15 months old the vet agreed that he should be fixed and if we did it then he could clean up the cut on his paw a bit to help it heal faster. I took him home this morning and the nurse told me that he was still groggy<SP?> from that surgery and that I should open the door to the cat carrier and let him wander out has he felt up to it. Of course when I opened the door to the carrier he flew out so fast he was nothing more then a colored blur. That was the last I saw of him for the rest of the day. He did pop his head out this evening to drink and take care of other business but he was visibly nervous. I know there would be no way I could get close enough to him to pick him up to give him his medication. I work nights and won't see him again until morning. I hope by then he will have calmed down a bit. I don't want to chase him out of whatever hiding spot he's found. My thinking is that it will traumatize him more and make it harder for him to trust me in the future. My question is how important is it to give him the antibiotics exactly twice a day? I understand that it's the goal but short of keeping him locked up in his carrier 24hrs a day it's not going to be possible for me to do. I tried locking him up in a room with no place to hide once and he FREAKED out until he had a good hiding place. By good hiding place I mean one that kept him out of view but also out of reach. The fact that I live in a small apartment with another cat makes keeping him isolated impossible.  Signature------------------- Keep working millions on welfare depend on you I don't know Frank, you might want to ask the vet -- but with an elevated temp before you even started and then all of that surgery/cleaning, I would want him to have the antibiotics. He sounds like he's a former feral. Is he totally domesticated or just very freaked? If all else fails, you might try putting him in a bedroom by himself and shutting the door. I know you said isolation is impossible, but isn't there some room with a door that would work? You could then feed him a little wet food with the pill mixed in (crunched up) to make sure he gets the whole thing. Put out more food after he's eaten the smaller amount. With cats, you have to be creative. I'm sure you'll think of some way to make it work. Rhonda > My question is how important is it to give him the antibiotics exactly twice a day? I > understand that it's the goal but short of keeping him locked up in his carrier 24hrs a > day it's not going to be possible for me to do. I tried locking him up in a room with no > place to hide once and he FREAKED out until he had a good hiding place. By good hiding > place I mean one that kept him out of view but also out of reach. The fact that I live > in a small apartment with another cat makes keeping him isolated impossible. : I don't know Frank, you might want to ask the vet -- but with an : elevated temp before you even started and then all of that : surgery/cleaning, I would want him to have the antibiotics. I agree unfortunatly he's better at hiding then I am at finding him. : He sounds like he's a former feral. Is he totally domesticated or just : very freaked? He was feral. Born in a rail yard rescued by a conductor at six weeks, two weeks after his mother died. He's got a very strong survival instinct which is anchored by good hiding instincts. After I got him he hid away and I didn't see him for over a week. Since then he has become totally domesticated. When I sleep he sleeps on my pillow and while sitting at the computer or watching TV he sleeps on my feet!! I think what happened was that between going to the vet twice in two days and his very hurt foot (he doesn't walk on it. When walking he holds it up off the ground and walks on three legs) I think he was scared, hurt and freaked which caused his "hiding" instinct to take over. Fortunatly when I woke up this evening (I work nights and sleep days) he had gotten over his fear enough to sleep with me. Getting him to "take" the antibiotics wan't an issue. I've got the feeling it's going to be easier from here on out. : If all else fails, you might try putting him in a bedroom by himself and : shutting the door. I know you said isolation is impossible, but isn't : there some room with a door that would work? You could then feed him a : little wet food with the pill mixed in (crunched up) to make sure he : gets the whole thing. Put out more food after he's eaten the smaller amount. Fortunatly the stuff I have is a pink bubble gum smelling liquid. This evening at least he didn't seem to mind taking it and there was no struggle. Unfortunatly I've never gotten the "mix the pill in with the food" method to work. The only method I've gotten to work is hold the head back pry open the mouth and toss the pill in. : With cats, you have to be creative. I'm sure you'll think of some way to : make it work. Fortunatly he seems to be secure enough that after a day of hiding/sleeping he came back out. The other cat seems to be going out of his way to be nice and comforting. Thanks for your reply. Frank > Fortunatly he seems to be secure enough that after a day of > hiding/sleeping he > came back out. The other cat seems to be going out of his way to be nice > and > comforting. I'm so glad he came around. Here's to a quick healing and recovery. : > Fortunatly he seems to be secure enough that after a day of : > hiding/sleeping he : > came back out. The other cat seems to be going out of his way to be nice : > and : > comforting. : I'm so glad he came around. Here's to a quick healing and recovery. He's spending less time hiding. It still hurts for him to put his paw down but he's not letting that stop him. Earlier today I saw him chasing the other cat around which I'm taking to be a good sign. :-) At the same time there isn't any sign of infection (I've had enough cuts get infected and know what the early signs look like) and is eating and drinking. It looks like he's going to be alright. Signature------------------- Keep working millions on welfare depend on you > : I'm so glad he came around. Here's to a quick healing and recovery. > [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > like) and > is eating and drinking. It looks like he's going to be alright. Excellent. I wonder how he cut his foot? That would worry me as I would want to get rid of the danger. I am so glad he is feeling better. Poor boy probably had no idea what hit him! But it is good that you got him neutered. : > : I'm so glad he came around. Here's to a quick healing and recovery. : > [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] : > like) and : > is eating and drinking. It looks like he's going to be alright. : Excellent. I wonder how he cut his foot? That would worry me as I would want : to : get rid of the danger. I am so glad he is feeling better. Poor boy probably : had no : idea what hit him! But it is good that you got him neutered. I wish I could find what he cut himself on. I've been keeping my eyes open but haven't seen anything that could cause that type of injury. The poor guy didn't know what hit him and as a result did what every instinctive nerve in his body told him to do. He hid and did so by making himself as invisible and hard to get at as possible. Signature------------------- Keep working millions on welfare depend on you "Frank Pittel" <fwp@warlock.deepthought.com> wrote:> > I wish I could find what he cut himself on. I've been keeping my eyes open but > haven't seen anything that could cause that type of injury. The poor guy didn't > know what hit him and as a result did what every instinctive nerve in his body > told him to do. He hid and did so by making himself as invisible and hard to get > at as possible. Does he go outside? : "Frank Pittel" <fwp@warlock.deepthought.com> wrote:> : > I wish I could find what he cut himself on. I've been keeping my eyes open [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] : to get : > at as possible. : Does he go outside? Not when I can stop him. :-) He's a smart one and has figured out that he can use his claws to pull the screen out of the frame. He also figured out how to open the sliding doors I have. :-) He did get out the evening before I noticed that he was hurt. However there's nothing sharp around where he got out. There's also no blood around where he got out and I saw him before I went to bed and didn't see any sign of injury. I even picked him up after he came back in. I'm not saying that he couldn't have gotten hurt while outside. I just don't see any sign of it. Signature------------------- Keep working millions on welfare depend on you > : Does he go outside? > [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > picked him up after he came back in. I'm not saying that he couldn't have gotten > hurt while outside. I just don't see any sign of it. Frank, I can tell you love this cat. If I were in your place, I would not be able to rest until I had secured the screens and the sliding glass door. He likely hurt himself while he was out--that's the thing about "out." You can't control what they get into. If it was something inside, you really need to find it! Hell, you could hurt yourself on it or he could do it again. > Fortunatly the stuff I have is a pink bubble gum smelling liquid. This > evening [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > > Frank There is a space between the canine teeth and the molars. Tuck the pill in there and you don't have to bother prying the cat's mouth open. It also gets the pill consistently further back in the cat's mouth where it's more likely to get swallowed pretty quickly instead of parked somewhere until you let the cat go and they are free to spit it out. Because of the previous fever and the surgery I'd try to get the full course of antibiotic into the cat. Good luck with your kitty and hope his foot feels better soon. W : > Fortunatly the stuff I have is a pink bubble gum smelling liquid. This : > evening [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] : > : > Frank : There is a space between the canine teeth and the molars. Tuck the pill in : there and you don't have to bother prying the cat's mouth open. It also gets : the pill consistently further back in the cat's mouth where it's more likely : to get swallowed pretty quickly instead of parked somewhere until you let : the cat go and they are free to spit it out. A bunch of years ago I had a cat that didn't mind taking pills. The only catch was that it wasn't positioned correctly on his tongue he couldn't swallow it and ended up spitting it out. The trick was to get on the back of his tongue and it would go right down. Since then I've had cats that don't and didn't care for pills. The trick still works. I open the mouth, tilt the head back, and then "toss" the pill onto the back of the tongue. It seems that at that point they can't not swallow the pill. Fortunatly the stuff I have now is a liquid and he doesn't seem to object to the taste. : Because of the previous fever and the surgery I'd try to get the full course : of antibiotic into the cat. I'm trying my best. Unfortunatly he's better at hiding then I am at finding him. :-) : Good luck with your kitty and hope his foot feels better soon. He let me look at it today and while it looks bad (to my untrained eye) it's healing well and even without stiches the wound had scabbed over and is closed. As importantly there's no sign of infection. A couple of hours ago I saw him chasing the other cat around and he's spending more time out without hiding so it looks like he's getting better. I just wish I could find what it was that he cut his paw on. He's in indoor cat which means he did it inside. I don't want it to happen again to him or my other cat. Signature------------------- Keep working millions on welfare depend on you Just a quick update. Although I was never able to give him the antibiotics the twice a day like I was supposed to. I just got back with him from his follow up with the vet and the cut on his paw is healing well and he is showing no sign of infection. I was told to discontinue giving the antibiotics. To make a long story short everything is healing well and he is again able to walk on the back paw. The only significant issue that he still has is that when he went in for surgery they cut his claws back to nubs. The other cat has noticed and is taking advantage of the situation to regain domminence. They're not hurting each other so I've been staying out of it. <snip> Signature------------------- Keep working millions on welfare depend on you : With luck this won't be an issue in the morning but I have a : question about my cat and his antibiotics. Sometime between : the time I went to bed monday night and the time I woke up on : tuesday one of my cats managed to cut one of his toe pads on : his rear paw. It was a nasty cut that about cut the pad in half. : I had things I needed to do that morning but when I got home that : afternoon I took both of my cats to the local vet. They were both [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] : temperature and just to be safe I was given antibiotics to give him : twice a day. Alas, I noticed last night that the troubled paw didn't look right so I took a closer look. It was swollen to more then twice it's size and there was an abscess on the side of the pad. I applied a little pressue to the abscess and it "poped". I tried to press the puss and blood out but with only two hand and a cat doing it's best to prevent it I gave up trying. I figured that he would lick out the worst of the infection. Since it was late and I had to get up early in the morning I left him where ever he went off to hide and went to bed. This morning I took him back to the vet that did what I tried to do the night before and pressed out the infection(brown blood) and puss. He also gave me more antibiotics and a few other things to do. It's not going to be a pleasant week for me or the cat. :-( Signature------------------- Keep working millions on welfare depend on you |
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