We had to make a quick trip to our vet on Tuesday afternoon after Toby defeated my efforts to get a pill down into him. To be more accurate, he battled the pills and won at least three times over several hours. This included one round while bundled up in a towel as a full-body kitty burrito. Somehow, even while wrapped up, he has some wicked moves.
And the problem is that at key intervals, those pills are crucial. They keep his appetite up, and combat nausea caused by Toby’s ongoing kidney problems. He can go downhill pretty fast without at least a minimum dose of his meds.
Tuesday was one of those times. His appetite was waning, and my attempts at pilling was obviously making him feel worse. So I finally called the vet and said we were coming in for expert assistance. We ended up getting him a shot for the nausea, and a new chewable form of the appetite enhancer. Today I find out if he’ll eat it on his own, or if we fight over it again. At least if I have to give him that pill, it won’t leave a bad taste, which should make things a lot easier.
He bounced right back after the intervention, and has been eating well for two days.
Apart from that bit of excitement, it’s been a mellow week on the feline front.
So just click below to see all of this week’s Lind family felines.
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I always look forward to your Friday kitty updates. Toby is a handsome dude….much empathy regarding the special care he needs. My husband and I have had 9 of our own cats over the years and they lived long, happy lives until the end. The oldest was 22 years, then 18 and 19 years. Currently, we medicate, twice a day, one of our 3 indoor kitties and, although it’s worked for many of our cats, the kitty-burrito technique just doesn’t work for Nani Ipo. Her pill is tiny but stone-hard so, instead of continuous failures to get it down her throat (upsetting us all), I use one of my husband’s pliers to crush the pill, then use my smallest mortar and pestle to grind it up but the particles are so hard I can not grind them to a powder …then sprinkle that into her food which must have lots of gravy to conceal the stuff ….Nani Ipo loves gravy. In fact, Nani Ipo is the only kitty among all of our kitties, past and present, that will eat the foods which are in “bits” and “pieces” in “gravy”…as opposed to the pate foods. She turns her nose up to the pates, gives me “that WTF glare”. Heck, she’s as sweet as they come and worth the extra effort to help her stay well. We have a wonderful vet on Hawaii Island (Kapa’au) where our kitties are treated so well I wish I could check in there for my own health care. The clinic specializes in integrated veterinary medicine. Wishing Toby many good years to come. Aloha.
Thank you so much! I love hearing about your cats. We’ve had several cats that lived to 18 and 19, but none quite made it to 20, even when they were inside cats.
Uh oh….don’t encourage me 🙂
My husband grew up with dog pets. I was raised with cats. Within a month after he met me, he was the owner of his first cat which found its way into our apartment building directly to our front door after a week of my tossing sausage’s down into the courtyard from our third-story window where we were living, overseas. We named her Emily who traveled to the USA with us, to live when we moved to the mainland. Once there, we adopted a kitten a child was holding in a cardboard box; the poor kid was crying because his mother wouldn’t let him keep the kitten. Sure, without hesitation the kitten was ours and we named her “Jane”. Shortly after that, along came a newborn kitten we called “Stella”. Emily, Stella and Jane were quite a trio (we had to put a lock on our refrigerator to keep Stella from opening it to the delight of the other two….we’d come home many times to find remains of our cooked and proteins for planned meals on the kitchen floor…nibbled). Stella also fished for a bite from among my husband’s exotic aquarium…after she fell in, the aquarium had to go. One time, Stella, up on hind legs, pulled open the oven to get at the chicken roasting in there… I was in the kitchen (whew). Eventually, “Zoe-Monique” and “Sophia-Zeline” came into our lives — it was those two that made the move with us to Hawaii eleven years ago (both deceased, now). They were still around, though, when we invited the Hawaii kitties “Hunta” and “Alfie” to share our new lives in Hawaii…so those four deceased kitties rest in our garden gravesite which I tend, lovingly. After Alfie broke our hearts departing, Heaven sent us Alvi — honestly – we think he is the miracle cat …that’s another story. We spotted him among the cat colony at our nearby Holoholokai Beach Park we frequent. A year later, at the same beach park, we spotted our “Makai” who was a tiny, abandoned kitten. Alvi and Makai are a loving pair …true buddies. Actually, the process of adopting those two brought a new friend into our lives (a cat colony feeder at the beach park)…a wonderful person we’re grateful to call a friend. A year after bringing “Makai” home, we adopted our “Nani Ipo” from the same beach park. So, now we are a family of three indoor kitties full of antics. But, that’s not all. We have two garden kitties that live on our property …we call them “Peabody” and “Hissy Missy”….they both appear on the lanai three times a day for meals …and snooze on our lounge chairs…and hang with us when we’re tinkering around the garden. Everyone is happy. What more can I ask for? Thanks for listening. It’s so nice to have found your blog online — feels like good company here 🙂
Geez, quit torturing Toby and just have the vet give you a box of 1cc syringes and a bottle of Reglan.