It helps if you can accustom the cat (or other animal) to liking what you are about to do with them. With the blindfold idea, if you are petting the cat, then start sliding your hand up over their face and then down the back of their head and neck each time you pet them. They will soon think of the hand over the face as just part of the petting, and then you can start going slower with your hand over the cat’s face and eyes, and maybe massage the ears if they like that. Cover one eye at a time if necessary to get them used to the idea of having an eye covered. When your cat is hungry, and yowling around your feet to be fed is a good time for crate training. Try the blindfold carry like on the video, put the cat in the crate, and then put out his food in the normal way. He will start to think of this as something that happens along with being fed, and a little treat (bite of hot dog) in the crate will help him to associate it with food, too. Since he never has to go to the vet during this training, it should lose the trauma that he associates with that trip, and won’t be expecting it when you do have to take him somewhere. I used to do a similar thing with horses , to train them to go in the horse trailer. First, the feed was on the floor of the trailer (just a nice handful of oats), and then gradually a little further in, until eventually the horse had to walk himself into the trailer to get his oats, and then his breakfast hay to teach him to stand in there and relax and eat. If you do the training when you are not pressed to get the animal somewhere, they will learn, and be much easier to work with when you do have to take them somewhere in a crate or other enclosure.
(12/5/23) Tuesday Morning: They gave Kitty (they forced me to give her a name) the first steroid treatment Monday night. She is eating, and did fidget with her mouth, but not the next morning. She has a cone around her neck to keep from pawing at the feeding tube. She can't paw at her mouth even if she were inclined to. Besides, if I had a tube stuck in my nose and a cone around my neck, the last thing I'd be worrying about is some pain in my mouth. Not a good test. They had already scheduled dental X-rays for today. Evening: The Dr said they found roots of 2 teeth left in her mouth. It is common to do that with resorbed teeth because the roots will eventually start to fuse with the bone. More damaging to try to extract them. Dr will look at the X-rays again with the radiologist in the morning, to see if there is any sign of infection or anything else and will call. If they don't find anything they will release her Wednesday I asked the Dr. if lymphoma could have spread to her nasal passages or sinuses. She said No. They did another blood test and the results improved "dramatically" this time, whatever that means. I asked them to keep her long enough to see if she eats with no pawing the mouth after the cone and feeding tube are removed. I want them to see it. But I don't know what to do if she does, and there is no easy fix. I really don't want to put her through any more surgery. This cat has been through enough trauma in the last 2 months. She is a survivor, which I already knew. The steroids can work like a pain killer. Since they will continue forever, that may fix the problem in a backhanded sort of way. I was hoping she could spend at least a few of her remaining days without pain eating. I suppose I should have just waited until they called this morning. Could have avoided another post.
"I'm like cat here, a no-name slob. We belong to nobody and nobody belongs to us. We don't even belong to each other." "It doesn't take much to see that the problems of one little cat don't amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world. Here's looking at you, Kitty."
Did you know the real life name of the cat in Breakfast at Tiffany's was Orangey? Looks like the "owner" of that cat had problems picking names also.
(12/6/23) (written on) Wednesday I left off yesterday asking the Dr to keep Kitty another day so they could see how she eats without the cone and feeding tube. Dr seemed reluctant. Maybe she knows best and the cat should go home. Who knows, maybe the cat developed some sort of tic due to the tail end of the suture dangling in the back of her throat for 2 weeks. Nothing seemed to explain anything. Time to admit I'd been tilting at windmills. So when they called this morning, I told them to get her ready for release. Fast forward to 2pm. What was the first thing they said when I showed up to pick up the cat? "You were right to be an advocate on the mouth problems." Since the morning call the Dr got a look at the X-rays with the radiologist. They found (1) A sliver of the crown of a tooth embedded in the lower right side of her mouth. (2) A straight needle-like line, about 1 cm long, in the upper right side. She said it was thinner than a needle, but didn't think it could be a suture. Could be an artifact of the X-ray, like a hair on the X-ray equipment (see below). If only they had taken 2 pictures. I should have told them to concentrate on the right side. Dr said if mouth fidgeting returns and doesn't go away in a couple of weeks make an appointment at their clinic to have these things removed. They said the piece of the crown of the tooth could possibly dissolve, eventually. First thing we get home and she's messing with her mouth again. Nothing has changed. They might have gotten her in and had it over and done with the next day if I hadn't brought her home. I didn't think fast enough. Update 1: It took her a couple of hours to come out of hiding, and she was back to normal last night. The stay at the hospital didn't seem to bother her at all. Update 2: She's back to not eating and running away from me this morning. ps. I thought this was interesting. An image from the web showing a hair that was found on the X-ray equipment that showed up on the radiograph.
Ella is prone to eye infections, and was, at first, very resistant to my putting the antibiotic ointment on her eyes. I have started giving her some treats immediately afterward, and now, although there still is some mild resistance, as soon as I'm done, she runs to the treat room, so she is starting to associate it with getting a treat.
That is what i do with Marco Poodle also. When he has to be bathed, groomed, or have his toenails shortened, as soon as he is finished with the process, he knows he gets a few bites of bologna, so he rushes into the kitchen and waits for his after-bath treat. He still doesn’t like it all that much, but he does like that a treat is coming once he is done.
Ken, you are lucky your cats can be tempted by treats. I've only had 4 cats total. Only 2 were even interested in treats at all. Of the other 2, one would rather play than eat anytime. This one can't even be tempted by playing. I know why she's like this. I found her living in a hollow log behind the neighbor's empty rental house about 8 weeks old. She apparently escaped from indoors which was occupied by 3 boys. Two of them told me they spent several days trying to catch her by any means they could think of, before they moved out and left her, at the end of spring semester. She had a stressful first 8 weeks. Same thing with 2 of our 14 goats. Two of them (bro and sis) were chased a lot by their previous owner when they were little. I witnessed the chasing first hand when I bought them. You could never catch them by tempting with food either.
Today, the first steroid pill successfully given to the cat! The trick? Put on flannel jacket with quilted nylon lining, unbuttoned. Pill in breast pocket (2 for good measure). Sit in usual TV chair, which has open sides, and watch TV until she jumps up on the left side of the seat. She always does this at least once a day. Turn her around to face the front (this is the tricky part). Wrap the open side of the jacket around her back end so she can't jump out the side. Hold her and the jacket with left hand in front of the shoulders so she can't go forward. Push the pill into the front of her mouth until she opens up. [I'm afraid to squeeze the sides like they usually do, because the right side might be painful.] Drop the pill in her mouth as far back as possible with right hand. She likes to be warm. The lining helps here. She loves to sleep on that jacket. I think she got used to being bundled into a cat burrito in the hospital. Eventually she started to purr. At that point let go and let her jump down whenever she wants. She didn't run away. No one would understand why this makes me so happy. Please let it work again tomorrow. . .
My last cat got a puncture wound, and I had to open it up twice a day and use a large syringe to inject antibiotics under her skin. This was a mean cat that has chased people out of my house and chased kids out of my yard. For some reason she tolerated me doing it, but Snowy was always my buddy. I understand the feeling of success, because it's got to be done for their health...you can't throw up your hands and quit just because the cat does not understand.