Good news/not so good news

[ksmith]

Good news--Gaby is perking up. She ate enough duck heart treats to count as about half a meal, along with a dose of painkiller.

Not so good news--I tried to put an antibiotic capsule down her throat, and received a show of teeth for my trouble. I understand that she's not herself and she was likely still hurting, and she hated it when I put the metro down her throat back when her gut was acting up. But teeth aren't good, and I am at a loss about how to get this damned stuff into her. Encasing it in a wad of food would work great with King, but she would lick off the food and leave the capsule, assuming she was interested in the food. I tried adding white rice to her lunch, and she left it scattered all over the floor.

If the vet would show me, I would just give her an injection every day.

Comments

[arkessian.livejournal.com]

Ask the vet to train you. At least here in the UK and with a particular vet's surgery (that I stil use even tough it's a half-hour trek away) they trained me for a previous cat, because it was the best thing for him.

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

I know people train to administer sub-q fluids. And I also know folks who administer their own injections.

One benefit to doing it that way would be that we would bypass the possibility of stomach upset. Because Gaby's tum is a delicate thing.

[slave2tehtink.livejournal.com]

*IF* she will actually take wet food, and if the antibiotics are a non-coated tablet or actual capsule, then either grind the tablet or open up the capsule and mix generously with wet food and then try getting that in her.

Alternatively, grind tablet or pour contents of capsule into a little cheese pocket and feed that to her (can't lick the cheese off from around powder but beware of her learning to refuse cheese with suspicious powders in it).

If it's an enteric coated tablet designed to survive the trip through the stomach intact, though, you will need to call the vet about options.

For the long term, I'd work on being able to happily shove pills down her throat. Go as far as you can with no teeth, then reward. Try it 4-5 times a day for a couple days at irregular intervals, then see if you can get a little further and reward that instead. Work up to prying mouth open, sticking your hand in her mouth, taking it out, and then treating. The breakdown might go like this:
1) Lay palm on top of muzzle
2) Lay palm on top of muzzle, use fingers to retract upper lips
3) Lay palm on top of muzzle, retract lips, pry mouth open just a touch (you can add a verbal cue here to tell her what to expect, I use "open" on Tink)
4) Pry mouth open further
5) Pry mouth open, insert a couple fingers
6) Insert more fingers
7) Insert whole hand

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

I do need to train her to let me pill her. Thanks for the training tips.

The ceph is bitter--I was concerned that she wouldn't eat the amount of food necessary to compensate for the drug taste, but all I can do is try.

10 days of this...

[slave2tehtink.livejournal.com]

Something else to keep in mind is that she isn't Tink, by which I mean the antibiotics may be kind of incidental and unnecessary in the long run. If she will let you do hot compresses on it so much the better, if you can order Chlorhexidine to make the hot compresses with, really even better.

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

Vet told me that they were a precaution. The wound appeared clean, but we didn't know what cut Gaby and Vet couldn't be sure there was no infection present. I think Gaby would allow hot compresses. Anything but pilling, apparently.

More on next rock.