ETF, if I were a cat, I’d know I’d be safe at your house! Thanks, hon.
Yep, little Siam and Sheba sleep curled up together every single night. The outcast (whom Sheba hates but Siam plays with) sleeps not far away - that would be the beautiful black kitty, Cherokee. Siam appears to be sleeping fine - but when I woke him up a little while ago to check on him, he did the odd thing with the open mouth, acting as if he wanted to sneeze. Off to the vet we’ll go in the morning.
What is it about these little creatures that steals our hearts?
I feel like throwing up - little Siam is still laboring to breathe. Ah, shit - what to do? My husband’s at work at the firestation and I have two kiddos here and it’s very late on a Sunday night. I am afraid to go to sleep in case he passes, and have pretty much used up all the Kleenex in the house from bawling my eyes out. I’m over-reacting - please, someone tell me I’m over-reacting. Is there anything I can do before tomorrow morning if he’s sleeping, but with his mouth open a little bit? He feels warm to the touch, a little feverish.
ACK!!! Oh, Blonde, that is so dreadful! Even assuming he’ll make it to morning, and recover once the vet sees him, still what a horrible night of dread you’re facing!
If you do the skin test and he seems dehydrated, you could try to get a little water into him via eyedropper into the back of his mouth. But if that distresses him too much and he fights you, don’t push it. Otherwise, I’d think the best thing to do is to let him sleep and leave his little body alone to focus on fighting the microscopic invader.
You should try to get some sleep, too. Your kids will need a functioning mom in the morning, and so will Siam, to take him to the vet, give a coherent account of the history of his illness, and get instructions on how to help him heal.
Easier said than done, of course! But still, there isn’t much more that you can do at this point. Sleep is what will help both of you right now. It will also make the morning come quicker.
So, I offer this advice (so easy to offer; so hard to accept): check whether Siam needs water, then stroke him and tell him you love him – and go to bed. It’s my experience that sick animals generally want to crawl into themselves, tune out the outside world, and be left alone to ride out the internal storm. However much we love them and want to help them, we’re intruders into their small world of suffering, and the kindest thing we can do (once necessary treatment’s been administered) is to let them be. If they want us, they’ll come to us.
I hope some of this blithering will help you. I’ll also hope that he’ll be better in the morning – though I would still get him to the vet.
Little Siam made it through the night! We just got back from the vet - $147 (ouch) to treat him; he was in the very early stages of pnemonia or some other respiratory infection. He on medication to treat the illness, as well as pills to encourage his appetite (he stopped eating yesterday evening, and hasn’t eaten yet today.)
Oh dear God I am so tired! I stayed up most of the night watching him.
I thank everyone so much for all the kind thoughts!
I’m glad to hear things are okay so far; poor kitty, he must feel awful. I remember all too clearly a very anxious night I had when my male kitty came down with a urinary tract infection…
good catch blonde. the good news is the little furry ones respond quickly on meds. the bad news is how you get the pill down their little throat when they are feeling better.
try fancy feast, the favourite of all sick (and healthy) kitties. the ones with gravy are the cat’s meow.
i’m sure both of you will be sleeping easier tonight.
Little Siam is doing quite well - he’s eaten, and followed his usual ritual of beating us up the stairs as I put my boys to bed, followed by yowling at their bedroom door. He’s still breathing with his mouth open (which freaked me out so much last night!) but I gather it’s because he can’t yet breathe through his nose.
The meds were (thank goodness) liquid and a tiny pill for appetite enhancement. Now if I could just convince my hard-headed hubby that the kitty can’t pass on his sickness to the rest of us! Sheesh.
Thanks to all the furry friend fans out there. I’ve posted this D.H. Lawrence quote before, but it bears repeating: “I never saw a wild thing sorry for itself.”
Our vet gave us a pill shooter thing that you load the pill into and stick in kitty’s mouth. Then as the cat is biting the plastic pill shooter you pop the pill right into the back of their throat and voila! Kitty is surprised and swallows pill.
Works for us every time. No more cleaning liquid off the walls when they shake their head and spray pink stuff everywhere. Also no more chasing soggy pills around the table and getting more medicine stuck to your fingers than in your cat
I’m so glad to hear your little guy is doing better! What a scary thing to go through, but at least he’s going to be OK, and it sounds like he’s already starting to bounce back.
BTW, Cherokee is a beautiful cat! We have a long-haired black cat with big yellow eyes too. Gotta love those witchy kitties!
Speaking of giving pills to cats, my little guy was on antibiotics for a time, and I started doing the standard vet-type procedure (I used to work in a vet’s office and had to dose animals regularly). You know, force the mouth open, stick the pill in there, hold the mouth closed and stroke the throat until the animal swallows. I hated doing it to Cringer, but I thought it was necessary.
Then one day I sat the pill on the counter and set Cringer down next to it, preparing to force-feed it to him. And he ate it all on his own. It was so funny. From then on, I’d just throw the pill in front of him and he’d eat it. Sweet little kitty.
Oooh, tanookie, I must get one of those the next time I have to give a cat pills. That sounds way easier than any other way I’ve tried. The first pill is easy, but after that, they know what’s going to happen. Cats. sigh
Our method is to drop the pill in the back of the throat, close kittie’s mouth and gently rub under their chin, which usually causes them to swallow the pill. It sounds a lot easier than it is!
Little Siam is doing very well, and has stopped breathing through his mouth; he’s still sleeping a lot, eating less (but some) and is much less feisty. But, I do believe he’s on the mend.
There’s some saying about God creating housecats so that we could experience petting the tiger. Thanks for everyone’s posts, and feel free to throw in some of your cat pictures! There’s no such thing as an ugly cat, I say.
Cat smilie!! We are in desperate need of a cat smilie.
I recently lost my cat who had CRF. It was pills twice a day and an IV every other day for almost a year. I found that crushing the pill and mixing it with her liquid med and using an oral syringe with about an inch of plastic tubing on the end. I could get it into her without much fight.
My heartfelt sympathy to you, StGermain. My little cat is so young and is best friends with my 8-yr old son, so I probably would go into deep depression had anything happened to him. We’ve got a 10-yr old cat, so I know the time will come. There’s no way I could prepare myself for the loss, that’s for sure. It’s been difficult to explain to my kids that housecats and dogs live shorter lives than humans. Unfair, it seems to me.
I had a cat who had to stay on heart medicine for life. I would give her her twice-daily pills right before breakfast and supper. It was a struggle at first, but Tribble was smart, and soon realized that the pill would be followed by food. It wasn’t long before she’d actually jump up on the counter and wait serenely for her pill. I could pop it in without any fuss.
