Strong medicine and unhappy cats

SUDDENLY, morning time in my mini-zoo has become extremely complicated.

Actually, it’s already complicated. Phantom, my elderly cat, needs medication mornings and evenings. The boy, who’s never easily accepted anything being shoved into his mouth, screams and growls as I shove pills and liquids down him.

With all his illnesses, though, he’s not as strong as he once was, and despite his bad temper, he never bites or scratches.

Call him a true gentleman.

Within the past few days, though, two other cats need medication too, and these are the most difficult, in terms of dosing.

Both Varee and Mekhala have feline Aids, which means that both need weekly baths with a special shampoo to help prevent fungus infections.

Most animals, both cats and dogs, might have a fungus on their skin or fur, but if they’re healthy, the fungus doesn’t do any damage. Because of the Fiv, Varee and Mekhala have a lot more skin problems, and without the baths, they will suffer severe itching and pain.

Just the other day, when Varee went in for a weekly bath, the vets noticed that her nose wasn’t its normal pink. They did a “tape test”, pressing a special tape on her nose, then looking at it under a microscope. A fungus has settled on her nose.

In addition to the baths, Varee now needs a fungus-fighting medication. How to give it to the girl? The capsule it comes in is too large for her to swallow, so I open the capsule, pour the medication into a small dish, and mix it with vitamin gel.

That’s the easy part. Varee is a loving creature, so long as you don’t put anything in her mouth. She does love having her ears scratched, though, so just after I grab her to give her the medicine, I give her a good massage. Then I rub the gel mixture on her lips.

Relaxed from the massage, she allows me to shove the medication into her mouth. When we’re finished, I give her another rub.

So far, she doesn’t run away from me.

Mekhala has another problem. Over the past few weeks, I began to notice she was having teeth problems.

After she finished eating her dry food, half-eaten pieces were scattered outside her bowl. She was having problems chewing.

I knew it was time for her to have her teeth cleaned, but with Fiv cats, you have to be careful about anaesthesia. My two Fiv girls are not very strong.

The vet finally agreed that it was time for her to have a good clean-up. With Mekhala under the anaesthetic, the vet discovered a bad gum infection way back in her mouth.

Mekhala returned home not only with a clean mouth but with two weeks of antibiotics to be administered once a day.

I really wish the people who develop pet medicine taste the stuff before they put it on the market. Poor Phantom has to take an appetite stimulant especially developed for senior cats, and believe me, it tastes terrible. Phantom hates it.

Mekhala’s antibiotic is a liquid that is very gentle on the heart and kidneys, but it tastes awful too. She hates it. She hates any kind of medicine anyway.

Right now, she’s still feeling ill from the infection, and she doesn’t run away from me when I grab her to give her the daily dose. She is strong enough, though, to spit it out at me.

I have to find a way to get the stuff down her – all of it. In a few days, when she starts feeling better, I’m also going to have to find a way to catch her. When it comes to knowing that it’s time for her medicine, Mekhala has ESP. I don’t know how she knows. She just does, and disappears.