Or is dh bu regarding cat's medication?

[NotJustAnyOldCat]

Our cat needs medication and the absolutely only way to get it into him is in liquid form in a syringe, squirted into his mouth twice a day. This isn't easy and can be distressing for cat and squirter.
I have found the quickest and easiest way is to kneel down, 'trap' his back end softly between my thighs, tip his head back and use my finger and thumb to open his mouth and quickly squirt it in. Takes about 10 seconds then he runs off and has his breakfast/ dinner.
Dh insists that he can't do this. I have to do it every morning and every evening because dh can't.
Cat has been on meds for about 3 months and twice I've gone out straight from work only to come home later to a poorly cat because dh can't give him his medication.
It really annoys me. Often my hands are scratched to hell and I hate that the cat looks scared when he sees me but I've watched dh try and he's just rubbish - cat escapes, twists his head, digs his claws in. However many times he watches me he just says "I can't do it. I don't want to hurt him"

I want to scream at him "it's not a case of can't you just have to DO IT!!!
But can some people just not do this stuff? Aibu to think that justcause I can doesn't mean dh can?

How old is the cat - is it reasonable to continue to keep giving it meds?

That won't be popular, but I think is pertinent question.

Your DH is being utterly pathetic. That is all.

Can you get the medication in tablet form?. All of our cats over the years have been dreadful to get any sort of tablets down them. What always seems to work is to hide the tablet in a piece of cheese.Most cats like cheese and one or two pea sized pieces can be given without the tablet,then sneak one in once they take a liking to the cheese. My daughter has 3 cats and always uses this method..worth a try? Best of luck.

fatmomma spot on!
grumpybear he's only 5 and otherwise healthy. I don't blame you at all for asking, there have been many times over the past year when I have thought the same even though he is young, but we do seem to have finally found the medication that keeps him well and happy and it's 10seconds twice a day.
I think a lot of people are right who say that dh just has not got the knack/balls/whatever it takes.
Dh says it's because I'm a nurse and am used to administering medication and it's no biggie to me but to him it's so alien. He works in IT and sometimes I just can't get/do the simplest computer things so maybe he's right.
Cat is laid next to me now fast asleep and content and comfortable and that's because I gave him his meds at 6.
To those who ask about alternatives - this medicine is horrible. It has a really strong mint flavour and he refuses to touch any good it is mixed into. He has his lactulose mixed into his foidvtwice a day no problem but trial and fekiin lots of error has led us to syringe for the zantac!

My sympathies. I don't have a cat myself, but a few years ago I agreed to house and cat sit for a couple of weeks for my then boss. It was only after I had agreed, and it was too late to back out, that she mentioned that both cats needed eye drops twice daily.

I'm surprised I don't still bear the scars...

It's not DH. It's the cat.

Fatmomma, you describe pretty accurately the shenanigens of trying to give my cat a pill. He could also detect the pill inside any little titbit of food, and would leave that piece or nibble off the food and spit the pill out.

My mother had a siamese tom many years ago when I was a small child. I do remember one memorable occasion when the cat was ill and she had taken him to the vet. The vet said he would demonstrate to my mother the ease with which said cat could be given a pill. He ended up red faced and having to delve underneath the storage units on the other side of his consulting room (which was pretty large) because the cat had spat the pill out with such force that it had flown underneath them. He was a character, that cat.

My dogs (a labrador and a cocker spaniel) are both comparatively easy to give medication to on the few occasions it has been necessary. The labrador in particular gets very excited as he thinks pills are dog treats and he will do pretty much anything to get one.

"Dh says it's because I'm a nurse and am used to administering medication and it's no biggie to me but to him it's so alien. He works in IT and sometimes I just can't get/do the simplest computer things so maybe he's right."

Nope, he's being crap...I have to give my cat a liquid painkiller orally twice a day, not one that's usually given orally so not flavoured in anyway, it smells like nail varnish remover and my cat tells me it tastes like it too.

I'm not medically trained in any way, but it needs doing so I do it.

I've got it down to a fine art now, sneak up, stick it in, squirt, distract with food, the cat doesn't know what's hit her, lol.

But to start with there were towels and pinning down involved.

I think your DH may have a slight point, tbh. We have two cats. If they need meds or pills, I can happily give them to the boy, but the girl will fight me, scratch, scrabble, spit her pill out and bolt under the bed. But, it's the opposite for DP - he can give the girl her pills no problem, but the boy bolts and causes no end of mayhem for him. BUT that doesn't mean I can opt out of the girl needs meds and DP is at work, I just persist and she takes them eventually.

The trick is mostly to be quick and confident, but if a cat scrabbles the instinct is to let them go, and if you carry on forcing him/her to sit and stay, there is a risk of them getting hurt. I would get him to try the swaddling method if all else fails - he needs to be able to give the meds and he can't refuse because he doesn't like it.

Your DH presumably manage=s everyday life, a job, domestic tasks, DIY etc, so it's not beyond him. He's choosing not to persevere

My sympathies, BTW. My aged cat has a daily pill that can't be crushed, and she has learned every trick in the book to sot it when I try and conceal it in food/treats/marmite. Can't be crushed, so sitting on her is the only way

If you end up badly scratched I don't see why you don't do the cat meds together. One of you to hold the claw bits & other to give the med. Easier on everyone I suspect.

Your dh is being pathetic. would he refuse to give your kids asthma inhalers when needed became they squirmed and screamed?

no, you suck it up and get on with it. You have a responsibility to a pet and if it needs medication you give it. and why should You be tied to . the house because a grown man can't give a cat some.meds.

I'm weeping at Fats description. So so true

fat

Wrap the cat in a big towel or other large piece of material, as suggested above. Won't hurt the cat and the cat can't hurt you, or your husband. Squirting in medication is by far the easiest way of administering drugs. Trying to make a cat take a pill, on the other hand, is sheer hell!

Some great ideas from other MNers.

YANBU, but your husband is. I sympathise with how he feels; I really do, but the cat's welfare comes first.

I am lucky that my cat takes Metacam orally in syringe once a day (for arthritis). It is fish-flavoured and he is usually very good about the process.

I can't claim credit - it got sent to me as a work email. And you know how emails are - you don't know how long they are until you read/scroll through. so I was reading it and laughing, laughing, laughing - banging on the desk laughing.

It's v true, isn't it.