Cat in medical bodysuit not happy

[dementedpixie]

Had to take my cat to the out of hours vet last night as he was very lethargic, wasn't eating and was growling if we clapped him near his back end. Turned out he had an abcess that needed cleaning and the vet wanted to do xrays in case it was a gunshot pellet so they kept him in overnight.

He was sent home this morning with pain relief, antibiotics and a plastic cone. Tried the cone 4 times and he managed to get it off within seconds. Spoke to the vet and they said you can get stretchy bodysuits instead so I've bought one of them. He's not really impressed with it either but at least he can't take it off.

How long do you think he should wear it and is it totally necessary? Can he go outdoors with it? (I've to keep him in for a couple of days although he has already been scrabbling at the cat flap as I've locked it shut). Any bright ideas about getting his antibiotics into him too would be appreciated.

One of mine had to wear this after being spayed. I felt bad but laughed for hours, full on tears. Her face was just ‘I will kill everyone’

She lasted less than a day. She was walking backwards in it, and kept toppling over.

When I need to give tablets, I use those meaty sticks (I think they’re the same brand as the lik-e-lix). I just squash some all the way round the tablet so it’s completely covered, it works 99% of the time for me.

Webbox?

Did she not bother with her wound much?

Yes that’s the one

Oh what a little sweetie! I hope he gets better soon 🤞🏻

My boys would go spare if I attempted to get them into what can only be described as a swimsuit 😀

We had a nightmare with antibiotics with our cat last year. He nearly died from us not being able to get them into him. We mixed we crushed we pinned him down, he had none of it.

We insisted he went back into the vets until he was better so he stayed another long weekend but the antibiotics were a month long course so in the end we bought a pill crusher from the vets (£7) and bizarrely it worked miracles and he wolfed it down when mixed really finely - would recommend!

What a beautiful beautiful cat that is!!

Just remembered Tcn advised us to use sandwich spread/paste for tablets.

Is it wrong that I now want to see lots of pics of cats in suits

No not at all, in fact none of my cats were bothered. But an abscess wound could be more irritable, I’m not sure.

He looks pissed off! He’s a cutie though.

For pills, we used to use something like this: www.amazon.co.uk/ASOSMOS-Capsule-Injection-Medicine-Dispenser/dp/B07H87VC2L/ref=asc_df_B07H87VC2L/?hvlocphy=9045997&linkCode=df0&hvptwo&psc=1&hvnetw=g&hvadid=309842998506&hvpone&hvlocint&hvpos=1o1&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl&hvqmt&tag=mumsnetforu03-21&hvtargid=pla-569141583796&hvrand=15270139187735646258 It sort of “pops” the pill to the back of the mouth/throat. If you then hold their mouth shut for a second and stroke the throat gently it should go down. Covering the pill in butter first helps. I then let the cat lick the rest of the butter off my fingers and he forgot to be cross about the pill.

Your cat is saying

I HATE YOU. I NOT TALK TO HOOMAN ANYMORE. GET ME OUT DIS TING NOW. I SCRATCH YOU TO DEATH HOOMAN. I ASHAMED.

I speak cat. Thought I'd interpret for you.

We had one of those for youngest cat after her spay- with a cone she kept walking into things with it and not being able to figure out how to move, she also wouldn’t eat from the food bowl because the cone confused her. So we got her one of those and she wouldn’t sit down for about a week because she hated the straps round he back legs - she either stood looking pissed off or flopped onto her side.

I've put him back into it for overnight and he is not impressed. It has sapped his abilities to walk properly! I've blocked the cat flap so they can't break it by scrabbling at it. Hoping for a peaceful night

A sad boy

My cat had an abscess but was right down inside his ear. Just had to get squeezing it and cleaning it but would have loved any excuse to get him in a little suit

My poor cat was in suits and cage rest for weeks. Weirdly, he took to grooming the suit. It was distressing for all of us but he just shut down and slept a lot - he did have very serious injuries but is now fully recovered and back to being an evil beast. I would persist with the suit for a few days - you don't want him to lick the wound. Good luck!

One of our cats was in a body suit for a couple of weeks recently. The only one we could get in his size was army camouflage. He looked swell.

Anyway, he managed to nearly get the damn thing off twice!

Once he knew that resistance was futile he was fine.

Oh, and the vet injected the anti-bios.

We had to get painkillers into him. Liquid stuff. It was a two man job - one pinned, the squirted.

Made us feel like vets.

I don’t want to sound negative, but If it’s a straightforward cat bite abscess (which is what it sounds like) he likely doesn’t Need xrays, bodysuits or antibiotics. Just the abscess opening up and a good clean. No need to keep him indoors either.
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Don’t piss him off or stress him out - that’s more likely to create problems than letting a simple wound heal.

I'd remove the suit and also let him out if he's desperate to do so. You don't want him to start any dirty protests indoors which is common when they're stressed

The xray was to rule out a pellet shot wound as some have been reported in the area. So you think he'd be ok without everything else?

A sad boy

Sad? That's a 'im going to shit on your bed' look if I've ever seen one. That's pissed off that is!

Kept him in the suit overnight but took it off in the morning. He doesn't seem bothered by the wound. Was miaowing at doors and trying to get out catflap so we ended up giving in and letting him out for a wee while (more so he could go to the toilet as he isn't used to using the litter any more). When he came back we shut doors/ windows so he has to stay in. Will leave the suit off tonight and let him out tomorrow for a wee while again. He has a follow up appointment on Wednesday

Good plan OP. Hopefully he'll leave the wound alone. Because of where my cats abscess was I had to keep draining it and cleaning with salt water - he hated it but was such a good boy. Hardest thing was trying to keep his brother from grooming the area - not helpful

Everything is going well. Have been letting him out during the day and locking the catflap at night. Wound seems to be healing and he's not bothering with it so we stopped using the suit after that first time. Had started the antibiotics so figured we needed to finish the course - have been crushing the tablets and mixing with lik-e-lix which he licks off the spoon!

Have a follow up appointment at the more local branch of the vet tomorrow so I'll need to get him into the carrier again. Have done my insurance claim too as total price for treatment was over £300