Vet manhandling cat

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Is this normal. My cat is very scared of the vet and hisses a lot at the vet. The solution seems to be to wrap him in a towel which he absolutely hates.

Used to have Tabby Cat put straight in the bag and muzzle when she needed bloods done.

One vet would say 'Oh no, I can do it without' but it was actually less stressful for Tabby Cat to go straight in the bag and have it over and done with than have a manhandling/restraining attempt.

If you know how to handle him, why don't you hold him while the vet does his/her thing? Then you can be sure the poor thing isn't stressed.

Georgia - in fairness, owners struggle to hold their pets and the last thing I want to hear from a fractious cat owner is I'll hold him. I've been bitten too many times.

My approach is take cat to quiet room, minimal staff so just myself and the vet or me and another nurse. Give the cat time, leaving in bottom of cat box is often great for injections, claw clips, not so much.

If a cat needs a blood sample a burrito is often better as we generally need the jugular vein. Wrapping the cat in a towel secures the legs whilst someone gently as possible raises the cats head, maybe tapping its nose as a distraction. This looks barbaric to an owner but it's the least stressfull approach MOST OF THE TIME. Some cats hate any form of restraint and will react badly, you need to be as hands off as possible, calm and quiet. It varies so much.

It's never easy but we do our best, we don't want to get bitten - cat bites are dangerous and carry high risk of infection. They have claws too. But mostly, vets and vet nurses want the best for our patients. Trust us a little - we know what we are doing.

Can’t they do stuff like weigh the box with cat in it and then weigh the box separately and subtract? Or even better you weigh the box at home and tell them the weight of the box. Ask them to do as much stuff as possible with cat in bottom bit of box.

Always loved this James Herriot anecdote

I think it was the beginning of Mrs. Bond's unquestioning faith in me when she saw me quickly enveloping the cat till all you could see of him was a small black and white head protruding from an immovable cocoon of cloth. He and I were now facing each other, more or less eyeball to eyeball, and George couldn't do a thing about it. As I say, I rather pride myself on this little expertise, and even today my veterinary colleagues have been known to remark, "Old Herriot may be limited in many respects, but by God he can wrap a cat.”

He's not hurting the cat.

It's protecting the cat - and all humans within striking distance - to wrap it into an angry caterpillar shape.

I'm an animal person, I have had far more cats than any other species, but I would always wrap a pissed off/frightened/flight risk for any handling - even my soppy old boy, who never hurt a fly. I was proven right with that one when the vet said, 'oh, isn't he lovely and calm', only to end up with four people, including me, working together to extricate him from under the sink in their sluice room as her lack of foresight/trust in the lovely lad meant he saw his chance and made a break for it.

Wrapping in a towel is perfectly humane

That's ridiculous, of course they need to weigh and check teeth. To comment and say a vet doesn't need to is irresponsible. A vet legally isn't allowed to prescribe any meds, Inc vaccinations, or flea treatme without an accurate body weight. Teeth problems can cause serious health issues for animals and people. Just like drs, they won't give meds without seeing you.

talchi, I think my previous vet thought his eyeballs were a more precious asset than checking a cat's teeth....

Hello, vet nurse here!
What you're describing is what we call the cat burrito! At each examination your pet requires weighing to ensure your pet is maintaining a healthy weight and this helps us pick up on illnesses (sometimes you don't notice your pet has lost weight as you see them every day!).

If your cat is very unhappy being handled, this may be noted on your cats record (for both vet and cats safety). If your vet is less confident handling unhappy cats then they may go for the towel method (this is a taught method in cat friendly training we do) to ensure no one is put at risk unnecessarily.
If your cat dislikes being out of the carrier, you could weigh the carrier separately with the towel in and write this on the top so your vet can weigh the cat in the carrier and takeaway the box weight! Often cats are unhappy as soon as they see the carrier as it's associated with an unpleasant experience (car journey, being in a noisy waiting area, being tipped onto a table and examined by a stranger) you could try leaving the carrier out in the house to try and get the cat used to it before you go anywhere! This can be done over months so it's most effective.
You can also ask to see your most cat confident vet, but this will only work so much, your cat has to be handleable to some degree. With very very unhappy cats (I don't like using the word aggressive as they are often just unhappy!!) We have to use what's called a crush cage, this should be a last resort for things like injections because it causes so much stress to the cat. If the cat is ever 'scruffed' by your vet please politely ask them to use a different method of restraint as this is not acceptable!

The towel really is the best method to keep everyone safe, your cat won't be the biggest fan of it but its all over in a few minutes.

Please feel free to message me and I can send you some techniques to help your cat be more comfortable going to the vet and some things to ask your vet to make your visit more pleasant for all!

Please note, unless you are a trained veterinary professional you cannot diagnose or comment on what should/shouldn't be done when prescribing medications to a patient (as a vet wouldn't for human equivalent).
While we may feel we know our companion animals very well, they are a different species and therefore require different medications and also they cannot verbally tell us 'symptoms'. We have to check for clinical signs by doing a full nose to tail check of the patient, including weight, checking the mouth (for many things including mucous membranes colour and capillary refill time). If you went to the vet and they didn't do a full check of your pet, prescribed them a medication that is contraindicated for a condition they have (but wasn't picked up on due to lack of check) you would be outraged (and rightly so). A full health check is part of what you pay for.

Please speak to your vet, they are there to help and explain things as much as you need.

As others have comment studies have shown that the Kitty Burrito actually reduces stress for cats and gets the job done with out injury to anyone. This is the method developed and approved by iCatCare the international charity that promotes excellence in cat veterinary care.
The use of the kitty burrito shows that you practice is using the most up to date methods of cat care.

My cat is 8 and we adopted her earlier this year, we were warned that she had hospitalised a vet nurse at a previous visit.

We took her in recently for annual health check and boosters, and had notified the vet about her “violent past”. Luckily she was fine, but I’d rather the vet was prepared and used whatever means necessary to keep their staff safe from cat related injury!

I think it helps that our vet is a specific cat friendly clinic and has a lot in place to reduce stress, Feliway, special waiting areas etc.

You wouldn’t imagine she’d be capable of it, really...

@FenellaVelour What a beautiful cat!

My British Blue is a burrito and full length gauntlets cat

Because I’m an ex-zookeeper I do the wrap and restraint myself usually as he’s much better behaved for me than others.

He recently needed follow up bloods tho and the vet was his least favourite male vet 😂 vet did the bloods while two nurses restrained. The full works lol.

I was pulling a terrified face and one of the nurses tried to reassure me that they weren’t hurting him despite the yowls and fighting... I said I know, it’s you guys I’m frightened for 😂👌

So you don't know his past history if he's a rescue, he could have been badly treated and anything out and anyone out of his comfort zone isn't going to go down well. A larger vets practice may have an expert on cat behaviour who goes out to home, but also treats the usual issues inhouse. I'd suggest trying to see someone like this in the practice, as they may have other ideas on how to examine without having to go through torture on both sides.

@FenellaVelour She is the picture of innocence.

Thanks everyone for their thoughts. I think my general point is that the vet was over confident with him. If he needs to be put in the kitty burrito then fine but by the time we got to that point my cat was seriously riled.
So instead of doing the injection first thing when he was (relatively) calm that was done last when he was by that time very aggressive with the vet. That evening he could actually jump up on his favourite shelf (tried and failed twice) as to be honest he’d done ten rounds with the vet. That is not safe for anyone!
It’s not so much the towel technique itself I object to, just how drawn out it ended up being and that they didn’t listen to me. Would have been better to do injections in bottom of cage then trying to do teeth and weight.
Also they vet categorically told me not to handle him while this going on and people generally seem to agree that should be left to the experts.