Getting an uncooperative cat into the carrier

[Dilbertian]

I've got to get MrFattyCat into the carrier to take him to the vet tomorrow morning. He does not like being picked up and does not like being in a carrier.

When he lets me pick him up he doesn't struggle, but won't tolerate it for more than 10-20 seconds.

It's a top-loading carrier and I've been leaving treats in it and spraying it with Felliway. I've never actually tried putting him in the carrier before.

He is a big fat bloke - 7kg, and it's not all fat.

Any tips?

I have had a miserable failed attempt to get my frightening, frightened, aggressive, difficult and stinky cat into a carrier today.

Both of us are very upset.

I can't see how I will ever do it.

I tried to goad her in with dreamies, but she knows carrier = vet and this didn't work last time I tried to get her to a groomer several months ago and it didn't work today either.

I grabbed her from behind with a towel, wrapped her in the towel and tried to stuff the wriggling enormous towel coated beast into the door of the carrier but it was impossible, she wriggled and screamed and the wriggling towel cat was bigger than the small hole for the door. I know that if I tried top loading it she'd escape out of the door hole or jump out before I got the top and the door back on, because I'm not an octopus.

I'm incredibly frustrated and stuck, because she is very matted and has smelly poo stuck to her back fur, and the only way I can get that off is by getting the vet to sedate her and then do it, but I can't see how getting her into a carrier will ever be possible.

She doesn't like being touched or being picked up. She doesn't like humans. She scratches our legs and growls at us if we dare to walk past where she is lying down. She is not like any cat I've ever known previously. She is terrifying and I really don't know how to cope with her any more.

@SunglassesSeventy can you get here to settle down on a large towel and then gather the ends together above her so you can lift her up contained? Like those pictures of storks delivering new babies. Then just dump whole parcel into carrier.

Oh dear, Sunglasses that sounds so distressing. I've been reading that you can get a sedative for the cat (gabapentin - I've taken that and it turned me into a zombie). Would the vet prescribe it for her?

@SunglassesSeventy
Was just about to say ask your vet for gabapentin which you give 2 hours before appointment. I'm a District cat nurse and we use it all the time. Do you have a mobile vet in your area? I tend to cats like yours all the time in their own homes but there's not many of us around.

I put the carrier out of sight, allow the cat to settle to sleep and then pick the cat up whilst sleeping and shove them in. If the carrier is just outside of the room they're asleep in then they don't see it until they're in.

Thanks Dilbertian and Anonaymoose, I'll ask the vet about that sedative you mention. The only problem is that I'm not sure how I'd get the sedative into her. I couldn't mix it with food as she's supposed to be starved before her vet visit as they need to put her under GA to shave her, I already was being risky trying to tempt her into the carrier with 2 dreamies. And she's not the type of cat to let me put anything in her mouth!

Since typing my post though I did have one good idea - to buy a bigger carrier more suitable for a dog. I found this online which looks to have a bigger opening as the whole top opens - fetch.co.uk/mdc-plastic-coated-pet-carrier-blue-401453011?gclid=Cj0KCQjwytOEBhD5ARIsANnRjVjgxAoLs9YUpVDWuYBYMbl0AvtDM8vr_Jq-YOPt2hXgucmJbRH_09IaAo9UEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

I think it would be easier to get the towel wrapped wriggling cat into something with a much bigger opening that I can quickly shut once she's in it.

TaraR2020 I think your towel stork idea could work with the carrier above.

My current carrier is a big one but the entrance hole is still too small for a large wriggling cat to be shoved into.

Dilbertian sorry to come along with such a big moan in your thread! What will you try next? Will you make another appointment soon? I'm keen to know how you get on.

I love the sound of your cat. I've got one I swear who knows when the postman drops his flea drops through the letter box and goes into hiding, it's the one time he doesn't play daft.

I put the carrier on the worktop with the door open and facing me. Make sure the carrier is right up to the edge of the worktop. Pick the cat up and shove him in. Because he's got nothing to grab onto with his feet except thin air as I shove him in through the door, he can't do anything about it. Works every time.

I suppose you could stand a top loading one on its side so the door opens over the edge of the worktop and do the same thing? Depends what shape it is.

My approach with (now sadly departed) QuantumCat was very similar to iknowimcoming's in terms of stealth setup and insertion techniques. We had an extra step though:

• Clean up trail/puddle of cat urine from floor and change urine-soaked clothes from where she inevitably pissed everywhere as soon as I picked her up

She'd then proceed to wail at top volume for the entire shebang, usually have another wee and almost always a crap in her box too, and on one memorable occasion, vomited all over the lot.

It got worse and worse as she got older - I always felt terrible, it wasn't like she was doing it to be awkward, she was just terrified and confused. The final straw was when she had explosive diarrhoea all over the box/herself, meaning we had to add giving her a bath to her (and our!) list of woes. We started using a mobile vet at that point - which I was pleasantly surprised to discover was barely any more expensive than going to the surgery.

Unfortunate the dreamies trick only works once! I recently had to bring my cat on a few visits to the vet.

Shut the door and trap the cat in a room. I prop the carrier up with cushions in a corner of the sofa, so the door is facing up. Then grab cat, simultaneously wrapping in a blanket or towel burrito style and put them in. Gravity is your friend here.

My previous cat used to do a starfish shape with legs outstretched- hence the burrito trick.

I had my first cat from a kitten. She was used to being picked up and carried around. She didn't like going in the carrier, but I could get her in fairly easily with Newnormal's technique. Had to get the lid down PDQ, though. When she was old and frail I used to burrito her because I felt it was safer for her. She would cry all the way to the vet.

I once took her to the vet in just collar and leash. I held her in my arms while mum drove. Insane, in retrospect, but cat was calm and easy all the way.

Current cat is entirely different. He is a 10yo rescue, clearly unused to being picked up or held. And I am out of practice. And he is BIG.

I've rescheduled for next week, but I can see this appointment becoming a rolling reschedule

@RunnerDown

Vet told me to grab the cat under it’s front legs letting back legs dangle . She said that it’s very difficult for them in that position to do much with back legs. Do it very quickly and shove them in. I always get mine in the utility room with the door closed before I get out the carrier box. Sadly my girl is so old now that she can’t put up much of a fight anymore

What?!

They obviously haven’t met my cat who must be some form of contortionist, as she can bring her back legs right up and slit my wrists if she really wanted to.

My only method is shutting her in one room (she panics and knows what’s happening), grab her by the scruff and shove her as hard as I can into the carrier.

Then I have the opposite problem at the vets....I can’t get her out. I have to pull her out and she merrily runs back in when i let her go.

A friend has a semi feral cat. She uses oven gloves to pick up the cat, that stops the cat scratching and biting her.

One of mine is quite happy to be stuffed into the carrier, the other one..... well let's just say that nailing jelly to a tree would be easier. Thick gardening gloves AND long sleeves tucked into the gardening gloves are an absolute must. Basically we trap her in the front porch, grab, wrap and stuff before you lose the skin on your arms she realises what you are up to. You get one chance to get it right.

Oh, and she wails all the way to the vets as well, and usually has at least one wee in the carrier. So making sure there is a toddlers bed mat in the carrier AND the carrier is sat on one is an absolute must.

QuantumWeatherButterfly your experience sounds awful!

After my cat into carrier fail this morning, reading about all your experiences has made me feel less alone with my cat-from-hell!

In case it helps, my vet has now recommended the type of carrier I linked to in one of my earlier posts on this thread, and a reviewer on amazon said this type of carrier is a lot easier to get cats into.

I found a bigger version as the one I posted above looked a bit small for my enormous cat. It's not cheap but if it solves my cat problem it'll be worth the money. www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07MXS5L8P/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?psc=1&tag=mumsnetforu03-21&ie=UTF8

My cat knows when he's about to be put in the carrier.

I shut doors to escape routes (under the sofa/bed etc). Then grab his front legs together and back legs together, one hand for each set.

I put him in head first and shove his backside in, then shut the door as fast as possible.

It's taken a while to master the skill but it works for me.

I've finally got administering pills sorted too!

Mine once managed to be sick deliberately all over me, the car, the carrier and himself
A lovely vet nurse helped me clean up and then he threw up on the vet nurse
He returned holding a slightly damp cat who was fuming at being bathed

@QueenPaw that did make me laugh!
Thankfully none of my cats have turned into barf-bombs when transporting, but I've had to resort to sedation with a couple and one used to get so unbearably distressed each time he only went if it was absolutely necessary.

Said distressed cat invariably used to have a little bath in the sink of getting home to wash off all the wee and poo, he's been gone a few years now and yet I can still remember the expression on his face at finding himself gently bathed just when he thought he could escape!

I used to wear oven gloves when wrestling mine into the carrier. Very effective.

@SunglassesSeventy - my vets say that a small amount of food in order to administer the gavapentin is fine for ga's, we have relatively recently discovered the miracle which is cat putty for giving tablets to dcat after years of battles.

Mine can be feisty but is otherwise lovely at home, but due to being hit by a car, in her younger days, and having to have 2 teeth removed and one 'modified' as well as other injuries, she understandably is terrified at the vets. She has been known to climb on top of the wall cupboards at the surgery, and one time inside it when the door was left open, (hundreds of tiny glass vials going everywhere), they then resorted to gauntlets and the crush cage with her and she badly scratched the vet nurse (despite the gauntlets). Then about 2 years ago, she bit me so hard (even without proper teeth) it was down to the bone, and I had to have antibiotics, it was so traumatic for everyone, I asked if she could be sedated in future,and they were happy to do it.

@theworldsbiggestcrocodile

I used to wear oven gloves when wrestling mine into the carrier. Very effective.

But first you need to catch your kitty...

How does a cat on Gabapentin behave?

@iknowimcoming oh wow, poor everyone! That sounds very traumatic for your cat, you and the vet and assistants.

Thanks for the info re food and gavapentin

Interestingly since the failed cat into carrier attempt, I've left the carrier in the hall with the top detached and a towel in it, and my cat has been using it non-stop to sleep in ever since. If she's asleep in it at the time of her next vet appointment I just might be able to get the top on and door attached before she runs away.

Maybe reattach one door, still leaving it open, and once she's used to that reattach the other door. Is she still sleeps happily in it, keep one door shut. If she still sleeps happily in it, start closing the other door but not moving the carrier. Open the door before she gets distressed. Hopefully she can learn that she can be safe in the carrier. Of course you'll have to go through it all again after the next vet visit!