How on earth do I get this cat into a carrier

[TheHorneSection]

We have a rescue male tabby who, even after 6 months, is ridiculously skittish. He will accept strokes and cuddles if you sit next to him on the bed when he is comfy, but that's it. You can't bend down to stroke him when he is anywhere else, he'll run away. I've tried picking him up occasionally from when he is comfy next to me but he hates it and scratches like mad. I've tried throwing a blanket over him but he bolts. I've tried keeping him in a room where he has nowhere to hide so I might be able to get closer but that freaks him out (he spent 5 years shut alone in a room, so that's understandable), the one time I tried it in an attempt to get a groomer to cut his nails, he was terrified and had diarrhea for two days afterwards from the stress. He does love food, but so far any attempt to lay a trail of tempting food into a cat carrier hasn't worked either.

I really do need to get him to the vet to get checked out but have absolutely no idea how I can get him there. Any good ideas?

Photo as cat tax...

@MoonWoman69 The trick with the top loading box is to get that lid shut immediately in one fluid motion once the cat is dropped in. It's hard to remember exactly what I did but I think I used my foot to close the lid very very very quickly the second the cat was in there. Obviously, the cat will jump out if the lid is open!

Works even better if you have a second person to do the lid.

The large box is just so much easier to get a cat into than a carrier with a small hole at the front. My smaller, nicer cat who enjoys being picked up hates being stuffed into the small hole of a regular cat carrier too, so I also use the top-loading box for him and he's the fastest cat I've ever met!

We have a skittish but freakishly strong rescue and we have to have a vet come round to do a check up and give jabs. She needs a procedure at the actual vet so we are getting some gabapentin (sp?) from vet and going to try and get her used to carrier before hand, hoping she has forgotten the trauma of us trying last time, DH still had the scars

We used to really struggle with this with a cat carrier, we now use a wire crate type one, bought from Amazon which the whole top comes off, it is much easier to put the cat in that and slam the top shut quickly, it stops the cat from being able to brace his legs against the sides which made him stuck.
good luck

We had one like that.

I dreaded it when he needed the vet's.

We also at one point had to give him medicine twice a day, and it needed to be given straight into his mouth.
We just couldn't do it because it upset him so much. It wasn't worth the distress, which was bordering on cruelty.

I completely understand what you mean.

Looks like a top loading carrier could be the way forward, I think we might get one attempt at a scoop and drop if I get him while he's relaxed somewhere. Off to see if anyone on our local FB can loan one to try!

Huge thanks for the tips again

Apparently it is helpful to not surprise cats with carriers - so leaving them in high traffic areas, or putting food/drink close by may help make them less scary.
Also making sure the carrier smells of the cat rather than of something unfamiliar.
Would catnip work, I wonder?

Ultimately you may need a suit of armour and tongs!

I wish I'd seen this a week ago as we had to take our feral rescue (he turned up on our doorstep years ago in a right sorry state)

I've always been able to get him his flea tablets from our vets as we had other animals who would visit the vet so we were known to them I guess. The rules have now changed and no flea / worm tablets etc can be prescribed without a vet seeing the actual animal needing the treatment so this week we had to take him.

I explained he's feral and nervy and they prescribed Gabapentin - 1 for the night before and 1 for an hour before visit - which I crushed in a lickyLix. He seemed a lot more relaxed and when the time came we popped some lickylix in his cat carrier (which had been out for 2 weeks with his blanket inside and I'd put treats in every day so he would step in - it had no lid on at this point - and hopefully it was less alarming) and once he went in I put the lid on. Bless him he was vocal all the short journey there and in the waiting room but they knew he was nervy so saw him first and I also let the vet do most of the handling so I stayed the "good guy". He wasn't chipped so as the rule for chipping comes in in June (and I couldn't face another visit so soon) they chipped him and gave him his flea treatment for me too.

I now can get all flea and worm treatments for a year but will have to bring him in yearly but that's a next year problem.

In case you're wondering, he came out the carrier back home - we did the release outside in case he bolted in panic - and he came straight in the house and didn't hold it against us at all so I think we've been lucky. So love our boy 🐈‍⬛

I would recommend you ask for Gabapentin as it really helped. They also had unlimited treats while he was being looked at and a calming spray which they put on the scales so they could weigh him.
They also didn't rush him and let him roam unhindered around the room.

I wish you all the best and I very much empathise with your predicament.

I tried this but it just upset him hugely in his home environment. If a cat is as upset as yours surely you'd at least ask your vet about gabapentin?

I will ask. I’ve not had a nervous cat before and didn’t realise a vet could possibly subscribe it without the first visit, that’s all.

Ah, sorry, I misread the groomer visit as a previous vet visit. I wasn't sure if they can prescribe without having ever seen him, but it seems the rules have recently changed and it may be possible:

vethelpdirect.com/vetblog/2023/09/05/new-prescribing-rules-for-uk-vets/

He's an absolute stunner! 😻

Mine are all weird and will quite happily be placed in the carrier, but I did used to have a tiny farm kitten who just knew and would panic and scratch like crazy.

The only solution was to burrito her into a towel with only her head showing and bundle her in that way.

Just in case anyone comes across this thread, I called the vets and explained and they were happy to prescribe a sedative even though they have never seen Reg, otherwise we’d never get him there.

Bless him, he's gorgeous.
What a sad story.I'm not surprised he doesn't trust people.
My cat is difficult, so I bought a cat cage after failing to get him in a plastic cat carrier.
It's white coated wire, large and square and much easier to open the lid and pop him in.
Don't know how you actually persuade your car in though !

Just read the full thread
I'm glad you have a solution.

Glad you have a solution OP! And agree he looks part Bengal… good luck 😁 Gorgeous though.

Our vet recently told me cats are much happier about being loaded into carriers face first rather than arse first. At least they can see what they’re getting into. Makes sense. Appreciate some of the cats on this thread are far too resistant for that to work!

We had this with our cat. Eventually we got a different carrier and she now goes in happily. I don't know why as the carrier is almost the same but more expensive. Maybe she feels more secure in it?

Lovely cat . I know you are sorted now but in the future it may be worth trying a small blanket sprayed in feliway ( or similar) that you could lay over him quickly to pick him up . Ours have top loading carriers and they are much better - not that they mind the vet anyway as we’ve found them a lovely one who gives them cuddles .

@TheHorneSection
Did you ever find anything that worked? I'm exactly the same position as you - and I live alone so no one to help
Thank you 🙏

I’ve collected some sedative from the vet and as some posters suggested, the vet was happy to prescribe it as it was that or never getting the cat there! Then I might borrow a bigger cat carrier from someone and try that, I’ll let you know