Dear Cat People
Jul. 17th, 2013 09:21 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gerisullivanYes, I need a Tillie'n'Jinx icon....
I also need a long-term strategy for getting hairball remedy into Jinx. Experiments to date suggest this will require developing a long-term strategy for catching her on a regular basis. Jinx is the cat who wants all 4 paws under her at all times. She keeps her distance, and even the bait'n'switch operation of putting tasty food down and then grabbing her has limited effectiveness.
As the Virtual Vet says:
"To Catch a Cat: Offer a favorite food and grab the cat
Be rotten. Catch ‘em while they are eating! The down-side is this: if you miss, the cat will not trust you for a while, or ever. Do not attempt this technique unless you are sure it will work right the first time; you will not get a second chance."
Even if you do catch them the first time, they'll remember. At least, Jinx does. I used bait'n'switch to get her into her carrier and to the vet last Friday; she's not letting me come close today.
So. Anyway. Several weeks back, after poking around on the net, I tried adding a light drizzle of olive oil to her food. She tried it and quickly learned she doesn't like it. Now she won't touch it, even when she's hungry. And I'm doing my best not to let her be hungry these days. She's lost a lot of weight and it appears she's continuing to do so. A couple hundred dollars in vet appointments and tests haven't turned up anything; we're now on a wait'n'see approach. She has constant access to kibble though I don't know if she ever eats any of it -- she's a very private cat. She also now gets nummy canned food several times a day. After 7 weeks of that routine and enough hairball medicine to bring up several hairballs, she'd still lost a quarter pound. The formerly 14.2 pound cat is down to 8.5 pounds. Not good.
She's been tolerating brushing of late, which has been a help in all this heat. But signs suggest that hairballs continue to be a problem, one that has been solved by hairball remedy in the past. Now all I need to do is catch her....
(And keep on catching her once a week or so. Yeah. Right.)
I also need a long-term strategy for getting hairball remedy into Jinx. Experiments to date suggest this will require developing a long-term strategy for catching her on a regular basis. Jinx is the cat who wants all 4 paws under her at all times. She keeps her distance, and even the bait'n'switch operation of putting tasty food down and then grabbing her has limited effectiveness.
As the Virtual Vet says:
"To Catch a Cat: Offer a favorite food and grab the cat
Be rotten. Catch ‘em while they are eating! The down-side is this: if you miss, the cat will not trust you for a while, or ever. Do not attempt this technique unless you are sure it will work right the first time; you will not get a second chance."
Even if you do catch them the first time, they'll remember. At least, Jinx does. I used bait'n'switch to get her into her carrier and to the vet last Friday; she's not letting me come close today.
So. Anyway. Several weeks back, after poking around on the net, I tried adding a light drizzle of olive oil to her food. She tried it and quickly learned she doesn't like it. Now she won't touch it, even when she's hungry. And I'm doing my best not to let her be hungry these days. She's lost a lot of weight and it appears she's continuing to do so. A couple hundred dollars in vet appointments and tests haven't turned up anything; we're now on a wait'n'see approach. She has constant access to kibble though I don't know if she ever eats any of it -- she's a very private cat. She also now gets nummy canned food several times a day. After 7 weeks of that routine and enough hairball medicine to bring up several hairballs, she'd still lost a quarter pound. The formerly 14.2 pound cat is down to 8.5 pounds. Not good.
She's been tolerating brushing of late, which has been a help in all this heat. But signs suggest that hairballs continue to be a problem, one that has been solved by hairball remedy in the past. Now all I need to do is catch her....
(And keep on catching her once a week or so. Yeah. Right.)
