Hello everyone!!!!
Lately Jasper has been on several medications and we have a huge problem. As some of you may know we have only had him a short time(7 months) and he was a stud cat, that lived out in an enclosure. He was very timid when we first got him and it took about two months to get him into the flow of living inside with an active family. So we finally gained his trust and he has been an awesome cat for the last several months. Since having him he has had several episodes of tummy trouble and I have had him tested for everything I could think of. Well I finally got fed up with my vet and his outdated views on TF, so I took him to a specialist that deals only with cats. We had him tested for TF and everything that we had already tested for. The results came back and he was negative for TF but positive for way to many other things! He had giardia, coccidia, round worm, hook worms, tape worms and stomach worms! Needless to say I was pissed(excuse my language) at my old vet because he "tested" him for all of these things before! Jasper was so sick that when he would walk he would drip blood! I was furious, I had to sit in my car and calm down before I could even drive to leave the vet! So he is on two different oral meds and we had to give him a pill for three days and he is also on fortiflora daily. So now we have the routine of giving him his meds morning and night and giving him boiled chicken with broth after for a "treat" per vets recommendation! I started out giving him the meds on the counter(which is where his food is) and after two days he would not go onto his counter to eat. So I moved his food onto the floor where he would eat. So I started holding him and my husband would give him the meds. Now I can not go near him, my husband cant either. I honestly do not know what to do! I can come within 6 feet of him and he will hiss and run away! I have to give him his meds, I don't have a choice! He will finish one tomorrow(for the giardia) and the other he has to take for another week! What on earth can I do? He has gone back to the way he was when we first got him! He hides all the time, hisses when someone is near him, and he will not eat or use the litter box until everyone is in bed! Does anyone know of a way to give liquid medication without traumatizing him? The first few times I gave him the medicine by just putting the dropper in his mouth and putting my hand behind him so he coulnt back away. I then had to hold him and my husband did it, now I have to wrap him in a towel/blanket to keep him from getting away and tearing me to pieces in the process! I am so upset I cried last night because my boy hates me! What do I do?

For anyone that might be wondering, I collected stool samples from BB for three days and had her tested for everything as well. She tested negative for everything. The vet gave her a pill to kill worms as a precaution! She is also on revolution to prevent parasites as well!

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Sorry for a long post and now another question, but does anyone know of anything to help clean and sanitize everything without bleach? I have asthma and Clorox really sets my symptoms off and I am also allergic to the brand Lysol!

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Naughty squeaky kittens have me awake! Been awake for nearly an hour now and it's 510 am! So I wouldn't normally be on now! Lol

Sorry to hear about Jasper. Glad you got some answers though. Do you know the name of the medication he is on? Are they all liquid? Is it possible to get them in solid form at all? What volume do you have to give?

I feel your pain, I had to pill Max for 4 weeks! It was a nightmare. He now has a daily pill and I use a pill giver with a soft tip. It helps but he still fights it!

Is there a food he LOVES? If so, mix a teaspoon with the dose of drug and when he's eaten it give him a bit more....

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Lollo

Meant to say, I clean my trays with something called 'Safe 4 Pets' not sure if it is available in the US though.

You could look for something that is similar.

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Lollo

This is what I use:

http://www.safe4disinfectant.com/safe4pets.php

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Lollo

Aww bless the little babies! I bet you are exhausted but they have to be worth it!

Jasper is on ponzoril, I think that is spelled right? It's not in a bottle so I don't have it written down. Its something the vet had to compound himself and he put it in individual dose syringes for me. He has to take 2.3 ml of it morning and night for two weeks, possibly longer! I have to take him in for an exam before I stop giving it to him! The vet said coccidia is tricky because there is nothing to actually kill it! He is also on .5 ml of metronidazole twice a day but he finished it this morning! I wish pills were easier! It took me and two techs to hold him and pill him! I just don't see how the vet missed all of this! It's also upsetting to think about how long he has had all of it!

I also tried putting it in food but he knows its there! Even his favorite junk food he will not eat! He is honestly scared to eat anything because he now associates eating with getting the medicine and has since turned to eating only dry food because I hide the medicine in his wet and I have also been mixing probiotic in it!

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It's probably not you that Jasper hates. It's the taste of the medication. I had to give my kitty antibiotics for a week and I could hold him and toss them in his mouth as he was crying. Unfortunately, I'd find them on the floor, but we managed to get them all down him. The vet told me the pills did not have a pleasant taste to them. I would have found it easier if I'd had another set of arms, so having your husband there to help hold is best. Unfortunately, putting meds in food or water isn't going to guarantee they are going to get the complete dosage. I did try some of the pill poppers (you wrap a soft treat around the pill) and it worked for a couple of doses but then he got smart and refused to eat the pill that way -- so back to grabbing him, holding him like a baby in my lap, waiting for his mouth to open where I can throw the pill in. It's never fun giving medications -- but if I had been truly concerned, I would have taken him to the vet twice a day to make sure he got them. They know how to do it right and not feel guilty. You're having this horrible guilt because you think your kitty hates you for this. Trust me ... that's not the case. It's not fun for him but once all the meds are done and he realizes you are coming after him to pet him and not give him meds, he'll be back to normal. I am so sorry you've had to go through all of this. It's been a whole lot worse for him, I'm afraid.

I would forget putting the stuff in his food, as the last thing he needs now is to have to eat food he doesn't like. I think you have proven he will not eat the medicated food.
I would grab him and give him the meds with the least fuss possible. As any fussing, or cooing or stroking or attempts to calm him, will then be associated with the bad stuff. Do not chase him around the place either to give him his meds, choose or plan a strategy to catch him with as little disruption as possible.
He is not going to like it, that is a given, but 2-3 minutes of stress is not a big deal, but you have to act as normal as possible outwith the med giving, do not try to compensate for your perceived "badness".
He will see that something is up if your behaviour changes radically and that will just add to his stress. He will pick up his signals from you, so if he senses that you or your family are stressed over the meds, he will be stressed too, and if you then act totally weird by over compensating with affection, that will also freak him out.

I haven't chased him or made a big deal of it, I have tried to make it as normal as possible but I can't lie and say it hasn't stressed me! He has always been a cuddle bug and generally a happy cat! Now he just hates the world and freaks out about everything! I have basically been ignoring him, which is what I had to do to gain his trust to begin with.

I have noticed changes in his behavior in a positive way, so I know he is feeling better, he just hates the medicine! He also hates the fortiflora but I have to fight BB off to stay away from it I am sure it will not hurt her but Jasper needs it more!

To my surprise in was sitting on the couch with my two boys watching a movie and Jasper jumped up and laid down next to my leg!! I started petting his head and he looked at me and let out the most pitiful meow. He then proceed to bite my leg he has never done anything like that before! My leg was under a blanket and I had just rubbed my leg, maybe it was the movement under the blanket but regardless it scared the mess out of me lol

He has been a little pent up lately, I am sure it's from not feeling well and ten the stress of meds! Our poor little dog has taken the rough end of the situation! Jasper just pounces on him and grabs his neck! Of course Max doesn't give it a second thought, but Jasper just seems irritated! I know I will have to give it a little time but I have another week of meds and it could possibly be longer! The way the vet described the treatment, the meds stop reproduction of the coccidia and then Jasper's immune system has to do the rest! I am worried about the big boy! I cleaned his box a moment ago and his poo is semi formed, which is a huge difference to last week! I honestly couldn't tell the difference between pee and poo! Please everyone keep your fingers crossed that this hasn't caused damage! I really don't think he had been tested or treated for anything prior to me having him!

Another thing, the reason Jasper was so freaked out when we got him was because a raccoon kept getting in his enclosure. The vet said he likely contracted all of this from raccoon feces! Is there anything g else that he could have gotten that I haven't had him tested for? The vet sent off blood work to make sure the round worm hasn't attacked any organs! Which is the primary worry with raccoon infecting cats, aside from rabies anyway!

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Metronidazole is very bitter and nasty tasting. The pills are quite large, I had to dose Max with it for 2 weeks!

Maybe there is a way to get the other medication from somewhere else, I know the can be compounded into different flavours in the US. I will ask someone I know who is more knowledgable about it

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Lollo

I think Lilly went off wet food cause of me hiding medication in it! Mind you if there's food with Daisy's probiotic in it Lilly will eat it? Freak! Lol

I have to give Lilly a paste right now (panacur) and yesterday I did it with her half asleep and today she was playful! So I was trying and failing, started waving it at her and she grabbed it and took the cap of the end, luckily she dropped it straight away so I grabbed it waved it at her again and as she went to bite the end again I managed to squirt it in! I had my mum in hysterics she wished she filmed it. Bet that will never happen again! Lmao

Daisy's horrible for tablets she's still so small but she's actually getting better and I always feed her straight after. Luckily she hasn't associated anything bad with it :)

Can you not get anywhere near jasper when he's sleepy? I always find that to be the best time

When it comes to medicating, I always take them somewhere small like a bathroom or the mud room by myself, then husband follows with the medicine. They don't have anywhere to hide. I also follow it up with a bowl of water and whatever treats they like, plus lots of pets and love.

As far as holding them I will tell you what I do but it is kind of a balancing act and has resulted in me sprawled out on the floor more than once. I squat against the cabinet and wall and hold under the cats arms to steady them and their scruff, just enough to bring their front legs off the ground. I will lean over so my chest/neck/face is up against their back and head and husband will pill or syringe the cat. It does help avoid most of the claws. I will tell you that it is kind of a balancing act but it works for when they catch on to what is going on. If I feel like I am losing my balance, I let the cat go. (I don't really want to explain to the vet that cat has a broken leg because I sat on them! )

It is also a catch-22, as they feel better because of the medicine, they fight you more. I know it is really hard but your cat will love you again. If you can confine the medicine experience to one room, the cat associate medicine with the one room, rather than just associate the medicine with you, wherever you choose to give it.

As far as the cleaning, could you leave the house and ask your husband to bleach everything, air out the house, and then clean again using whatever products you normally use? It's just a thought, I don't know of anything that is as powerful as bleach. Or maybe call an allergists office and ask them for alternatives to bleach?

Hi, there. I have just read through this thread, and I can relate. One time before I had Bengals, I did a foolish thing: I babysat for three baby Bengals. Didn't realize they all had diarrhea. I ran out and got them a separate litter box from my cats (4 resident cats at the time). Turned out, several days after the kittens left the house, I noticed my gray girl kitty bleeding from her behind. She got liquid diarrhea, which she had never had before, so I was sure she caught whatever the kittens had. Next was my ex's Melanistic that I was hosting at my house. She started bleeding from her behind. Let me say here, I have had experience with my cats catching parasites, including TF, from cattery cats, but nothing is as bloody as Coccidia. That is what the Bengal kittens had that spread to my cats. I took my gray girl in for testing and the vet said she was "swimming" with it. I too, was told the medication I was given for all four cats would not kill the Coccidia ~ just stop reproduction, and the immune system would take over from there. It did. We went through the regimen, and eventually everything cleared up. There were no lasting ill effects.

Try not to worry. These things are so very common in catteries, so you are not alone. Thousands of people have been through the same thing with their cats.

Okay .... now to address the "medication and trust" part of your post .... When I finally got myself a couple of Bengal kids (from the same cattery the Coccidia kittens came from), I was assured their poo was "picture perfect". Just to be safe, the breeder brought me a pair of labeled poos in zip lock baggies so I could run to the vet with them and have the new kids checked out, and their poos tested for the "usual suspects". The results came back negative. Yay! I co-mingled the kittens with my two cats (bad idea) ~ the ex's two cats were now gone. Next thing I knew, the kittens were squirting liquid diarrhea. (Not sure where those picture perfect poos in the zip lock came from I was given Science Diet Hairball Light to feed them, when right on the bag it said not to give it to cats under a year. I was very upset. I took them back to the vet, who gave me prescription food, but long story short, we ended up testing for TF, and that was what the problem was. By this time, one of my resident cats also had the liquid diarrhea. It is very upsetting when we are not told these things, but I agree with Junglerose, that its better not to act worried or emotional around cats, because they pick up on it. I'll say here, that most of what we worry about doesn't happen anyway, so ...

I had to pill all of my cats with Ronidazole. I have to admit, I was freaked out. My girl Bengal, Bianca, was a nightmare to pill. She fought tooth and nail. I went through just what you are going through. After the pilling ordeal for the day, I'd find a pill on the floor and not know who spit theirs out. My new kittens seemed to be hating me. Then I came up with an idea. I called the vet and asked if they could do the pilling for me. So ... each day, I made a 10 mile trip to the vet with two Bengals in tow. I let them be the "bad guys". It saved my reputation with my new kids.

If it's impossible to make a daily vet trip, then neonyellowclover's suggestions are great. There came a day in our regimen that I could not go to the vet, (Thanksgiving holiday). On that day, and the following Sunday, I confined them to one small room: the bathroom, got each one in the corner, and used scruffing. I was alone, but somehow managed.

Here we are, almost 6 years later, and my Bengals love me. They are both lap cats. Don't worry. Bite the bullet. Do what you have to do. Jasper will love you. Look what you are doing for him. You are giving him a new lease on life. Sorry for what he has been through. There are better days ahead.

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Bengal Fan

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