Hi All- I finally picked up my baby boy, after a long month's wait, on Saturday only to find him with a cold. The breeder gave me some antibiotics in case he got worse. Monday I took him to my vet and he prescribed antibiotics and eye drops but worse off he tested positive for Giardia a parasite that causes diarrhea. My problem is that this should be a fun bonding time and it seems like every time I go near him I'm shooting this in him or dropping that. He's starting to resent me. The first couple of doses I gave him went fine but now he's on to me. I didn't want our first bonding to be one of misery for him and feel so bad. I know I have no options. Any suggestions on making this easier. All he wants to do is play and play, and then along comes the meanie with the medicine. Could this change his personality? Did we drop a fortune on a sickly kitten? Will we both get over this? Any input would be appreciated. Thanks.

Hi

welcome and congrats on your new furbaby.
I am surprised the breeder let him go with a cold and medicine.

I would make sure I played and cuddled the little monster as much as possible, and also give him his meds. He will come round so long as you play as well. when I had my chap I also had to clean his ears twice a day, he soon realised this was a small part of life, and accepted it, I still have to clean them now (lazy toad).
Don't worry they know when they are loved

sue

Hey, congratulations on your new cat It must be frustrating not to have it all be pure fun!

Sue's advice is good and I just have one more thing to add. When you're about to give him some medication, do it in the same place again and again. If you take him into the bathroom for example, he'll know that trips to the bathroom are when the not-fun stuff happens. This will stop him being wary of you when you're just hanging out in the living room or having a play session. You should also give him treats after the medicine so that he even has something to look forward to when he gets taken to be treated. Cats are very routine based, once they know what to expect they adapt pretty well and he'll get used to it.

congratulations on your new addition!
all good advice here, especially treating in the same place so he associates it, & also lots of play with you & treats & snuggles imbetween treatments, so he also associates you with the fun things.

it's not nice to have to do unpleasant things to him so soon, but in the long run it may even help the bonding process as he'll learn that you handle him but it's ok & he gets spoilt too.

again, i had to do the "routine" thing with goblin. the bathroom is medication place however as soon as that is finished we both run to the cat tree in the living room where he is given his treats.
he always gets a treat and a cuddle directly after play...

When Keeta came in to our lives, she had already been abused in her short life of 6 months so she was very timid. She also came with giardia, coccidia and Tri-trich so she was on 3 different medications. The albon was liquid and the metronidazole and the other med was a pill.

I had a hard time to catch her just to give her lovins and make sure she knew she wasn't going to be abused anymore. Medicine time was crazy. It was terrible trying to catch her without being bit or scratched and then when it was pure h3ll trying to get the meds into her. I ended up having to have the pills compounded into a liquid after she bit through my finger while trying to get a pill down her throat.

I was afraid she would never come around because of already being timid and then having to shove meds down her throat all the time but she got over it. She will come up to me now and lay with me on her terms but she isn't overly outgoing and she can get growly at times but overall, she has done way better than I expected.

Good luck, be sure to give extra love.