Millie And Her Medicine

A few weeks ago, around late October, my cat Millie, a one year old tuxedo, had gotten sick and had to be seen by a vet. I noticed symptoms of sneezing and a scratch on her nose that kept bothering her. She kept licking the wound like a dog would lick their nose with peanut butter on it.

Upon bringing her to the vet, she was scared, it was a new place with new people. She hopped off the examination table onto the floor and explored the room, but more often than not she spent the time hiding from the vet. She hid behind the trash can on her hind legs looking like a little penguin.

The vet prescribed her with three medications, the first being an oral antibiotic to fight the bacteria that needed to be taken with food. The second medication was an oral gel that was maple flavored and was used for immuno-support. The third medicine was a topical ointment that was to be applied directly on the injury twice a day. She also had to wear a cone. The cone of shame.

The first few days were a struggle with trying to give her meds, I would try to inject the medicines into her mouth directly and she would either spit it out or run away.

I had to get smart if I wanted her to take them willingly so I would mix the meds with some wet food and she would eat it. This worked for a while until one day when she caught me adding the medicine to her food, to which she decided that she didn’t wanna eat it anymore.

After no longer eating the medicine I had to try something else, so I went to my local Dollar General and picked up some liquid cat treats. Her favorite flavor is salmon, I think she likes them more than bears do. This paste made it really easy to give Millie her medicine. At first I put the treat on a dish and covered it in medicine and it helped but the same problem occurred. Next I tried medicine in the treat itself trying to trick her like you would with a toddler that needs medicine. Then I kept the medicine in the syringe and put some of the treat on the nozzle and the results were getting better, she was less scared. Finally I mixed the meds with the treat in the syringe and she ate it fine. After ten days of treatment that felt like months, her nose wound healed up nicely, she is not sneezing and she has been feeling better.

Both Millie and I struggled throughout her treatment. She was not happy about it then and I can say she doesn’t miss that stupid cone. It was hard to be patient when trying help her heal. She is much happier and healthier now. The results were not immediate and it took lots of time and effort and consistency, but they came through with a little patience.

“Red Cross ®” by Quasimondo is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0.