More Cat Trauma

In addition to my previous post on this issue, I want to add that giving the owner a pain pill to give to their pet for three days in a row is also a trauma, both to the cat and to the owner.

Most owners do not have a "tried and true" method of giving their pet a pill. Some pets will eat anything their owner gives them, including medication. Some pets are so adept they can eat a pill pocket (makeshift or formal) without touching or consuming the pill. Many animals fall somewhere in between, and the owners have to try multiple methods with a limited supply of medication to find what works or discover everything that doesn't work.

We have learned that Sapphire is one of those pets who can manage to eat everything around the pill and not touch the pill. We got her to take about 1/3 of the pill the first two days, but once she tasted the medication (that first 1/3), she ate around it, spit it out, or otherwise refused to consume the other 2/3. We tried putting it in cheese, completely wrapped up... she ate the cheese and managed to spit out the untouched pill. We tried dissolving the pill in her water dish (being careful that the other cat didn't drink from it too), but she stopped drinking the water the moment we added the pill to it.

I know how and I am capable of opening my pet's mouth and putting a pill in such that they have to swallow it. However, that is additional trauma on top of the surgery, being away from home, being surrounded by people she didn't know, etc. I didn't want to make her upset with me, feel betrayed by me, on top of all of that. Especially when she was spending the majority of her time in the downstairs bedroom, which is her "safe zone."

As I said previously, there has to be some way to minimize the trauma to the pet and to the owner. I think it involves having the pet taken to the vet for spaying/neutering and then either staying there or returning to the shelter for the follow up (possibly with a new collar that shows by color that the pet has been taken and with the new owner's last name on it, or something similar, to denote the pet is no longer available). Only once the pet is fully ready to come home are the new owners called and asked to come get their pet. At that point, the pet only has to survive the trauma of riding in a car to their new "furever" home. Once there, they have nothing to do but integrate, be loved, and learn the rules of the new household.