DRUGGING MY CAT

Hi everyone..

Sally here.. Im Elbies Mom... Elbie is my 13.5 pound Lynx Point Siamese,
he's 3 and a half and has an attitude! Elbie and I are moving to Germany in
13 days. Elbies other mother insists her boy flies business class so he will
be less stressed. The vet gave me Acevet 10mls for him and suggested that I
try them ahead of time to see how much Elbie would need.. and the effects.
Well I tried it.. a 1/4 gave no effects.. NONE he was still running around so
I gave him another 2 more pieces making it 3/4s in all.. He got wobbely, his
eyes were heavy but he would still try to walk around and jump up on things..
is this normal? I have never drugged my cat before and have a 3 and a half
hour drive to the airport then time in the airport.. 8 hour flight and again
airport and then 30 min drive home.. the vet said the pills will last about
10 hours.. HAHAHAH he I gave him the drug around 10 pm and he was fine at 4:
45 when I woke up... do you think its safe to give him full pill and should
I keep him stoned till we get him home? Thanks

--
A house is not a home without a cat or 15!!!!!

Message posted via http://www.catkb.com

On Mon, 14 Jul 2008 04:55:04 GMT, Elbies_mom via CatKB.com u44773@uwe wrote:
Hi everyone..

Sally here.. Im Elbies Mom... Elbie is my 13.5 pound Lynx Point Siamese,
he's 3 and a half and has an attitude! Elbie and I are moving to Germany in
13 days. Elbies other mother insists her boy flies business class so he will
be less stressed. The vet gave me Acevet 10mls for him and suggested that I

I've tried drugging a kitty for travel and it is a bad scene. Kitty
gets wobbly like you described, but kitty will still get in a panic over it
not knowing what is going on. I don't know why vets can't arrive at more
effective drugs, but what they usually prescribe only makes matters worse.

Just let kitty get used to being in a carrier on occasion. The whole ordeal
will be over in just a few hours and kitty will recover quicker if undrugged.

I'd recommend getting one of those small soft carriers that you can put
under the seat, but that is impossible with a loud mouthed siamese. The
other passemgers will want to toss both of you out the airlock after a
couple of hours of the kitty's howling. I've tried sneaking my siamese into
motels, but can't as he won't shut up. He has ended up spending the evening
in the car.

This is a bad idea. Please read this article:
http://www.avma.org/careforanimals/a...ets/sedate.asp

On Mon, 14 Jul 2008 04:55:04 GMT, "Elbies_mom via CatKB.com"
u44773@uwe wrote:

Hi everyone..

Sally here.. Im Elbies Mom... Elbie is my 13.5 pound Lynx Point Siamese,
he's 3 and a half and has an attitude! Elbie and I are moving to Germany in
13 days. Elbies other mother insists her boy flies business class so he will
be less stressed. The vet gave me Acevet 10mls for him and suggested that I
try them ahead of time to see how much Elbie would need.. and the effects.
Well I tried it.. a 1/4 gave no effects.. NONE he was still running around so
I gave him another 2 more pieces making it 3/4s in all.. He got wobbely, his
eyes were heavy but he would still try to walk around and jump up on things..
is this normal? I have never drugged my cat before and have a 3 and a half
hour drive to the airport then time in the airport.. 8 hour flight and again
airport and then 30 min drive home.. the vet said the pills will last about
10 hours.. HAHAHAH he I gave him the drug around 10 pm and he was fine at 4:
45 when I woke up... do you think its safe to give him full pill and should
I keep him stoned till we get him home? Thanks

I've also read that it's best not to drug the cat. Apparently they get
as scared of the pill effects as they do of the whole travel scene.

Suddenly, without warning, Elbies_mom via CatKB.com exclaimed (7/14/2008
12:55 AM):
Hi everyone..

Sally here.. Im Elbies Mom... Elbie is my 13.5 pound Lynx Point Siamese,
he's 3 and a half and has an attitude! Elbie and I are moving to Germany in
13 days. Elbies other mother insists her boy flies business class so he will
be less stressed. The vet gave me Acevet 10mls for him and suggested that I
try them ahead of time to see how much Elbie would need.. and the effects.
Well I tried it.. a 1/4 gave no effects.. NONE he was still running around so
I gave him another 2 more pieces making it 3/4s in all.. He got wobbely, his
eyes were heavy but he would still try to walk around and jump up on things..
is this normal? I have never drugged my cat before and have a 3 and a half
hour drive to the airport then time in the airport.. 8 hour flight and again
airport and then 30 min drive home.. the vet said the pills will last about
10 hours.. HAHAHAH he I gave him the drug around 10 pm and he was fine at 4:
45 when I woke up... do you think its safe to give him full pill and should
I keep him stoned till we get him home? Thanks


Meep the TravelCat has traveled quite a lot (5 overseas flights & two
cross-country driving adventures). All our vets (in three different
countries!) always recommend NOT drugging a cat for travel, it stresses
them out even more than not drugging. I think it's because they're
still scared, and not being able to react normally stresses them further.

Meep is a coward (scared of all strangers), and not drugging her has
done no harm. The only drug she's ever been on during travel is
amytryptyline. She has cystitis and started having stress-related
attacks when we started the moving process this time - she's been
through it before and knows what it means. The ami seemed to help, but
it's hard to say - it could just be that after so many trips, she's just
less stressed in general about the whole thing.

I would recommend NOT drugging your cat, unless the vet says there is a
good medical reason for it. If you have to drug, don't drug him to the
point he's uncoordinated. Just to the point where he seems calmer. It
may be very subtle - the effect of ami is very subtle with Meep but I
can tell that she's a touch less reactive to her usual triggers - for
instance, she comes out of hiding a bit faster after a stranger has been
in the house.

It's a bit late to start now but this is what I recommend: First, put
the travel box in a place the cat likes, leave the door open and some
kibbles in it. If you have food bowls on it, put water and food in
them. Buy some Feliway spray and use it inside the box. The idea is to
make the box a non-scary place, comfortable and safe. Meep's travel box
is in our closet, and despite a very long series of flights followed by
a cross-country journey that ended only a bit over a week ago, she's
sleeping in that box right now!

Take your cat on short trips. At first, just around the block. When
you get home give treats. Gradually lengthen the journeys. Do not
react if he howls or carries on. Do not try to reassure him (it might
just convince him there's a reason to be scared). When he's quiet and
calm, praise him and give him treats if he'll accept them.

If possible, train your cat to harness and leash. Despite Meep's
fearfulness, we're often able to find a corner of a rest stop where we
can let her out of the box to wander and stretch. We trained her to
harness as a kitten though, it can be much harder (but not impossible)
to train an adult cat.

To summarize:

1. Make the travel box a safe haven
2. Make travel non-scary by doing it often so he gets bored by it.
3. Train to harness and leash if possible.
4. No drugs!

Meep has earned her moniker of "the TravelCat" many times. She's a
surprisingly good traveler for a cat, actually. She's 12 now though, so
this was her last overseas jaunt.

Good luck in Germany!

jmc

"Elbies_mom via CatKB.com" u44773@uwe wrote in message
news:871e7fef410dd@uwe...
Hi everyone..

Sally here.. Im Elbies Mom... Elbie is my 13.5 pound Lynx Point
Siamese,
he's 3 and a half and has an attitude! Elbie and I are moving to Germany
in
13 days. Elbies other mother insists her boy flies business class so he
will
be less stressed. The vet gave me Acevet

Don't *ever* sedate a cat- *especially* with acepromazine- before or during
flying. Ace lowers blood pressure, heart rate, and respiration and can cause
seizures- especially in pressurized cabins. Ace can also make a cat *more*
anxious, aggressive and unpredictable.

Its a good thing you're moving and getting far away from that terrible vet!

In article ,
says...
On Mon, 14 Jul 2008 04:55:04 GMT, Elbies_mom via CatKB.com u44773@uwe wrote:
Hi everyone..

Sally here.. Im Elbies Mom... Elbie is my 13.5 pound Lynx Point Siamese,
he's 3 and a half and has an attitude! Elbie and I are moving to Germany in
13 days. Elbies other mother insists her boy flies business class so he will
be less stressed. The vet gave me Acevet 10mls for him and suggested that I

I've tried drugging a kitty for travel and it is a bad scene. Kitty
gets wobbly like you described, but kitty will still get in a panic over it
not knowing what is going on. I don't know why vets can't arrive at more
effective drugs, but what they usually prescribe only makes matters worse.

Just let kitty get used to being in a carrier on occasion. The whole ordeal
will be over in just a few hours and kitty will recover quicker if undrugged.

I'd recommend getting one of those small soft carriers that you can put
under the seat, but that is impossible with a loud mouthed siamese. The
other passemgers will want to toss both of you out the airlock after a
couple of hours of the kitty's howling. I've tried sneaking my siamese into
motels, but can't as he won't shut up. He has ended up spending the evening
in the car.


Simese are known to be very vocal cats. That said, my little Angie isn't
Siamese yet she's a very talkative cat.