(no subject)

[quietann]

Ok, got *some* sub-Q fluids into Myrtle. She doesn't like it very much, but she doesn't struggle. I have to be more careful about being sure the needle stays in, though.

She had a nice meal afterwards.

And many thanks to sweetmmeblue and family for loaning me a cube fridge so I can keep Myrtle's food and medicine in the same room as her.

Comments

[jim-p.livejournal.com]

Much empathy... I know all about giving sub-q fluids to kitties... not the most enjoyable thing for either kitty or human :( When we did it it was a two-person job; one to hold the cat and the needle, the other to control the flow.

Give her an extra skritch for me!

[quietann.livejournal.com]

Ben stayed with me through the whole thing (he took antihistamines beforehand so his allergies wouldn't bother him). His main jobs turned out to be (a) hanging the bag (since the only place to hang it was somewhere hard to reach -- but now that it is there, it is there) and (b) grabbing the slider to turn off the flow whenever the needle came out -- though that seemed mostly to be out of concern for the computer.

[donnad.livejournal.com]

Poor Myrtle. Poor you. I went through the sub-Q thing with Midnight for three years. I found that trying to do it when the cat was not comfortable was very difficult.
At first we tried putting her up on a table, but she kept trying to jump down, and wouldn't sit still. Then we realized, she knows she is not supposed to be on the table, so she wants down. So we started putting her on a favorite afghan on the chair and after a couple days she would sit perfectly still to the point where we didn't even have to hold the needle.

It might be easier on Myrtle and you if you try to give her the fluids while she is lying in a favorite spot and comfortable. Don't pick her up and put her someplace to do it.

[quietann.livejournal.com]

She was in my lap, which is normally one of her favorite places... However, it is not as comfortable anymore because her arthritis is pretty bad (and the only good painkiller for cats gives her diarrhea).

Next time, I may try to just sit down on the floor and give them to her while she stays in her heated kitty kup (definitely her favorite place; she leaves it only to eat, drink, and use the catbox...)

[batwrangler.livejournal.com]

The cat I had to give sub-q fluids too was so out of it she didn't mind (she did recover though). Sorry Myrtle is uncomfortable, but I'm sure it helps.

[quietann.livejournal.com]

yes, she perked right up after her fluids, and wanted more to eat. She got about 75cc's of the 100cc's she was supposed to get.

[red-queen.livejournal.com]

You can thread a coat hanger thru the punch-hole at the top of the bag of fluids, and hang *that* off a lamp, a curtain rod, whatever. I'm currently helping a friend who puts the cat on an ironing board (adjustable height, yay) and hangs it off the bathtub curtain rod. This is a fairly strong kitty, who has to be wrapped in a towel to contain the pointy bits; the bathroom also keeps him in an enclosed area.

My old kitty, Fresser, would stay curled up in his papa san chair; I'd skritch him and keep an eye on the needle, but he was pretty mellow about it.

The friend who I'm currently helping noticed that her cat was more comfortable (and fought less) when the fluids dripped slowly -- somewhat counter-intuitive to me, since I was thinking "let's get this over with before kitty turnes into eight-pawed Shiva The Destroyer." Once I thought about it from the cat's perspective, it made sense.

Sigh. They do perk up after fluids -- which helps us get up the necessary intestinal fortitude to keep at it.

Hang thee in there.

[wren13.livejournal.com]

If you set them in a bowl of warm water beforehand, so they are not just room temperature, they usually don't mind as much. And yeah coat hangers, that's how I hang them in my car when I'm transporting a patient.