Cats Is All About

Ah yes, everyone's favorite pet chore. One day you clean your cats' box and

discover little white chunks of what appear to be cooked spaghetti lodged in the feces,

that is, until one starts to move. You know then that it's time to deworm your cats. If your

veterinarian says that your cat doesn't have anything particularly tough or nasty then he

or she may recommend a regular schedule using commercial dewormers that can be

found readily in any pet store. Your veterinarian even may have a good general purpose

dewormer on hand for your use. Fortunately, there is a wide range of deworming

medicines available on the market. Most are liquid or pill form.

If you have only one cat, your task is relatively simple. Choose a dewormer that

your cat will find acceptable if not palatable. Many liquid dewormers claim to be very

tasty to cats. Unfortunately, many cats would vigorously disagree with that assessment.

In such a case, if you have access to a pill form of dewormer that your cat is willing to

swallow, you're in luck. If your cat won't swallow pills without major mayhem breaking

out and turns his nose up at every liquid dewormer you try, then you have a problem. If

you have more than one cat, it can become even more of an issue. If your cats will

happily take whatever you offer, then the only thing you have to worry about is keeping

the greedy guts from getting more than they should. But, If each of them has a different

idea as to what is acceptable (or not) for deworming medicine, then you have a major

headache.

Rather than cater to each cats whims and maintain a veterinary pharmacy worth of

dewormers in your house or routinely running your finicky feline into the veterinarian

every to he needs deworming, you might try a different route. You will need a liquid

deworming medicine and a syringe. Syringes are readily available in the livestock

medication section of farm supply stores. You only need the section with the barrel and

plunger. No needles are needed or should even be used. Syringes in farm supply stores

usually offer the two sections separately. Select one of smaller size. Your cat won't need

large amounts of medicine at any one time.

Measure out the proper amount of dewormer for your cat into a measuring cup. A

measuring cup usually comes in the package with a liquid dewormer. Take one of your

syringes and place the open end (where the needle would normally attach) into the

measuring cup and draw the medicine up into the barrel by pulling upward on the

plunger. Try to get it all at one time. You could do this task by increments but trying to

manage a squirming cat while refilling a syringe really is more difficult than it is worth.

Now restrain your cat gently and situate yourself so that you can hold the cat and use the

syringe easily. It could require some experimentation to work out a suitable position for

the both of you. . If you keep one hand underneath the cats head and cradle his chin it

will make this part of the task go more smoothly. Slide the end of the syringe a little bit

into your cat's mouth and slowly depress the plunger This will empty the medicine into

your cat's mouth slowly enough that he can readily swallow it without choking. Repeat

for each cat.

Naturally, your cat will not be particularly pleased with this method. He may

object rather strenuously. With repetition, however, you will become much smoother

with the task. You don't need to rush during this task. Take your time to discover what

will work best for you and your cats. Your cats will become more accustomed to it

despite themselves. This method will ensure that each cat, even your most finicky, gets

the proper amount of medicine he needs. And that, of course, is the whole reason for the