Day 268 - Deworming.

Yeah, you know it's a story. Today was a day to myself. My Mom left for Saskatchewan to tend to my brother. Why? Well, Mr. Cowboy had a wreck. I suppose they are inevitable & Lord knows it's not his first wreck. Basically his horse came over on top of him, aided by another horse pulling & Jeff split his pelvis, compressed a few discs in his back, had protein in his kidneys & lost his vision for awhile. Yeah. 


He's doing better & is out of the hospital. Mom has gone down to help him out for a few days. Poor feller. I hope he heals quickly, although I think this one may take awhile! 


I spent the day doing a whole lot of nothin'. Well, not really. I walked down to EVIC with Valentina, visited with Joe & Shauna, threw the ball for Tweet Pea on the way back, went down to the bunkhouse & picked up a few bins to sort through (7 years of travel & photos & scrapbooking stuff - oh boy). I let Shufly in & out & that was about it. 


Oh yeah. The deworming thing. The Vet told Mom that while I'm on chemo, I should handle the dogs dishes, cat food, litter boxes, etc, etc. We should also deworm all the animals in the house. Fair enough. Valentina's would be a piece of cake. She'll eat anything. I take a little chip, put some dip on it, stick the pill to the dip & WHOOP, down the hatch it goes. Now, for Adios. 


Let me tell you about Adios. He's like the trailer trash of cats. He refuses to eat anything but Whiskas. I've tried giving him healthy, holistic food. Nope. He will NOT eat it. It will sit there for days on end. As he depletes the mouse, bird & squirrel population dramatically, I eventually give in to save their little souls. I have even tried mixing the Whiskas with the good stuff. He will selectively eat the Whiskas & leave the other stuff. He only eats the 'McDonald's' of the cat world. Occasionally you can catch him tempted to lick the butter off of a kernel of popcorn or the salt off of a potato chip. So, I think I can do the same with the cat as I did with the dog. I dip the chip & attach the pill. Adios licks the chip & pretty much shuts down as soon as the dip hits his tongue. 


Hmm. Okay, I'll take his little Whiskas Temptations, which he LOVES, and attached the dipped pill to one of them. I put them on the kitchen chair out of the dog's reach. Adios eats all of the Temptations but the ones that have been tainted with the dip & of course, leaves the pill. I run to the cupboard for the butter. I'll roll the pill in butter, he'll like that!


I turn around & the chair is clean. Valentina is sitting there. Waiting for more. Oh no! She ate the cat's dewormer!!!! I shove my finger down her throat & miraculously recover the severely slobbery, no longer enteric coated pill. UGH! Okay. I'll just shove it down the cat's throat & make him eat it. I get poor Adios cornered & grab his jowels. I chuff the pill down his yap, scraping my fingers on his razor sharp tongue. He spits out the pill. I try again. He spits out the pill. Again. I shove it in again & clamp his mouth shut. He swallows a few times & PRESTO! Pill is down! He runs away from me. Phew. Wait. What's that on the floor?!? Are you kidding me?!?! Argh!!! He did spit it out!!! I quickly sweep it up before Valentina gets it again. I take it to the kitchen & crush it up with a few Whiskas kibbles & some butter. I try to get him to eat it. No luck. I have reached my threshold. I put the ball of butter, pill & kibble in his dish. That's it. No more food until he eats it. (I'm behind typing, so I'll just let you know, it was 5 days later & Mom shoved it down his throat & he ate it.)


And that my friends, is how you deworm a picky cat. :o) Actually, I'm sure there are a million & one easier ways to deworm a cat, but I didn't know any of them until after the fact. Apparently using an eyedropper & crushing the pill in water works well too... Next time...


How's that for an exciting Saturday night?! Alright... I'm outta here... Bed is calling my name... xxxx Maria & Valentina


Sorry, no photos for today... check back tomorrow!!