Foster cat is a conspiracy theorist-help!

[BGcoop]

I think this little lady lacks all brain cells. I am fostering her and her 5 babies for the lincoln county humane society in Wi. A week after bringing her home i got the lovely surprise of finding out she had tapeworms that were not cleared from her first dewormer. As she is terrified of all things human- getting her to take the first round of dewormer was…..interesting. After multiple attempts mixing it in lots of things, I was finally successful by removing all other food from the room for about 12 hours and leaving it in a place where she could reach but the babies could not and she finally got hungry enough to eat it. Which brings us to today and her second round of dewormer. And while we are making some slow progress on the accepting humans aspect, I swear she has become a conspiracy theorist. She is refusing to touch the dewormer food again(going on 18 hours without other food available to her-yes I have made sure the babies have eaten) I feel bad that she is clearly hungry but she just won’t touch the dewormer and she definitely needs it because I do not want to scoop another ball of fettuccini out of the litter box! I will take any and all suggestions. (No I can not handle her yet so picking her up to shove it down her throat is unfortunately not an option)

 

[pennyJo1960]

I understand you may have to get her trust first . cats tan turn themselves out unless you have someone that could hold her.

 

[littlechickenmama17]

I've had a few of my barn cats that would not take their dewormer either, I usually got them to eat it if I gave them some warm, soft cat food from the store, and sticking the dewormer in it, crushing it up a bit though. I have heard that putting the dewormer in a food that is pasty ( better yet, a dewormer that IS a paste ) and smearing it on their paws, it makes them HAVE to lick it off themselves, the clean little creatures they are! This may be a problem if she is wild though...
This is also why I mostly have dogs, you just stick a dewormer pellet in a big blob of peanut butter and call it a day! lol

 

[BGcoop]

I understand you may have to get her trust first . cats tan turn themselves out unless you have someone that could hold her.

Unfortunately no, I can barely even touch her at all yet. Trying to hold her would result in injury to all parties involved, me, her, and any living thing in the vicinity

 

[BGcoop]

I've had a few of my barn cats that would not take their dewormer either, I usually got them to eat it if I gave them some warm, soft cat food from the store. I have heard that putting the dewormer in a food that is pasty ( better yet, a dewormer that IS a paste ) and smearing it on their paws, it makes them HAVE to lick it off themselves, the clean little creatures they are! This may be a problem if she is wild though...
This is also why I mostly have dogs, you just stick a dewormer pellet in a big blob of peanut butter and call it a day! lol

Oooo I’ll have to see if I can smear it on her paws! It is mixed in a wet food now.

 

[Saveria]

My mother-in-law took in every stray cat in her neighborhood. She would trap them and then wrap them tightly in a towel when she had to give them medicine, usually with my husband's help. They can't really do anything if you have them tightly wadded up in there. You may need to enlist some neighbors if need be. There have to be some other cat lovers who understand and can help you.

 

[BGcoop]

My mother-in-law took in every stray cat in her neighborhood. She would trap them and then wrap them tightly in a towel when she had to give them medicine, usually with my husband's help. They can't really do anything if you have them tightly wadded up in there. You may need to enlist some neighbors if need be. There have to be some other cat lovers who understand and can help you.

I think if I have to ever give her anything else I may have to go this route. I have it so diluted at this point the volume would be too much for this dose of dewormer.

 

[Saveria]

Yeah, you can't have her having tapeworms. I would say just do what you've got to do, and don't feel bad about it. Vet may be able to prescribe some sedatives, too, but how do you get that in her?

 

[BGcoop]

Update: she did it!!! She finally decided that she was hungry enough she didn’t care if I was trying to poison her or not! Also she was so hungry and begging me for food that she actually let me pet her a little bit too-major win! She got about 3/4 of it down before she started to get full and took a break, so I sprinkled some crushed catnip flavored treats onto the rest and so she finished like 90% of it. I’m calling that good enough since she is on the smaller side the dose she took should be more than adequate. I’m so happy

 

[Saveria]

Yay! Always so relieving when that happens.

Hope she warms up to you and realizes that you are safe quickly.