Thank you Mary. Your message helped a lot, although
the shot business still sounds complicated. But you're
right...I can do it. I have to, don't I?
I don't know what a haunted look actually looks like.
But looking at Smoochy tonight I can definitely tell
he doesn't feel too well. And has no intention of
letting me touch his tummy.
I think the Epoetin Alpha must be the trade name,
because I think the vet actually called it what you
did: erythropoietin-alpha (don't be impressed with my
spelling, I copied yours and pasted it). Can you tell
me anything more about it than what the vet did?
And I will definitely have help giving the shot. Can't
imagine trying to do it all by myself. Smoochy's
"daddy," aka the boyfriend with the KFC, should be
able to distract him, especially if he's got a piece
of a grilled cheese sandwich in his hand!
Thank you!!
Anita
--- [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
> OK Anita -
>
> Stop beating yourself up. Now. And ignore the
> pessimism from the vet. I adore
> cats and my Tony especially but face it, they're
> just not much on facial
> expression. You wanna tell me what a "haunted" look
> on a cat would look like?
>
> Fever - you couldn't tell he had a fever unless you
> were violating his civil
> rights daily with the thermometer. I was worried
> enough about Tony so that I
> *did*, when he was at his worst, and - there was
> almost no correlation
> between how warm he "felt" to me, his body or his
> ears, and what his internal
> temperature was.
>
> The spleen is packed into the middle of his
> abdominal cavity, not out where
> you might notice a bulge developing in his belly.
> The most you could possibly
> tell is "Hmmm ... I think you're gaining a little
> weight, Smoochy, good cat!"
>
> Subcutaneous injections are not difficult at all,
> although the thought is
> scary. I learned on little 2-pound kittens, a grown
> cat would be easy. It
> does help to have someone else "scruff" him and
> distract him by doing a very
> gentle shakeshakeshake - bouncing the head more than
> anything else, but
> hardly moving him at all, really. If you don't have
> anyone there to help, you
> can scruff and pinch the skin with the same hand -
> practice that for a while
> before you seriously start trying to give him a
> shot. To give him a shot,
> you pick up a pinch of skin, halfway along his flank
> and a little around to
> the side from his spine. You make it a 3-sided pinch
> of skin (like <l ) with
> thumb & 1st 2 fingers, and pull up gently. The
> needle should go in where
> there's a little "space" inside the pinch of skin,
> because you want it to
> only go through one thickness of skin - you don't
> want it to go through the
> second thickness and come out the other side of your
> "pinch" of skin. Hold
> the syringe parallel with his body and put the
> needle up touching the spot on
> the skin where you want it to go in and then use
> just a little little oomph
> to punch it in (you *can't* just press the tip in
> with more and more pressure
> and have it "slide" in - it takes a little jab).
> Press the plunger just a bit
> - if it slides easily, you're in. If there's
> resistance. you're stuck in the
> skin. If enough of the needle has vanished so that
> you might have gone
> through all of the first skin thickness and might be
> into the second , pull
> back gently - if you think you probably haven't made
> it through the first
> thickness, punch again - just a little oomph! - and
> see if the plunger will
> depress now. If neither one works, pull the needle
> out entirely, and try
> again on the other side. My vet didn't have me swab
> the site with alcohol - I
> was surprised, because nurses always do on *me*, but
> I never saw any problems
> because of that - and I was looking! So. Calm down,
> you can do this.
> Remember, it will do him good. Rub him into a state
> of purring ecstasy first,
> and rub him some more afterwards. He will *not* hold
> it against you.
>
> BTW, it looks to me like you *can* spell prednisone,
> but - is "Epoetin Alfa"
> a tradename, or were you reaching for
> erythropoietin-alpha, which nobody
> normal could possibly spell - I only can because my
> misspent youth was in a
> hospital.
>
> No. It does not sound like he's at death's door. And
> if he were, it wouldn't
> be your fault. Go wash your face, do something nice
> for yourself, and then
> cuddle down with His Smoochiness.
>
> Mary
>
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