scruffing your cat

[Nina]

Practice scruffing one of your calmer cats. Get a gentle handful of skin 
and fir at the back of the neck and to the shoulder blades with your 
full fist. You'll probably notice your cat relax when you do that. Keep 
him on the ground or table while you firmly hold him this way and he 
won't be able to struggle. It's great for a frightened cat a the vet's 
office. If you lift them off the ground, they'll go completely limp. You 
want to make sure that you support the weight of the cat (under his 
butt) with your other hand, or you could hurt him. Small enough kittens 
can be scruffed without the support. It's a safety mechanisim to insure 
that babies don't struggle when their mom's are moving them from place 
to place. Also, male cats will bite the back of the female's neck while 
mating. It's not to be matcho, it's a way to get the female to hold 
still long enough to copulate.
Nina

Chris wrote:
I try it everytime I come back from the vet--but no success--like you, I
just can't seem to do it properly and afraid of hurting them....
Chris
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf
Of Mackenzie, Kerry N.
Sent: Thursday, October 14, 2004 2:27 PM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: RE: Fishing nets to catch feral babies
I've never even scruffed a cat--I'm afraid that I won't do it properly
and perhaps hurt them! I have a lot to learn.
-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On
Behalf Of Nina
Sent: Thursday, October 14, 2004 1:19 PM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Fishing nets to catch feral babies
I've heard about using the fishing net, a friend of mine uses it on 
feral babies.  After she gets the net over the kitten, she scruffs him 
through the net.  She'll have a carrier placed nearby with the door open

and facing the sky.  Then all she has to do, is drop the baby in and 
shut the door.  You have to be very quick for this maneuver!

Mackenzie, Kerry N. wrote:
 

I agree, it truly is traumatic catching ferals that have to go to the
vet. Or even catching them when the vet comes to them. The housecall
   

vet
 

I've used a couple of times ingeniously uses a fishing net to catch
them, the kind with a long pole. I got one myself, for keeping Caramel
in place when I had to give him sub Qs. (I still have to do the
   

catching
 

by hand---I haven't got the hang of using the net to do it). Kerry


   


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