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
entire exercise.
