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I really need advice for my father. He has a cat who is 12 years old, female. He obtained her by accident. Her mother was a stray and came to my father's apartment when she was pregnant an giving birth. My father is an animal lover so he helped her during that. He found himself with all these kittens. He got the mother spayed and gave the kittens to new homes. He tried to give this girl cat to a new home but when anyone came to see her she would just hide. So by default he kept her and she has been his pet for the past 12 years. The problem is she never has let him pick her up. He has never been able to get her to the vet. She is not an outside cat and he has taken care of her so she has not had any health problems. Until now.
He has noticed a lump down near her stomach/private area. She urinates frequently. She licks a lot down there. She has been starting to limp slightly.
He wants to get her to a vet but he cannot. He has asked around to see if any vets will make a house call and they will not. He has even tried to put food in a crate to lure her in and she is too smart for that, she knows somethings up. She will run and hide and stay there for a long time.
We live over 2,000 miles away from him so cannot help him.
This is also more of an issue because we are trying to move my father out here within the next 6 months. We were trying to figure out how to move her out here with him but this changes things about that.
We need to figure out how to get her at least to the vet. Because even if he has to put her down, it has to be at a vet.
Can anyone please help us figure this situation out?
He might need a friend to help him. I'd put on gardening gloves and then drop a thick towel over her and try to put her in the crate that way. I've always stood the crate on it's end and then lowered the cat into the crate back feet first. No clue if that will work with her.
I'd cast a wider net for a vet that made house calls first though. Has he done an Internet search? I'd also ask a vet's office if they could offer some suggestions if they don't make house calls as to how to get her in the crate. Has he told the vets the details of his situation or just asked about house calls? If he explained it, maybe they would make an exception. The only other thing I can think of is to ask a vet for a mild tranquilizer and hide that in some canned food in advance of an appointment. Then when she's docile put her in the crate. I'd still recommend using gardening gloves (leather if he has them). Cat bites tend to get infected.
While your looking for an answer he should leave the crate out with the door open so she gets used to it being there.
Thank you for that advice Rowan123. I have shared your advice with my father. My father does not have a crate of his own but his neighbor said recently he could use her crate to get her to the vet. I told him to ask her if she will let him borrow it for at least a week so that she could get used to seeing it around. I suggested to him to put her things and feed her in there for a week to see if she'll go in. If that doesn't work he will try to get a tranquilizer. He said the only vet around him that would come pick her up is 2 hours away. We will try these things and see how it goes. Thanks!
Is there a Humane Society in the area? They may have a trap to borrow or rent, or a catch pole your father could borrow to try to get the cat into his neighbor's crate. If not, they may have other suggestions if they work with feral cats. Or the local Animal Control may have ideas.
That is the problem. If the crate belongs to some other one and their cat used it then that is the reason cat does not go there. Cat smells the other cat. And cats are mostly territorial. I met the same with my 4 cats now I have 4 crates and everything 4. If your father can afford he better have one his own. Look like this cat never been to a vet I guess. Also possible she is in pain a lot too then also they refuse to do what boss asks. If some one comes to see if they don't let them to touch that means the cat does not like them. That is how we know who they like. They can sens same thing happened with my brother when he try to take over his friends cat.
Get him a new cat carrier from Amazon. Have it delivered there. Tell him not t feed the cat for a half day then put the food inside the carrier. If the cat does not go in to get the food, try full day. Close the carrier. Take cat to vet.
PS: There are more home service cat vets than one might think. Calling a few vets is not the way to find them. Google is. Pop may not have tried that.
It's worth it for your father to have a crate rather than borrow one. It's something he should have anyway for a just-in-case moment. This is one of those moments.
I would follow Rowan123's suggestion about getting a friend, putting on the gloves, using a towel over the whole body to cocoon her, and putting the crate on end to get her into the crate. Sounds like the sooner the better. The hardest part about this method is for the humans to remain absolutely positively calm-cool-collected and move normally (not too fast, not too slow) beforehand and during so that the cat does not feel the tension and go on alert.
While I'm a fan of in-home vet care, there are some medical conditions that warrant, or require, diagnosis and treatment at a vet's office/facility.
Get him a new cat carrier from Amazon. Have it delivered there. Tell him not t feed the cat for a half day then put the food inside the carrier. If the cat does not go in to get the food, try full day. Close the carrier. Take cat to vet.
PS: There are more home service cat vets than one might think. Calling a few vets is not the way to find them. Google is. Pop may not have tried that.
ITA with having a carrier sent to him. Also, he can put something like tuna inside the carrier to entice her. However, I would not wait an entire day without feeding her--that could cause a different health problem.
That is the problem. If the crate belongs to some other one and their cat used it then that is the reason cat does not go there. Cat smells the other cat. And cats are mostly territorial. I met the same with my 4 cats now I have 4 crates and everything 4. If your father can afford he better have one his own. Look like this cat never been to a vet I guess. Also possible she is in pain a lot too then also they refuse to do what boss asks. If some one comes to see if they don't let them to touch that means the cat does not like them. That is how we know who they like. They can sens same thing happened with my brother when he try to take over his friends cat.
We haven't tried it yet though so we are going to see. I told my dad he should go get one himself (up until the other day, I thought he already had his own) in case that problem comes up.
He is the type of guy who unless we do things for him that aren't things he is used to doing, he procrastinates. I would get him one ourselves but, A.) I don't think we should wait until it's delivered, and B.) We are having financial problems right now and living paycheck to paycheck, and my Father at this point is as well.
We thought it would help us to save money if he could just borrow the neighbors to at least get her to the vet. We are going to try for right now.
Btw, the cat does not let anyone pick her up or touch her too much, even my father and he is her world. She will let him pet her sometimes, but only if she initiates it. My father says she was the runt of the litter and the mother cat ignored her and treated her badly
Maybe that has something to do with it.
It's worth it for your father to have a crate rather than borrow one. It's something he should have anyway for a just-in-case moment. This is one of those moments.
I would follow Rowan123's suggestion about getting a friend, putting on the gloves, using a towel over the whole body to cocoon her, and putting the crate on end to get her into the crate. Sounds like the sooner the better. The hardest part about this method is for the humans to remain absolutely positively calm-cool-collected and move normally (not too fast, not too slow) beforehand and during so that the cat does not feel the tension and go on alert.
While I'm a fan of in-home vet care, there are some medical conditions that warrant, or require, diagnosis and treatment at a vet's office/facility.
That is what I worry about, my father not stressing during it. He is a stress head sometimes. He also is on about 3 blood pressure medications
Unfortunately he doesn't have too many people he knows where he lives to help him. Just that lady who is a neighbor, but they are more acquaintances.
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If some one comes to see if they don't let them to touch that means the cat does not like them. That is how we know who they like. They can sens same thing happened with my brother when he try to take over his friends cat.
