We're desperate. What to do with Lila? Is a monster at vet (kitten, male)
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If you remember, we rescued a cat from streets. Is a Tabby? (is what we have been told) female cat, I even remember uploading some photos here. I am not longer living in Mexico, I am living temporarily in Madrid, Spain and Lila (our cat) is living with my wife. Her vet visits are getting worse. Yesterday, my wife called me because she needs to go to the vet, just for a routine deworming. The vet has a service to pick the cat at home and bring her back home again. This time, Lila even refused to get to the carrier. Once Lila finally got to the carrier, while the assistant was walking downstairs with the carrier and the cat inside, Lila was snorting all the time (sorry if it's the uncorrect word, how do you say this sound cats do when they are angry?). Yet at vet, the cat refuses to leave the carrier, keep on angry and hidding at the carrier's bottom. Finally the cat screamed, growled, had her ears completelly at back, attached to her neck and sounded like a motorbike, LOL. It was the worst vet visit and even bit the vet.
What the hell? It was only a deworming. This cat is a monster at vet, the first two visits being a kitten was a nice cat but is getting worse. She is only 2 years old. At home is a nice cat but sometimes bites you (not aggresively, just small bite) if you pet her in her stomach. Sometimes even wants to be pet. At the vet is a wild animal: screams, runs, bites, cries, ...
One of my cats got that way if we put him in the carrier. I had to bring him to the vet by holding him wrapped in a large towel. Naturally I needed someone else to drive. My vet said he sees this in some cats, he said they are "cage aggressive".
Can the vet just come to your house? Or maybe not put the kitty in a carrier?
I would start associating the carrier with good things (treats, food, good smells).
First I'd get some Feliway spray and spray the inside of the carrier so it has "happy kitty" smells. Often this is enough to calm down an anxious cat.
Next, I would work with the cat every day, putting treats in the carrier. I would also feed meals in the carrier, first with the door open, then closed after a few weeks. Then I would practice taking kitty in the carrier for walks around the house (inside) to get her used to the movements, followed by more treats.
When kitty has to go to the vet again, spray the carrier again with Feliway (and maybe also a towel) to keep her calm.
Electra is like that at the vet. I refer to it as her "catitude."
What I usually do a day or two before the vet visit is I bring the carrier out and put it in the living room open. I let the cats explore it. By the time it is time to go to the vet, they are not afraid of the carrier.
This is an old pic-and poor quality that I entitled "Kitty Kondo" Andy (who has since crossed the Rainbow Bridge ) on the first floor, Electra on the second floor & Elvira on the roof. lol.
Leave the carrier out all of the time. Put treats near it and over time, put treats inside. Feed her near it, play with her near it. Put a blanket inside to encourage her to sleep in it.
After you've had the carrier out for a while, put her inside and just carry her around the house for a few minutes. Praise her and give her a treat.
If you remember, we rescued a cat from streets. Is a Tabby? (is what we have been told) female cat, I even remember uploading some photos here. I am not longer living in Mexico, I am living temporarily in Madrid, Spain and Lila (our cat) is living with my wife. Her vet visits are getting worse. Yesterday, my wife called me because she needs to go to the vet, just for a routine deworming. The vet has a service to pick the cat at home and bring her back home again. This time, Lila even refused to get to the carrier. Once Lila finally got to the carrier, while the assistant was walking downstairs with the carrier and the cat inside, Lila was snorting all the time (sorry if it's the uncorrect word, how do you say this sound cats do when they are angry?). Yet at vet, the cat refuses to leave the carrier, keep on angry and hidding at the carrier's bottom. Finally the cat screamed, growled, had her ears completelly at back, attached to her neck and sounded like a motorbike, LOL. It was the worst vet visit and even bit the vet.
What the hell? It was only a deworming. This cat is a monster at vet, the first two visits being a kitten was a nice cat but is getting worse. She is only 2 years old. At home is a nice cat but sometimes bites you (not aggresively, just small bite) if you pet her in her stomach. Sometimes even wants to be pet. At the vet is a wild animal: screams, runs, bites, cries, ...
What is supposed we can do to stop this?
She doesn't know the difference between a deworming and being shipped off to an alley. She obviously hates the pet carrier. Cat woman and the rest of us came to the same consensus, you need to make the cat carrier a part of her routine so she isn't afraid of it.
When we brought our male home after being neutered we removed the cage from the carrier and left it in his room, which he preferred to sleep (rather than his bed) in for the next week.
As for hating the vet... that will probably never change. All the smells, noises and strangers can be quite traumatic for some higher strung animals. When we take two of our females in we leave them in the car while one of us waits inside to be called into an exam room. It lessens the stress big time.
While we have some problems with the carrier, the carrier is not what we are most worried about, is her behaviour at vet. What happened in the last episode of her vet visit is that the assistant had a carrier but the cat refused to get in this carrier, finally my wife cheated on the cat putting some food and a toy inside our carrier and the cat got in the carrier but it's the first time the cat refused to get in her carrier. Everything worsened when assistant arrived at home to pick up the cat. We have been told to buy a removable carrier because yet at vet is what the situation gets by far worse. The cat hides at the bottom of the carrier and seems that she knows is only safe in her carrier, maybe this fact increases her aggressiveness. When somebody tries to get out the cat from the carrier, the cat bites, blows, screams, snorts and is angry all the time. Even in the carrier if nobody touch her, produces a sound similar to a motorbike (is growling all the time). She is a good cat at home but she even attacks to us at vet, is very tense and nervous with her ears fully attached to her head. She even refuses to be weighted!
Have a look at this video. This is the closest behaviour of a cat at vet, similar to Lila behaviour at vet, that I found in youtube. In a similar manner, the cat refuses to leave the carrier and out of the carrier attacks to everybody. Look at that cat's ears attached to the head, is pretty much the same we suffer with Lila:
Talk to your vet about prescribing a mild sedative to give her an hour or so before the appointment. Perhaps something mild like a Benadryl (OTC human allergy medication) might calm her. Please note: talk to your vet before giving your cat any medications! It can be dangerous.
My first Russian Blue cat, Kiska, was the exact same way at the vet as the cat in the video. He would scare waiting clients out of the waiting room with his shrieks and screams. The vet I was using at the time learned to simply place him in a box with a gas attachment and lightly tranquilize him. It worked like a charm. I later put him on Prozac and a lot of his terror was mitigated, as well as his other bad behaviors.
My smallest cat that I have now, Muffin, is also a holy terror at the vets. They hate to see her coming in. She manages to attach herself to the carrier so that I have to "dig" her out while the carrier is completely upended. Then she poops and pees all over the carrier and the table and has to be wiped off before the exam. She also snarls and growls, and has bitten me a little while I was extracting her. I knew she was really feeling sick the last time I took her to the vet, because she did NONE of that, for the first time. (She had a bacterial infection and is all better now, btw.)
I'll agree with the other suggestions; however, sometimes you just have to deal with the situation. Muffin will never be comfortable with the carrier (I've tried the recommendations and they haven't worked). That's just how she is at the vet. Basically I accept her personality quirks and work with and/or around then as much as possible. At age 10, she's not going to change now. She's still a loving cat at home, so I love her!
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