Eighteen hundred and eighty
Sep 29th, 2006 by mark
Yesterday afternoon I was able to pick Nekko up at the hospital and bring her home. Before leaving the hospital I was given a chance to practice injecting her with saline solution, and I got to observe how a pill should be administered.
The injections are going to be easy. The needle is amazingly fine, and at only 2 units of insulin per shot hardly any fluid goes under her skin. She didn’t react at all to the practice shot yesterday or the first one I gave her this morning. My fears about the shot, which had ballooned into visions of a blowgun, appear to have been unfounded.
The pills on the other hand are going to be a bitch. She is on Dilacor, a human heart medicine, once a day. The medicine comes in a large capsule that can be pulled apart leaving four caplets behind. With a pill cutter I slice each of these in half and give Nekko one (30mg) dosage every day. Yeah, right. And for the next ten days she is supposed to get Amoxicillin twice a day. Sure thing.
Mostly what we have accomplished pill wise is educating me on just how long a cat is willing to hold a pill in its mouth. Even after a full minute holding her mouth shut and praising her for taking her pill, it magically reappeared on the carpet seconds after I set her down. Thus far Nekko is winning the pill contest 4-0. But I’m on the insulin scoreboard where the score is Nekko 0, Me 1. Ha.
By the way, pet stays in the animal hospital are hugely expensive. Can you say eighteen hundred and eighty dollars and ninety-three cents? For three days? She’s worth it to me, but still.
