Smart Cat

I've only had two smart cats in my life.  Midnight, who I had for a year in my teens. Who I taught how to open any door in our house, and Sheba, was was to smart for her own good.


The last 10 years of her we constantly battle with her life.

Sheba was a obese cat in her early years, weighing in at 14 pounds. When she was nine we noticed that she was not able to keep her food down, and losing weight.  When I took her to her new Vet. She was diagnosed with a heart murmur and a hyper thyroid.

The last 10 years of her I had a constant battle of giving Sheba her hyper thyroid medicine.

Sheba 2008

Let me count the ways.

1.  restrain her,  tossing the pill down her throat.
2.  crush the pill, mix with soft cat food.
3.  Insert pill in the third piece of steak I was sharing with her.
4.  Pill pockets
5.  crush the pill, mix with baby food





I constantly had to come up with creative ways and change these tactics every 6 months or less to get the medicine in her.

The first tactic, I crushed the pill and mixed it with her food - I did this for a year.

I quickly learned that Sheba figured out what "pill" meant, just like she knew what "vet" meant.

The second tactic I started to give her the pill in "Pill Pockets" - lasted 6 months.

She figured out that she could eat the "pill pocket" and spit out the pill.

The next tactic I tried was giving her steak or chicken I chewed for her, but I would insert the pill in the second or third piece.

She figured out that she could eat the "meat" and spit out the pill.

I crushed the pill and mixed it with baby food or gravy. She would figure out it was in there and just walk away.

I even tried to force it down her, but she figured how to hide it, and spit it out.

                                                          ********************

Now to tell you how smart she was.

1.  I could never Vet, Doctor, Meds, or Pill, She knew what they meant.  I had to spell them out.
2.  She would hide if you say vet.
3.  If you said pill, she knew it was in the food, she would get finicky with what she ate and walk away.
    ~  With soft cat food, and baby food she would walk away with her nose in the air
    ~  When giving the steak she would eat the steak and spit out the pill
    ~  When given the pill pocket she would eat the pocket and spit out the pill

Toward the end of her life, we resorted to liquid medicine and an eye dropper, and still had to battle with her on the giving it to her.  

When I made the decision to put her to sleep she was under 9 pounds, her heart was enlarged from her battle with the hyper thyroid.

I didn't want her to suffer any longer! :(