Cat Husbandry: How to Groom Your Cat, Trim Their Nails, and Give Meds (Replay)

Zazie and Kristi chat about the grooming, nail care, and meds that their cats need, and how to make these things easier for cats.

By Zazie Todd, PhD

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Listen to episode 70 of The Pawsitive Post in Conversation wherever you get your podcasts (Apple, Spotify) or below, watch on Youtube or below, or scroll down to read a transcript.

Cat husbandry

This episode is in honour of two very special cats who are no longer with us: Kristi's cat Apricat and my cat Melina, both of whom passed this autumn. It's a replay of our conversation about cat husbandry that first aired in 2023. (The other cat mentioned in this episode, Harley, passed in 2024).

In this episode we chat about how to groom your cat and how to deal with mats, as well as how to trim your cat’s nails. We discuss the many reasons why it’s important not to “declaw” your cat and how it’s really like an amputation. Scratching is a natural behavior for cats and we talk about the kind of post to provide to keep your cat happy.

We also discuss the tricky topic of how to give meds to your cats, including pilling, towel-wrapping, and tricks to make meds easier. Along the way we share stories about our own cats and of course a few tips for dogs as well.

At the end we chat about the books we’re reading.

Useful links:-

Purr: The Science of Making Your Cat Happy by Zazie Todd is available from all good bookstores.

All of the books mentioned in the episode are available from my Amazon store.

The Paw Project: Cats’ paws need their claws https://pawproject.org/

BC’s 2018 ban on declawing cats was good news for cats, study shows

What kind of scratching post do cats prefer?

Caring for a diabetic cat gets easier with time, study shows

How to give your cat an insulin injection (iCatCare)

How to train your cat to use an asthma inhaler

Teach any cat AeroKat (iCatCare)

How to clip your cat’s claws (iCatCare)

Two people giving a cat a pill (iCatCare)

Medicating tips and tricks (Fundamentally Feline)

Comfort cats in a towel wrap (Dr. Sophia Yin)

Fresh and Fearless: Basic Grooming Made Easy (Kristi Benson)

Highlights of the conversation about caring for cats

Zazie: This episode is in honor of two very special cats who are no longer with us. Kristi's cat Apricat and my cat Melina who both passed this autumn. This is a replay of our conversation about caring for cats that first aired in 2023.

Hi everybody. Welcome to the positive post in conversation. I'm Zazie Todd. I'm joined as always by my friend and colleague Kristi Benson. How are you, Kristi?

Kristi: I am very good this morning, thank you. And how are you?

Zazie: I'm good, thank you.

And I thought today we could talk about do with grooming cats because recently we had an episode with Jane Wolf of good wolf dog training all about grooming dogs and also about how to teach a dog to use a scratchboard to do their nails because she has this free course available on your platform for people who want to teach their dog to to use a scratch board to do their nails.

And we had a comment on that saying please could we do a similar episode about cats.

So why not? Let's chat about husbandry for cats.

So let's start with talking about how often we brush our cats and how we do that because one of my cats, Harley, absolutely loves to be brushed and it took me a few years to discover this about him because he's a short haired cat and he didn't really need brushing.

My other cat, Melina, is not very happy.

She will accept it, but it's not something that she particularly loves. Like Harley just naturally loves it. Melina doesn't love it, but Harley likes to be brushed every day it turns out.

And he has a good internal clock so he knows what time it is when it's time for him to be groomed, which was actually just now. And he will come and meow at me and say it's time for me to be groomed.

And that meow is a slightly different meow from when he's meowing because it's time for his meal time.

So he has to be brushed. Now at this set time in the morning,

that's when he expects to be brushed and he also does kind of need it because he sheds a lot. Even though he's short haired, he does shed a lot. Even when he's just been brushed, he still sheds a lot.

And he's getting on a bit because he's 14. And older cats often need a bit of grooming, even if they didn't before.

So for him, it's every day. For Melina, she comes and looks when I'm doing Harley and sometimes she's like, okay, you can brush me a little bit.

And I have to do really, really short strokes with the brush.

Kind of, kind of like, you know, if a cat was licking another cat, there'd be really short licks. So they have to be really short. Whereas with Harley, I can actually do quite a long brush and he likes it.

But for Melina, it has to be short. And then she's okay, another day she's like, no, I'm going away today, she doesn't want it.

So how about Apricat? Because Apricat is short haired, isn't he?

Kristi: He is short haired and he.

We do brush him, but sort of when he needs it.

So I'd say a few times a year almost. And maybe I just, I'm looking at it with like a dog person's lens, but I, I see his coat looks a little different and I'm like, oh, it's time to brush him now.

And I brush him.

But it does, I think, you know, when you're saying older cats need to be brushed more, that is interesting. And I'm wondering if that's what you're saying he looks like.

You know, when you asked me to talk about this, I looked at him and I thought, oh, you know what, it's actually,

it's probably time to groom him right now I think his coat is looking a little bit like he needs to be brushed. But typically I think he takes care of himself in that way.

Pretty. You know, his coat tends to be pretty nice. So when his coat starts to look not like his beautiful Apricat self, then I give him a brush and he's okay with it.

But he only likes it for a short amount of time. Same as sort of most types of padding. He'll only put up with it for a little bit and then he's just like, and now I'm done.

But I think he likes it in that time. He doesn't leave until he's like, okay, now that's.

Zazie: And I think most cats prefer things to be short. It's like most cats prefer only to Be petted for a short time and then they've had enough and then they'd like it probably to happen again quite soon with the patting.

Whereas this is the unusual thing about Harley, he quite likes it to go on for a long time. When we hadn't had him for very long, if we were patting him and we stopped from his perspective, it was too soon.

He would bite us and then he would follow us meowing like I want more.

So he's a very cuddly, affectionate kind of cat in that way, even though he's not a lap cat. But I think shorthaired cats don't need it very often. I said older cats because I think often older cats, if they have a bit of arthritis or something, it can be a bit more difficult for them to reach certain areas.

So maybe their pants might need grooming a bit more like their trousers, the back of their legs for example.

And with Harley I even brush him on the tummy, but I have to do it when he's standing up and I kind of reach around under his belly and brush his belly and he'll accept if he's standing up.

And he actually likes to rub his head on something.

So we have a set spot and he has somewhere he can rub his head while I'm brushing him. And it's just ecstasy for him. I think longer hair cats and I have had longer hair cats before, they need a lot more brushing and I think like for a Persian cat would definitely need a lot more brushing potentially every day.

And that kind of cat, because they have a more squashed face and some folds in their faces, they probably would need wiping around their eyes just like some dogs need wiping around their eyes as well.

Yeah. And then you must never get mat's in Apricat because he's a short haired cat.

Kristi: I don't think so. I'm trying to think if he's. I don't think he's ever had anything like matts anywhere. Yeah, no, his hair is pretty consistently short,

you know, and he does, he, he is pretty easy to take care of and he's on us a lot. It's not like, you know, some. If you have a dog or a cat or something who doesn't like to be touched, sometimes I think mats can creep up,

you know, and then all of a sudden you're like, whoa. I guess I haven't patted your, you know, belly or whatever for a long time or behind your ears or wherever dogs usually get mats.

But because apricat sits on my lap for like hours a day. Not, I don't. He doesn't want to necessarily be padded that whole time, but he likes to sort of sit on my lap I think because I'm sort of touching him all the time.

I would feel it. So.

Zazie: Yeah, I think you would.

And I guess the trousers and maybe the armpits and there are certain areas maybe behind the ears perhaps as well where mats are more likely. Maybe they are common across cats and dogs.

I don't know.

Kristi: Yeah, I don't know either.

Zazie: If you have a long haired cat, you can miss mats if you're not careful because they can feel fine when you stroke them on the surface. But the mat can be underneath.

Yeah, they can be quite deep and then that can be really uncomfortable for the cat.

So one thing you can do about that is actually just to kind of tease the hairs apart. It takes a while and you need a patient cat but you can just kind of tease the mat apart and that's often better than trying to cut it because if you cut it you're risking cutting the cat accidentally and that's not good.

And of course if it's bad then you need to ask your, your vet to help out.

And yeah, you can take them to the vet and have them shaved if necessary at the vet and then you get a clean, clean slate to start again. But really it's something it's best to do and to start doing when you've got them, when they're young, it's much, much easier.

But like dogs, you can teach them at any age and then.

Sorry, go on.

Kristi: I was going to say if you pick them the same, same as a dog, you know, sometimes people will come up to me and say, oh, I saw that you have like,

I have a dog that hates to be touched and has matting and I often recommend.

Talk to your vet and let's see if we can do a groom where the dog is receiving sort of medical assistance.

Get it all groomed and that gives you like you said, a blank slate to start practicing so that you can start without having to be that stress of being like, oh my God, my pet has a mat and it's uncomfortable for them and I need to work on it.

You can just be like, here's a fresh start for me and my,

my cat or my dog. I can start working, I can start doing, you know, counter conditioning and get, get the animal really comfortable being groomed, which I think is a nice, it's a nice gift for you and your animal.

Zazie: Yeah, and you're right. About the person's stress as well. Because if you're thinking, oh, there's a mat I've got to deal with, you're going to want to get on and deal with that.

And at the same time, if. If your aim is really to teach the cat or dog to enjoy being groomed, actually you have to go at their pace, which is kind of contradictory to sorting out the mat.

So it's a good idea, like you say to that done at the vet, then you can concentrate on doing the training properly and get that done. Yeah, it makes it much, much easier.

And it's so good that you have this course available to help people with that. I think it's brilliant.

Kristi: Yeah. Yeah, absolutely.

Zazie: Yeah. So many people.

Yeah, so many people need help with that. And then nails as well. So your course looks at dogs nails, the one that you have available.

But cats sometimes need their nails trimmed too, especially if they're indoors only. It's a bit different if they're outdoors cats, because they use their nails for a lot of things.

They probably climb trees with them and so on, and they probably wear them down a bit more. But how often do you do apricat's nails?

Kristi: I do his nails when they start to harm me, when he's sitting on my lap.

So he takes care of them himself sometimes a bit. He does have a scratching post that he likes to use and sometimes I think that the nails get sort of worn down or they shed there.

But I do keep.

I do keep cat nail clippers right at my desk. And then when he's sitting on my lap,

it gives me an opportunity to trim his nails. So I don't. Not as much as I have to do the dog's nails, for sure,

because I try and do the dog's nails. I try and do them every week, but it ends up probably being once a month, just because it's hard to do that kind of stuff.

But maybe once every couple of months,

Zazie: I'd say I have to do it.

Kristi: So sometimes if he's. He's just right here. That's why my arm is doing, like the transverse thing.

Zazie: I just saw his opinion. Yeah.

Kristi: If he's here and he's comfortable, I can sort of gently grab one foot,

do one nail and then pat him and he's fine with it.

So that's one of the ways that I like to do it.

The other way is I keep churu in the closet there and I'll put a plate down if he needs all of his nails done. And I need. I Want to do them quickly.

I'll just put a little bit of churro on the plate, and he'll lick it, and then I'll cut a nail, and then I'll give him a little bit more. So it's sort of like a.

It's both a distraction and a counter conditioning, I think, sort of protocol. It's a little sloppy. Don't tell Jean,

but it works. And he goes bananas for the taste of that stuff. And it takes a whole tube, essentially, or, you know, 2/3 of a tube. And then I get through all of his nails and his whole body, and he's comfortable and happy, and then it's done.

So that's how I do it. So again, I put a little bit on the plate to get him oriented to the plate, and then I. I pick up his foot and I clip a nail, and then I give him a little bit more.

So I. I make sure that after every nail clip, he gets some treats so that he's. He's making that association.

Zazie: Yeah. And I think it's something people don't often realize they can do with cats. And even as far as dogs and husbandry behaviors go, we need more awareness that you can use food to help your dog enjoy these things.

But for cats, we need even more people to know that using.

Using food is a good way to train your cat or to use this as distraction for something.

And yeah, those, those tubes of churro, I think every cat seems to love them.

Yeah,

they're very useful.

Kristi: They're handy, and they're nice because they're shelf stable. So I can just have them in my office,

you know, and pull them out when it's time. And they're not terribly expensive. So all around,

good stuff.

Zazie: Yes.

Kristi: And I think I've been lucky because Apricat is very handleable.

So it's. It was. It's always been easy for me to pick up his foot. He doesn't like his foot being held,

you know, but he. He doesn't, you know, it hasn't taken a lot of work. Like some of my dogs have taken a lot of work. Sitka has taken a lot of work to get comfortable having her nails trimmed.

But I guess it's, you know, sort of for. For cat owners to realize if. If their cats are really uncomfortable having their feet held. You can talk to a behaviorist, you know, or.

Or find a good training plan. Is there one in per. I can't remember.

Zazie: Not for. Not for nails. The two training plans in Per. One for a trach of sit Pretty. And the other one is teaching your cat to go in the carrier. And I only had space for two training plans, but it tells you a lot about how to train your cat.

So it gives you all of the general principles that people can use.

Kristi: Yeah. So I mean, you could come up with a training plan or work with a cat behaviorist on a training plan where, you know, so instead of going right to grabbing and holding their foot and kind of like wrestling them to hold their foot and then cut their nail, you start with something really,

you know, simple and, and that the cat's already comfortable with, maybe like a firm touch to their shoulder or something. And then you give them some of the Churu. 

And over time, when your cat is demonstrating that they're, they're comfortable and anticipating the treats, you move into this, like greater and greater, sort of closer and closer to the actual nail clip. 

And in the end then you, you end up clipping their nails and it's all beautiful and angels sing and.

Zazie: Yeah. So you start with the shoulder and move down to their paws because they probably don't like it if you just grab them by the poor. They're not used to that.

So you have to start with something they're more used to. And then there's the implement as well. So I'm sure this is what you did with Apricat of showing the implement separately and getting them used to the implement.

Or maybe you didn't need to because it didn't predict anything, did it?

Kristi: I had to do that with Sitka, build a separate plan. But with Apricat, no, he's just that easy that he's like, oh, food. Sure, I'll let you do that.

Even if he's sort of like in the I don't love this, but I'll tolerate it zone.

Um, he, he doesn't have a problem. He, he. I don't think he's ever had an actual painful experience having his nails done because it's quite easy. His nails are white, you know, so it's easy enough.

And Sitka doesn't fit on my lap. So it's kind of a different scenario.

Zazie: Yeah, that is more of a challenge. But if someone, someone's dog or cat had previously had bad experiences, then you would separate out the implement and you would counter condition them to seeing the implement as well.

Kristi: And sometimes dogs don't even need to just find things scary. So you know, you know your dog best or your cat best if they find something scary, then you're going to have to do the training for it, if you're lucky enough to have an Apricat, you can move a bit more quickly.

Zazie: Yeah. And for dog treats, it's worth also mentioning. Cat food is a great dog treat too. Like it doesn't have to be dog food.

Whereas the cats seem to definitely prefer the cat treats.

Kristi: I think an Apricat loves dog food.

Zazie: Ah, yeah.

Kristi: So who knows? He's an odd tyke.

Zazie: Yeah.

And I feel like we would be remiss if we didn't say something about not declawing your cat because where we live here in bc, declawing cats is banned. It's not allowed at all.

And that's because it's bad for cats.

It causes pain. I mean it basically people call it declawing. It's, it's a misnomer because it's cutting off the end of their knuckles basically. And it sounds horrific. And there is research shows that it does seem to cause pain to cats when they have been declawed.

They're showing signs of pain in their behavior. And also sometimes they might show signs of pain in terms of being reluctant to use the litter box. And nobody wants that.

We all want our cats to be using their litter box. So if you live somewhere where it is possible, don't do it. It's not good for your cat. And it's up to us to provide cats with scratching posts because scratching is a natural behavior for cats and it helps to keep their, their claws in tip top condition. And they deposit pheromones from the pads in their paws when they're scratching as well. And a couple of things that most people don't do is you have to provide good scratching pros.

So they need to be tall enough that the cat can get a good stretch. Really, really tall.

Yeah.

Some cats prefer a horizontal one.

Cats have different preferences. Sisal rope works for most, but some would prefer wood or cardboard or carpet. And then the other thing is you can reward your cat for using the scratching post.

Just give them a treat, immediate finished using it and that encourages them to use it more often too. So do not declaw your cat. And I'll put some links in the show notes to places that can tell you why you shouldn't do that, even if it's, it's legal.

Kristi: I was, I was surprised when I learned that because I mean as I'm like. One of the things that I had to learn when I was training to be an archaeologist is skeletal anatomy.

So we learn a lot about the bones and just learning that you're, you're Cutting off kind of like from here forward.

And that's because your nail goes in and sort of attaches inside your body. Right. So they're cutting off this part of the hand and the foot, but it's a surface upon which the cat is walking.

So just. I can't imagine how much it's going to change their gait. And then you also see, like, these really alarming pictures about if the nail bed isn't completely removed, sometimes the nails can grow inside of the cat and cause even more problems.

So there can be aggression. And, you know, it's sort of.

It makes it sound like it's an easy way to solve a problem, but it's not. It's actually quite serious, I think.

Zazie: Yeah.

Kristi: Which I was surprised to learn when I sort of came upon that information. I don't think that information is out there enough.

Zazie: Yeah, I think you're right.

And I think just the name of it makes it sound very simple, but it's not a solution. And there are other much easier ways that we can actually find a solution to cat scratching if we do the right things for it.

And. Yeah. So anyone listening? Instead of watching, Kristi was showing the end of her finger as if the end of her finger was being cut off. Yeah. And it's just horrible to think about it like that.

Cats need their claws, basically.

They're important.

And they're important for cats for climbing things. They use them for climbing.

Like I mentioned, they're depositing pheromones when they're scratching on things, so, you know, they need them.

Yeah. And it's an important thing.

Another thing that people often have trouble with is giving medicine to their cat if their cat has to have pills. And so Melina doesn't need any. I have Harley on a whole roster of different meds, which I'll tell you about in a moment. Does Apricat have any meds at the moment?

Kristi: No. We're lucky in that he's healthy, but we have had a cat who is hyperthyroid and medicated him for many years. So I am somewhat familiar.

Zazie: Yes. So you're very familiar with this.

And I think very often cats do end up needing medication. Senior cats are kind of like senior people. We're much more likely to have things that need medication.

And before I had done any training or even learned that much about cats, I used to find it really difficult to get meds in a cat.

Did not like it at all. But now we have Harley, and of course I have a whole load of experience and education behind Me these days too. But Harley, unfortunately for him, has various medical conditions.

So at the moment he is on meds twice a day and insulin injections twice a day as well because he's diabetic.

Kristi: Wow.

Zazie: And he also has an asthma inhaler because he has asthma. But that is only for emergencies and luckily we've only ever had to use it twice.

But it's for emergencies because unfortunately the medication that helps with the asthma is not good for the diabetes.

So that's unfortunate.

So that's quite a bit to manage. And last autumn, when Harley suddenly became very ill and it turned out he had an infection and he had congestive heart failure and he had to go to the emergency vet and he had to see our vet a lot of times and our vet was absolutely wonderful.

And he even gave us, when we had to go to the emergency vet, he even gave us his only oxygen cylinder so that we could have Harley on oxygen for the.

Like. It was about a 45 minute ride to the emergency vet. So we took the oxygen with us and my husband drove and I sat in the back of the car with oxygen for Harley to help him because he was so,

so ill at that point and luckily now he's doing fine. But he came home from that and on various meds, obviously. And for the first two weeks we had him back home.

After that he had to have medication at 12, 3 and 9. So that included 12 midnight, 3am, 9am, 12 noon, 3pm, 9pm so that was very tiring for that first couple of weeks to have to get up and do those meds.

Wow.

But after that we could change the timing. And now it's only twice a day that he has those.

But so we had to very quickly get used to medicating him.

And of course we used treats the first few times we did it, we did it with two of us.

So me and my husband together, and I think often it's much, much easier if you're struggling to medicate your cat, to have one of you to hold the cat and one to actually give the meds.

Yeah.

So we. I hold Harley, so he's kind of got his back to me and I just, I barely even have to hold him now, but I get him and I hold him in place and I pet him a lot and he likes that too.

And we give him treats afterwards and he loves his treats.

So what worked was that he very quickly came to learn that the meds meant treats. So. And like I said already, he has a good sense of timing.

So he knows when his meds are due and he will even come and look at me now. Okay, where are they?

So he reminds us if we forget, he comes and looks at us and reminds us that it's time for his meds.

So that's good. The insulin injections he's had for years.

And again, of course, we follow the injection with a treat and most of the time he doesn't even feel it.

So you have to make sure the cat is eating, you don't want to give the insulin, and then find that he's not going to eat his tea because then he would have low blood sugar and it could be disastrous.

So you have to make sure that he's eating. But you just kind of put a tent in the. In which. Mainly at the back of the cat's neck, but it could be anywhere.

And you just inject into that tent. And it's actually very easy to do. So the first few times you think, oh, this is a bit scary. It's very easy. And mostly he doesn't feel it.

So that's. That's pretty good, too. So if anyone is struggling with these things, I think look online, there are some really good resources out there.

And I don't know if you've seen. One of the resources I really like is from Ingrid Johnson, a fundamentally feline,

and she has some great ways to get cats to take treats. Sorry, take treats, take medicines themselves without you having to pill them. So Harley's. One of Harley's pills is.

It's kind of giant for a cat. It's actually a dog medicine.

So we have to pill him. There's no way we could put it in a pill pocket or in his food or.

Or even would want to put it in another gel capsule. So one of the things that Ingrid suggests is that you get chicken gel capsules and then you can put the other meds in into those.

And especially if the cat has more than one med, it means you've only got one thing to give and it tastes of chicken.

Kristi: Okay, nice.

Zazie: So that helps.

Another thing that she suggests is that you teach them to take it themselves by using churro or something similar, some kind of wet cat food. Put it on a surface and put the churro on top and train the cat to lick it.

So you might have the cat licking it without the pill first and then have them go to lick it with the pill. And one of the things that's important, it has to be on, like, a rough surface, like a licky mat or some other kind of rough Surface.

Otherwise, it's super easy for the cat to spit it out.

Kristi: Okay.

Zazie: Yeah. And I'm sure you've noticed cats are really good at spitting meds out, and I don't blame them.

Kristi: Yeah, yeah, for sure. For sure. I mean, I think the whole experience for many cats of being held and then something forced into their mouth, their mouth forced open. I mean, I think it's all pretty nasty and aversive.

Yeah, I think that probably all gets tied up in. Oh, here's a pill kind of in this whole.

All of the stuff around it is also unpleasant.

Zazie: Yeah. Really something that they don't like, same as for dogs. And so you can train them. But also it's just useful to know these tricks that will help with it.

And with asthma inhalers. A couple of years ago, International Cat Care put together a plan for teaching cats to use their asthma inhaler. Because there are some cats who have.

Have asthma and have to have it like every day or twice a day or something.

And so they have a really ingenious plan that starts with big things for the cat to go and put their head in. And they basically keep teaching the cat to put their head in items which get smaller and smaller until they're the size of the asthma inhaler.

So it's a little like a mask thing that fits over the cat's face, and then it has a tube, and then you put the inhaler at the end of it.

So you can follow that to teach your cat to use an asthma inhaler. And I started this plan. I haven't honestly finished it because I haven't needed to, because we don't use it that often, as it's just for emergencies.

And it's not a problem to give it in an emergency anyway.

Kristi: One of the things that, when we had our cat who had hyperthyroid, and if I knew then what I know now, we would have gone a different route with treatment. We would have gone the surgery route. But at that time, we didn't.

And so we. We ended up able to have his meds control his condition reasonably well, with them being compounded into a cream that we were able to put on his ears.

So I don't, you know, I'm not a vet, so I'm not speaking from a veterinary perspective, but that made it way easier for our cat and us, you know, to be able to handle his condition rather than trying to pill him, because he was not into that. And, you know, that this was years ago. We didn't know, you know, Even to look,

all of the advice that we got was like, hold the cat, hold it down and force it down kind of thing.

Zazie: So it was.

Kristi: It was not pleasant for anybody, and it's not for us and not for the cat.

Zazie: So, yeah, no. And it's good to know that compounding pharmacies can do those kinds of things.

So I think that's a useful tip for people to know. Even if your vet doesn't suggest it, you can always ask if it's possible for something like that to be done.

And I think vets are very sympathetic if you talk to them about the difficulties of pilling your cat, because they're used to people having trouble with it and finding it hard.

So, yeah, obviously.

Kristi: And I think if I were going to, you know, in looking in the past now, I would probably say give me the. The cream while I teach him to be more comfortable being pilled.

I think that, you know, if the surgery wasn't an option, for example, then I probably would have gone that route because I think it ended up.

Zazie: It was.

Kristi: It ended up being kind of dirty, and I don't think it was quite as good as the pill. But it was such a great relief for us to have it. We were just like, we're only doing this from now on, you know?

Zazie: Yeah, yeah.

And I think we all learn as we go anyway. And I think it's really neat that even people who are experts in behavior should always be learning. And I think that's a really important thing.

Everyone should always be learning because there are always so many things to learn. So I think it's cool. One thing I learned last year, I went and did Dr. Sophia Yin's course on towel wrapping cats, which is online.

And it has lots of videos of Dr. Yin herself teaching people different ways of towel wrapping cats.

And it's probably mainly aimed at vet techs,

but it's a really useful thing to be able to do if you have to do something to your cat. If you wrap them in a towel, it can make it much more pleasant or less stressful for them, and they don't seem to mind very much actually being wrapped in a towel.

Of course, it's something that you could train your cat to do as well, but it's just like a useful thing to be able to do. And so if you're struggling to peel a cat and you have to give the meds, then wrapping your cat in a towel can be one way to do it more safely without you getting clawed and attacked.

And also because it can help to immobilize the cat and you can tuck it so that their paws are tucked in and just their head is, is poking out.

And it was quite funny doing the course because there's video of people practicing it and she shows lots of mistakes that people can easily make. And of course, since it's for vet techs, there are lots of different ways of wrapping depending on which part of the cat you want access to or what you're planning to do to the cat.

And I think for an ordinary person they wouldn't need to know that. But it is just useful to know that you can wrap your cat in a towel, put a towel on the table, put your cat on top of it and just wrap them up so that their paws are in.

And that can make it much safer to give meds that way if that's what you have to do,

it's easier. Easier for the cat, easier for you as well. So I think it's just a useful skill and I guess it's one of those things as well that has been been a big change in trying to make these things less stressful because it's so important for cats and dogs not to get stressed if it's at all possible to avoid that stress.

Kristi: And it seems to me like medication providers should also be part of the answer here.

Why isn't there churu flavored medicine? It seems like we're doing all the work and it would be nice if there's quite a few pills that you can get for dogs now that I think that are flavored to be like treats that dogs eat like treats.

So it seems like this should be something that, you know, hopefully in the future there will be more availability of stuff where we, you know, people don't have to do work because I think quite a few people just don't do the work and don't medicate,

which causes a lot of suffering in guardian sort of animal relationships. So maybe, maybe listening.

Zazie: Yeah, sometimes if you yourself put a pill in food, if it's a pill that you're allowed to give at the same time as food, even if you mix it up in a bit of food they can still taste, it's that it's there. And a cat is quite fussy, often they're not necessarily going to actually eat it.

So I mean, this is where the idea of putting pills in a chicken flavored pill pocket, Pill, pill capsule can help.

And you do get pill pockets as well for cats that you can put pills in. But I don't find them as helpful for cats, as for dogs, for some reason.

Yeah.

Kristi: They're like little pill detectives.

Zazie: Yes.

Kristi: And you can't get them, you know, with dogs you can often get them excited. They'll be like, oh, is it training time or is it treat time? And you, you know, give them a couple without and then one with and then a couple more without.

And they're. They're fooled. Right.

Zazie: They're like woohoo.

Kristi: And the cats are much more like. No.

Zazie: Yeah.

Kristi: They do that like smell thing before they, they dive into their food.

Zazie: Yeah. And if they're sniffing it, you know that they've already detected there's something they don't like there because if they liked it, they would be right there eating it.

Yeah. So it can be challenging. And we've mentioned a number of useful resources and I'll put those in the show notes for people go to.

And neither of us are vets, so we're just talking about our experience and from more of a behavior perspective. But it's so helpful when you know how to do these things.

And thank you to the person who suggested that we talk about this topic.

Kristi: Yes, very much.

Zazie: Yeah. So we're very open to ideas. If you have suggestions and want to tell us what you would like to see in future episodes, just send me an email or leave a comment and we will bear it in mind for the future.

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