Out of town - Tasha won't let cat sitter inject

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stacia

stacia

Member Since 2014
This was one of my biggest fears.

Short story: Our very capable cat sitter tried to inject Tasha tonight and Tasha refused. Took off immediately from her food, subsequent attempts were met with hissing and spatting. The cat sitter called us in tears, didn't want to further anger the cat.

Current plan: She'll try again in the morning, maybe Tasha will be hungrier and more cooperative.

More details: Sitter injected Tasha w no problems this morning, but my husband was there. Thankfully (?) I was really sick last night and we missed our flight so rather than being a flight or 6 hours away by car, we're only an hour away. We were supposed to go home Monday afternoon but at this point, I'm thinking we may go home tomorrow morning if she can't inject her then.

I'm not surprised Tasha's being uncooperative but I was really hoping for better. We travel quite a bit and I have no idea what to do now. We can't board her - she's very Exorcist about it.

How concerned should I be about her not getting tonight's injection? Her spreadsheet is up-to-date for the most part except I see her PMPS from the last two nights weren't entered. And we usually note feeding times.
 
Oh Tasha - naughty girl!

I don't know your back story but I'll bet she'll be OK without it - might be high tomorrow but you'll get her back on track. There was another bean with the same issue a couple of weeks ago, the kitty let the sitter give her shots the next day without any problem.

HUGS! Be careful!
 
Thanks. I'm hopeful Tasha is more cooperative in the morning. This was our trial run before other trips and I'm in a panic that it's not going well. The cat sitter is upset, I'm upset, the cat is upset. I just want to drive straight home and never leave again.

Instead, I'm going to bed early and hoping for the best in the a.m. If not, we have to figure something out.
 
Don't worry; this happens! Whenever I leave town, I expect Mikey will only get one shot a day either due to uncooperative behavior or to a fur shot (from the less experienced cat sitter). He always runs lower when I'm gone anyway (he doesn't eat as much) and he's getting at least some insulin. I've only ever been gone up to a week at most so far and each time I come home, it usually only takes a day or two to get back on track. A small setback, but not the end of the world. :YMHUG:
 
Any chance you can take her with you? I have been able to manage from a hotel room pretty well. He's upset the first night and then fine after that. Auto-feeder to the rescue! Sorry you're having such a rough time. Personally, I miss camping. It's been over two years. Hope you find a good solution for your girl and peace of mind.
 
Morning update: Complete failure and we're going home. We actually have a couple of webcams set up to check in on the cats/for security and I don't use them to spy on the cat sitter but in this case I thought it might be useful to see what was going on. Tasha chows her food and as soon as the cat sitter approaches, Tasha does the stop, drop and roll to her back/side, hissing and swatting and screaming. The cat sitter's doing everything right, trying everything she possibly can. Tasha's just not having any of it. As soon as the sitter leaves, Tasha digs into her food.

So we're heading home soon, will be back at about the +3.5 mark of her second missed injection (so really, +27.5). I'm not upset about this particular weekend gone wrong. I guess it's really fortuitous the bean was up sick all night so we missed that flight yesterday morning. But we've GOT to figure out a long-term solution.

Thanks for suggestions and reassurance. Unfortunately, we can't take her with us most of the time. Usually, we fly. Probably 6-8 times a year. We're trying to fly home to see family in a month for 5 days, had another week-long trip in the planning stages in November.

Next question, how do we get Tasha comfortable with the sitter? Tasha let the sitter give her the shot with no issues when my husband was in the room, which we thought might be more of an issue.
 
I make sure that whenever I have people over and it's around Mikey's shot time, I train them how to to test and shoot Mikey. I don't care if they're a viable option as a future pet sitter or not; I want Mikey to get used to other people caring for him.

If you're interested in reading, here's what happened one of the times I was gone. :lol:
 
My goodness, you and Mikey had a ride that week! So great that so many people were able to step up and take care of your baby!

We made it home later than planned (+4.5 from her usual time, so +28.5 from her last injection). She let me test her BG as usual and it wasn't as high as I expected. 377, which isn't abnormal for her lately - her numbers have been a bit everywhere. I was able to inject her, though she was a little skittish about it. Thinking now, I maybe should've held off til her normal injection time to get her back on track since she wasn't off the charts high but it's done now.
 
I'm sorry Tasha and the sitter had such a hard time, but glad she's feeling well enough to be difficult. ;-)
 
Hi Stacia,

I don't know if this suggestion would work but I thought I'd throw the idea into the ring.

If you use the same sitter all the time, what about getting something with the sitter's scent (e.g. pillowslip) in advance of your next trip and keeping it near Tasha for several days when you give her her insulin. Maybe it might make her feel more at ease with the sitter when you're away because the sitter's scent will be more familiar?
 
Critter Mom said:
If you use the same sitter all the time, what about getting something with the sitter's scent (e.g. pillowslip) in advance of your next trip and keeping it near Tasha for several days when you give her her insulin. Maybe it might make her feel more at ease with the sitter when you're away because the sitter's scent will be more familiar?
Click to expand...
LOVE this idea! I'm going to try this next time I have to go out of town.
 
That's a great idea! We actually have the sitter coming over tomorrow night to sort of be in the room talking while I do Tasha's evening routine. I'll ask then if she's comfortable giving us something of hers to have nearby.

I'm still really at a loss about things and I have a feeling it's going to get worse before it gets better. Kitty is also peeing outside the box (this happened before the weekend/sitter debacle) and we're having all of the destroyed upstairs carpeting torn out on Monday, replaced with engineered hardwood. Too much change and upset for Tasha, I'm afraid. Trying to make her comfortable with the sitter in hopes of booking a flight home to visit family before the snow flies probably isn't in the cards. We're also awaiting results of tests on a urine sample I took in yesterday to see if she has a UTI. It's a good thing I like this cat...
 
I wonder if you made a recording of your 'preshot routine' so the sitter could play it as she goes thru the routine would work? It works with babies...if your webcam has voice capability, maybe you can be there and talk thru it while she shoots? Just trying to think of ANYTHING that might help. The scent thing sounds good too!!

HUGS!
 
I was a little afraid to tell the cat sitter we could talk through the webcam. Or to give the impression we were spying. I don't want her to be uncomfortable. But at this point, it may help make Tasha more comfortable. I don't know. I'm tempted to record her voice tomorrow and play that on a loop (when I'm not around - I don't need to make ME crazy) so kitty can get used to it.

The good news is that Tasha doesn't have a UTI. She does have glucose in the urine so the vet suggested an insulin increase, which we were already planning.
 
If you were able to get the sitter to set up a Skype video call (or similar), then maybe she might feel better because she would be initiating the call?

Just brainstorming here.
 
Although my partner hasn't taken any BG readings when he is at home he takes part in the routine. His role is to give remi lots of loving beforehand, rubbing under his chin, making him relax and then holding the heated rice to his ear. He then just stays nearby and once it's down and the treat is given he gives more loving.

Could you get the sitter to help you in the process tonight, she could just do all the nice bits. Just so the cat knows she is part of the process. It's a similar idea to what the others have given.
 
I'm still not sure exactly how much to have the sitter participate tonight. Since she actually gave Tasha her shot once while we were here, my instinct is to have her fairly near, but we'll see how Tasha is acting. I'm a little afraid we may not be able to inject Tasha tonight since we increased her dose this morning but having the sitter over to familiarize them can't hurt either way.
 
The visit with the sitter went well tonight. Tasha strutted right up to her when she came in, then ran over to me for testing time. Sitter sat near us on the floor and chatted while I tested (amazed at how chill the whole process went). Unfortunately, Tasha was too low to inject, as I had feared. Sitter gave Tasha some treats and love, said her goodbyes. She'll come back another time and inject, then try to do the same while we go out to dinner.

Question: better to keep at this without much break in-between play dates? I'm thinking to have the sitter back ASAP and keep at it, before Tasha forgets the goodwill.

Your suggestions have been great - I'm really hopeful we can make this work. We love to travel and I don't know what to do if we can't.
 
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