Parents Speak
Disability & Estate Planning For Your Pets' Care
By Barbara Aggarwal
August 19, 2010
What happens to your pets if you should die tomorrow? How about if you were temporarily or permanently disabled either
mentally or physically? If your animals are young and healthy with a simple care regimen and you have a spouse or friend who
has participated in their care, you probably don’t worry much about it. If you’re reading this article, odds are you have at least one
pet that has a medical problem requiring a special diet and/or medication. Even if your pets are healthy now, that can change
with time just like your health can, so you need to plan for the unexpected. Another angle involves you being able to continue to
enjoy your pets. If you are disabled physically and can’t provide their total care, wouldn't you still want the pleasure of being with
them? Similarly, if you develop a progressive illness like dementia, you will certainly want to have your beloved pets around as
you will still enjoy them and love them even if you can’t remember how to take care of them.
Most people worry about dying too young, but the reality is that more commonly people live too long and lose certain abilities.
Both these scenarios need to be planned for. I highly recommend buying and reading “All My Children Wear Fur Coats” by
Peggy R. Hoyt, JD, MBA, which goes into great detail about planning and is the reference used to write this article. Planning for
your disability or death is important so that decisions are made by you ahead of time, not by some third party. It is important to
plan for both your personal and your pets’ current and future care. Professional help by an attorney who is animal oriented and
understands the bond and importance your pets have with you is essential.
In planning for disability, you will need a durable financial power of attorney that allows a trusted person, i.e. spouse, relative, or
close friend, a CPA, bank, or licensed fiduciary to handle your finances and authorize payments. Your pets need to be included
in this POA, with specific information regarding where they will reside and instructions for their care. You also need a living trust
that provides the same information regarding you and your pets and gives your trustee decision making ability. The more detail
you have in the trust regarding your wishes, the easier it will be to have everything carried out without having to get court approval.
In planning for your death, you can use wills and trusts. You cannot directly leave your assets to your pets; instead you need to
designate a person to care for them, and provide that person funds. A trust allows you to put in great detail what that care should
involve and delineates how your money is to be used. If you are only using a will, you can designate who gets the pet(s) and how
much money you want them to receive, but that's it, from then on you have no control over what happens. A trust allows a lot more
control and planning, and there are different ways to set them up and have them administered. Very important is that you ASK
the person you want to be the caregiver if they are willing to do it and obtain their consent. You should also have a back-up
caregiver in case at the time of your death the person you designated is unable or unwilling to do it. Additionally, always have an
alternate trustee, who is in charge of carrying out your wishes as to the distribution of your assets detailed in the trust. Money
designated for animal care may be distributed in different ways to the caregiver. It can be given as a fixed sum annually,
calculated based on the pets’ life expectancies and current annual expenses. It can also be a percentage of your estate, but that
risks it ending up being insufficient. Another option is to have your caregiver submit bills for reimbursement. Or you can have all
your money designated for pet care as delineated in your instructions, and what is left after all the pets have died then is
distributed to heirs and charity however you choose. You can also specify an additional sum of money to be paid at intervals to
the caregiver as thanks for their efforts.
To help your prospective caregiver make decisions, you can name a group including your vet along with friends and/or family
who you feel would understand what decisions you would make to help in difficult times, such as deciding if it’s time for
euthanasia or if an expensive or risky treatment should be embarked upon. You should also have instructions on what to do when
the pet dies such as cremation or burial if that is important to you. It is essential to meet with the attorney every so often to update
your documents as situations change.
This is only a brief summary of this complicated, but important process. The first step everyone should take, and it costs nothing,
is to make up and have available at all times a comprehensive care plan. My husband has almost no idea what I do in caring for
our 7 cats, several with medical problems, but knows to go in the computer and print out the cat care guide document with his
name on it in the event something happens to me. I also have two back-up caregivers that are regularly emailed copies as it is
updated, which is very important to keep up with. I made this document using my vacation cat care guide used for kitty sitters as
a starter. That has a summary of each cat, including medical problems, personality, hide-outs, and hang-outs, along with a
simplified version of the medication and daily care regimen suitable for when we travel. It details the easiest way to get
medications in; some are pilled directly, one uses one flavor of pill pockets, another uses a different flavor. It also has contacts
and all vets seen by everyone and my preferences for where to go for emergency care. From there, for my husband or other pet
caregiver, I went into more detail on the daily regimen, and have specifics about where I obtain their medications and supplies.
There’s often a lot more to what you do everyday than you would think. For example, I get medications from various pharmacies
– price can vary as can the ease of scoring into kitty-sized doses depending on the manufacturer carried, and one I get from
Canada. Likewise, different brands of food or litter are only carried by certain stores, or one may be much less expensive than
the other. It’s all in the care guide, and this gets included in the trust plan made up for your estate.
Below is a sample care and planning guide. Notice how detailed I am with each cat's behaviors as well as every little thing I can
think of, so anyone different caring for them will know what to expect:
Cat identifier, medical problems, and personality list:
1. Chirpy – has inflammatory bowel disease. Has obsessive compulsive tendencies – she is the one who opens the china
cabinet door. Urine marks. On budesonide (Entocort EC) 1.2 mg (use 2 Entocorts to make 5 capsules)/ Prozac 2.5mg
combined and flagyl 62.5mg qd. B12- 0.25 cc sq every 3 weeks. Adequan – 0.18 cc sq every 3 weeks. Shy, but braver at night.
Favorite toy is the tennis ball in the Publix bag in the foyer. If she is hiding, she will be under our bed. Hangs out on the back
porch a lot, especially at night. Also hangs near cat tree and in our bathroom.
2. Buddy – Herpes ulcer L, had keratectomy/graft. Excess liver heat and deficiency of yin. On Lysine 500mg BID, Feline
Immune Support BID, and Ming Mu Di Huang tea pills 0-2 BID depending on the season. Stops them in winter, up to 2 BID
during the hottest time of year. Rarely taking now, only use if panting and conjunctiva is staying red. Gets acupuncture by Dr. F.
3. Trini – Scar from old herpetic ulcer right eye – flare-up Nov, 09. Almost never hides. Likes hanging out on back porch or
bedroom.
4. Snickers - On atenolol 6.25mg qd for ASH (asymmetric septal hypertrophy). Hangs in bedroom, rarely hides, if so under the
bed.
5. Opie – Has rare asthma attacks consisting of a few minutes of coughing, is on no treatment. Hides under living room loveseat.
6. Octavio – Loves to play with puff balls, and the feather duster toy. Loves Kitty Kaviar. Hides under bed, sleeps there most of
the day.
7. Maggie – ASH on diltiazem 7.5mg BID, benazepril 5mg ½ tab qAM, ¼ qPM, and pepcid ac 2.5mg qPM, and IRIS stage 2
renal insufficiency. B12 0.25 cc sq on the first of the month. Likes best to be scratched on her head and by her tail, but may take
a swipe at you after a bit. Loves to be petted when eating, sometimes requires it. Recent? Pancreatitis, if flares (not eating even
treats, laying like a loaf, abdominal pain) try 75ml subq lactated ringers and 0.13ml Buprenex on lower gum line (not the .15 on
bottle – wigs her out too much. Warm LR before giving to make it easier – preheat oven for about a minute, turn off, put bag in for
about 10 minutes. Litter boxes – 6– master bath linen closet, master bathroom, laundry room, powder bath, and 2 on back porch
by deck box. Scoop twice a day. Boxes in bathrooms use Cat Attract, laundry and porch use Precious Cat – spreads out the
usage.
Water bowl – Corner in breakfast nook and pitcher in master shower.
Food – Plates/bowl on the island
Wet: Using Nat. Balance (NB) flavors are Salmon, Indoor Cat, Ultra, and Chicken liver pate – I’ve tried all the others, these are
the ones they’ll eat. Also, BFF. For me they eat about 3 cans per day. Rotate flavors in order to maintain variety. You can see
what they’ve been eating by looking at the stacks of cans in the cupboard. They’ll eat cold food from the fridge. I put a spoonful of
food on the island and a lot of food on the floor, usually ends up being at least ¾ can going on floor plate.
Dry food – Before Grain chicken. Bowl stays on the island, extra food is in small pantry in container. Make sure chairs at kitchen
table and desk are pushed in so Snickers doesn’t use them for a launch pad to the dry food. Let bowl get very low before filling.
Maggie: Likes to eat food in the corner by the mixer. Keep dry in right side of timed feeder for her to eat.
Medication regimen:
Maggie: In AM: diltiazem in ½ salmon or chicken pill pocket and Benazepril ½ tab in ½ pill pocket. PM Diltiazem and benazepril
¼ tab in ½ pill pocket, Pepcid ac in ½ pill pocket. Just set it in front of her and she will eat it. Sometimes she will stare at it for a
moment before eating, just make sure someone else. If she is staring, you can scratch her back by her tail for a few seconds and
that will often get her to eat it. Or pick it up and roll it in front of her again. If she won’t eat it, switch flavors, there are both chicken
and salmon flavors. She is also very easy to pill. If she won’t take it and won’t eat treats, this is a sign pancreatitis may be flaring.
Also if she loses weight, normally she is about 7# 12 oz.
Buddy: Pill him. He’s hard to catch but easy to pill, just keep walking after him and eventually he will roll over and you can grab
him. Or do something else for awhile and try later. Give him tea pill(s) if taking, 1 Feline Immune Support tablet and 500mg lysine
twice a day. If he starts having episodes of vomiting, stop the tea pills for at least a month, longer if the weather is cold, then start
back at 1 twice a day if his conjunctiva is looking red or he is panting when running around. Give him a couple pieces of dry after
the pills to make sure they go down.
Snickers: Atenolol in barely enough Duck and Pea pill pocket to cover in AM. Put it on the plate on island used for canned food
overnight. She will clean the plate, too.
Chirpy: Budesonide /prozac/flagyl combo cap (in Entocort EC bottle) once daily. I give it in the AM, you may find it easier to give
in the evening. Put plate of canned food in front of her afterwards to make sure pill goes down.
QUICK REFERENCE:
Med regimen by cat:
Chirpy – Entocort EC /prozac/ flagyl capsule once daily. B12 0.25cc sq every 3 weeks, Adequan 0.18cc sq every 3 weeks.
Check my calendar, it’s on same day that L’s dog Ginger gets her shot.
Buddy – Feline Immune Support tab BID, Lysine 500mg BID. Ming Mu Di Huang 0-2 BID.
Maggie – diltiazem in ½ salmon or chicken pill pocket BID, Pepcid ac in ½ pill pocket in the evening, Benazepril ½ tab in AM, ¼
tab in PM sharing the half pill pocket with the diltiazem. B12 0.25 cc 1st day of each month
Snickers – atenolol in Duck and Pea pill pocket qAM,
Care regimen by time of day:
AM
Diltiazem and benazepril ½ tab sharing ½ salmon or chicken pill pocket for Maggie. Atenolol in just enough duck and pea pill
pocket to cover it (about a ¼ pocket), put on plate left out on island overnight, and put in front of Snickers. ½-3/4 Can of food onto
a plate, put on floor, spoonful of food on plate on island. Give more wet food as they eat it up. Give Buddy tea pill(s) if using,
Feline Immune Support, 500 mg Lysine, then drop a few pieces of dry in front of him to make sure pills go down. Clean and refill
water bowl, scoop litter boxes, refill dry food as needed.
Evening
Benazepril ¼ and diltiazem in half a salmon and chicken pill pocket for Maggie, pepcid ac in other half pocket. Entocort
EC/flagyl/prozac cap for Chirpy, immediately put plate of wet food or couple pieces of dry in front of her to make sure it doesn’t
stick in her esophagus. Give Buddy Feline Immune Support, Lysine, and tea pill(s) followed by a few pieces of dry. Scoop litter
boxes, continue to give wet food as needed, most on floor, little spoonful on island.
Vets-
Cat Hospital – ph#xxxxxxx - Prefer Dr. A especially for the annual exams. Either her or Dr. B fine for acute illness. Dr. C does
surgeries/dentals. Often fill-in vet on Saturdays, so try to go on the weekdays. Alternative: Dr. D, ph#xxxxxxx.
Buddy also sees Dr. F at. Acupuncture/Complementary vet – ph#xxxxxxx
Ophthalmologist – Dr. E ph#xxxxxxx
Emergency vet – Prefer Animal Emergency ph# xxxxxxx
www. website, all medical records are in filing cabinet in spare bedroom closet.
How to make Tater’s budesonide combo caps:
www.Ibdkitties.net, click on medications, click on budesonide, or http://ibdkitties.net/Budesonide.html. I put the budesonide in the
capsules first, followed by the prozac, then flagyl which you can cut in half if too tight. The tip of a steak knife is very handy for
manipulating tiny pill pieces into place in the pill cutter. The wood cap holder and pan are on top of fridge, everything else is on
second shelf corner cabinet in a pie plate.
Injection info:
Everything you need is in left middle vanity drawer. Extra box syringes is in bottom right. After drawing up the shot, warm it by
putting it in your pocket, armpit, or waistband, helps a lot with comfort.
For Tater, distract her with margarine on a knife or Kitty Kaviar and when she is engrossed with eating it give her the shot.
For Maggie, distract with Kitty Kaviar or when she is eating food out of the little container. It doesn’t work to sneak up on them
while they’re sleeping and do it, trust me.
Where to get supplies:
Meds:
There is a big stash of meds in 2nd drawer of my vanity, also some in kitten room and green bathroom, also in deli drawer in
fridge. These are things you don’t need for everyday.
Entocort EC (Budesonide) Canadadrugs.com. Tater’s order number is: yyyyy
Make sure to get brand name, the generic is not beaded, doesn’t work as well and is difficult to separate into capsules. Get an
Rx from the vet.
Atenolol, diltiazem, fluoxetine, B12 – Target
Flagyl – Walmart – they cut much easier than Target’s
Benazepril – Publix. The yellow triangles sold by other places disintegrate when you cut them.
Ethex or Amneal are manufacturers of benazepril that make pills easy to cut if you have to find them elsewhere.
Adequan – Drsfostersmith.com. They will fax the Cat Hospital for Rx, just fill out info
Lysine – Finest Naturals from Walgreens is small enough to pill without cutting.
Standard Process Feline Immune Support and the tea pills get from the acupuncture vet office.
Can also get the Immune Support on Amazon, and tea pills from Chineseherbsdirect.com
Pill Pockets are widely available, Petsmart usually has the best price locally, but I usually buy the salmon and chicken online from
entirelypets.com. or discountpetdrugs.com. They email out coupons frequently. You can get duck and pea at Petsmart, not
carried by entirelypets.
Feliway diffuser refills – Entirelypets.com. Usually order them when I get Pill Pockets, buying enough to get free shipping which is
always $85, but often there is a coupon for $25 free shipping at entirelypets.
Litter –Petsmart. Precious Cat and Cat Attract are made by the same company.
Food :
Natural Balance cans are available at PetSupermarket and Petco. Can also be obtained from PetFoodDirect.com.
BFF, Before Grain –Pookies or online
Kitty Kaviar – Everyone’s favorite treat - Petco and probably other stores. I buy shaved bonito at the Asian store, it’s the same
thing for a lot less.
What to do if:
Fleas: Revolution is in fridge deli drawer. 0.75 ml for cats less than 15#, 1.0 for cats over, i.e. Buddy and Snickers.
Trini’s or Buddy’s eye looks red, squinty and possibly pus is draining: Use idoxuridine in fridge even though it’s expired, initially
start at QID, taper to TID after a few days then slowly taper by decreasing by one drop every week. Also use chloramphenicol
ointment BID and taper. Make appointment with Dr. E for Bud-Bud if he flares, Trini can probably be handled by Cat Hospital –
really just need a new scrip for idox for her. Try to get her to eat Lysine 250 – 500mg BID, you can put it in some Fancy Feast for
her and she will usually eat it. Free powder in my vanity, there’s also caps in kitten bathroom.
If I forgot something or you need something new, many links are on my document “Resources for feline forum”.
Also review Vacation cat care guide, it is an abridged version but updated more frequently.
Disability & Estate Planning For Your Pets' Care
By Barbara Aggarwal
August 19, 2010
What happens to your pets if you should die tomorrow? How about if you were temporarily or permanently disabled either
mentally or physically? If your animals are young and healthy with a simple care regimen and you have a spouse or friend who
has participated in their care, you probably don’t worry much about it. If you’re reading this article, odds are you have at least one
pet that has a medical problem requiring a special diet and/or medication. Even if your pets are healthy now, that can change
with time just like your health can, so you need to plan for the unexpected. Another angle involves you being able to continue to
enjoy your pets. If you are disabled physically and can’t provide their total care, wouldn't you still want the pleasure of being with
them? Similarly, if you develop a progressive illness like dementia, you will certainly want to have your beloved pets around as
you will still enjoy them and love them even if you can’t remember how to take care of them.
Most people worry about dying too young, but the reality is that more commonly people live too long and lose certain abilities.
Both these scenarios need to be planned for. I highly recommend buying and reading “All My Children Wear Fur Coats” by
Peggy R. Hoyt, JD, MBA, which goes into great detail about planning and is the reference used to write this article. Planning for
your disability or death is important so that decisions are made by you ahead of time, not by some third party. It is important to
plan for both your personal and your pets’ current and future care. Professional help by an attorney who is animal oriented and
understands the bond and importance your pets have with you is essential.
In planning for disability, you will need a durable financial power of attorney that allows a trusted person, i.e. spouse, relative, or
close friend, a CPA, bank, or licensed fiduciary to handle your finances and authorize payments. Your pets need to be included
in this POA, with specific information regarding where they will reside and instructions for their care. You also need a living trust
that provides the same information regarding you and your pets and gives your trustee decision making ability. The more detail
you have in the trust regarding your wishes, the easier it will be to have everything carried out without having to get court approval.
In planning for your death, you can use wills and trusts. You cannot directly leave your assets to your pets; instead you need to
designate a person to care for them, and provide that person funds. A trust allows you to put in great detail what that care should
involve and delineates how your money is to be used. If you are only using a will, you can designate who gets the pet(s) and how
much money you want them to receive, but that's it, from then on you have no control over what happens. A trust allows a lot more
control and planning, and there are different ways to set them up and have them administered. Very important is that you ASK
the person you want to be the caregiver if they are willing to do it and obtain their consent. You should also have a back-up
caregiver in case at the time of your death the person you designated is unable or unwilling to do it. Additionally, always have an
alternate trustee, who is in charge of carrying out your wishes as to the distribution of your assets detailed in the trust. Money
designated for animal care may be distributed in different ways to the caregiver. It can be given as a fixed sum annually,
calculated based on the pets’ life expectancies and current annual expenses. It can also be a percentage of your estate, but that
risks it ending up being insufficient. Another option is to have your caregiver submit bills for reimbursement. Or you can have all
your money designated for pet care as delineated in your instructions, and what is left after all the pets have died then is
distributed to heirs and charity however you choose. You can also specify an additional sum of money to be paid at intervals to
the caregiver as thanks for their efforts.
To help your prospective caregiver make decisions, you can name a group including your vet along with friends and/or family
who you feel would understand what decisions you would make to help in difficult times, such as deciding if it’s time for
euthanasia or if an expensive or risky treatment should be embarked upon. You should also have instructions on what to do when
the pet dies such as cremation or burial if that is important to you. It is essential to meet with the attorney every so often to update
your documents as situations change.
This is only a brief summary of this complicated, but important process. The first step everyone should take, and it costs nothing,
is to make up and have available at all times a comprehensive care plan. My husband has almost no idea what I do in caring for
our 7 cats, several with medical problems, but knows to go in the computer and print out the cat care guide document with his
name on it in the event something happens to me. I also have two back-up caregivers that are regularly emailed copies as it is
updated, which is very important to keep up with. I made this document using my vacation cat care guide used for kitty sitters as
a starter. That has a summary of each cat, including medical problems, personality, hide-outs, and hang-outs, along with a
simplified version of the medication and daily care regimen suitable for when we travel. It details the easiest way to get
medications in; some are pilled directly, one uses one flavor of pill pockets, another uses a different flavor. It also has contacts
and all vets seen by everyone and my preferences for where to go for emergency care. From there, for my husband or other pet
caregiver, I went into more detail on the daily regimen, and have specifics about where I obtain their medications and supplies.
There’s often a lot more to what you do everyday than you would think. For example, I get medications from various pharmacies
– price can vary as can the ease of scoring into kitty-sized doses depending on the manufacturer carried, and one I get from
Canada. Likewise, different brands of food or litter are only carried by certain stores, or one may be much less expensive than
the other. It’s all in the care guide, and this gets included in the trust plan made up for your estate.
Below is a sample care and planning guide. Notice how detailed I am with each cat's behaviors as well as every little thing I can
think of, so anyone different caring for them will know what to expect:
Cat identifier, medical problems, and personality list:
1. Chirpy – has inflammatory bowel disease. Has obsessive compulsive tendencies – she is the one who opens the china
cabinet door. Urine marks. On budesonide (Entocort EC) 1.2 mg (use 2 Entocorts to make 5 capsules)/ Prozac 2.5mg
combined and flagyl 62.5mg qd. B12- 0.25 cc sq every 3 weeks. Adequan – 0.18 cc sq every 3 weeks. Shy, but braver at night.
Favorite toy is the tennis ball in the Publix bag in the foyer. If she is hiding, she will be under our bed. Hangs out on the back
porch a lot, especially at night. Also hangs near cat tree and in our bathroom.
2. Buddy – Herpes ulcer L, had keratectomy/graft. Excess liver heat and deficiency of yin. On Lysine 500mg BID, Feline
Immune Support BID, and Ming Mu Di Huang tea pills 0-2 BID depending on the season. Stops them in winter, up to 2 BID
during the hottest time of year. Rarely taking now, only use if panting and conjunctiva is staying red. Gets acupuncture by Dr. F.
3. Trini – Scar from old herpetic ulcer right eye – flare-up Nov, 09. Almost never hides. Likes hanging out on back porch or
bedroom.
4. Snickers - On atenolol 6.25mg qd for ASH (asymmetric septal hypertrophy). Hangs in bedroom, rarely hides, if so under the
bed.
5. Opie – Has rare asthma attacks consisting of a few minutes of coughing, is on no treatment. Hides under living room loveseat.
6. Octavio – Loves to play with puff balls, and the feather duster toy. Loves Kitty Kaviar. Hides under bed, sleeps there most of
the day.
7. Maggie – ASH on diltiazem 7.5mg BID, benazepril 5mg ½ tab qAM, ¼ qPM, and pepcid ac 2.5mg qPM, and IRIS stage 2
renal insufficiency. B12 0.25 cc sq on the first of the month. Likes best to be scratched on her head and by her tail, but may take
a swipe at you after a bit. Loves to be petted when eating, sometimes requires it. Recent? Pancreatitis, if flares (not eating even
treats, laying like a loaf, abdominal pain) try 75ml subq lactated ringers and 0.13ml Buprenex on lower gum line (not the .15 on
bottle – wigs her out too much. Warm LR before giving to make it easier – preheat oven for about a minute, turn off, put bag in for
about 10 minutes. Litter boxes – 6– master bath linen closet, master bathroom, laundry room, powder bath, and 2 on back porch
by deck box. Scoop twice a day. Boxes in bathrooms use Cat Attract, laundry and porch use Precious Cat – spreads out the
usage.
Water bowl – Corner in breakfast nook and pitcher in master shower.
Food – Plates/bowl on the island
Wet: Using Nat. Balance (NB) flavors are Salmon, Indoor Cat, Ultra, and Chicken liver pate – I’ve tried all the others, these are
the ones they’ll eat. Also, BFF. For me they eat about 3 cans per day. Rotate flavors in order to maintain variety. You can see
what they’ve been eating by looking at the stacks of cans in the cupboard. They’ll eat cold food from the fridge. I put a spoonful of
food on the island and a lot of food on the floor, usually ends up being at least ¾ can going on floor plate.
Dry food – Before Grain chicken. Bowl stays on the island, extra food is in small pantry in container. Make sure chairs at kitchen
table and desk are pushed in so Snickers doesn’t use them for a launch pad to the dry food. Let bowl get very low before filling.
Maggie: Likes to eat food in the corner by the mixer. Keep dry in right side of timed feeder for her to eat.
Medication regimen:
Maggie: In AM: diltiazem in ½ salmon or chicken pill pocket and Benazepril ½ tab in ½ pill pocket. PM Diltiazem and benazepril
¼ tab in ½ pill pocket, Pepcid ac in ½ pill pocket. Just set it in front of her and she will eat it. Sometimes she will stare at it for a
moment before eating, just make sure someone else. If she is staring, you can scratch her back by her tail for a few seconds and
that will often get her to eat it. Or pick it up and roll it in front of her again. If she won’t eat it, switch flavors, there are both chicken
and salmon flavors. She is also very easy to pill. If she won’t take it and won’t eat treats, this is a sign pancreatitis may be flaring.
Also if she loses weight, normally she is about 7# 12 oz.
Buddy: Pill him. He’s hard to catch but easy to pill, just keep walking after him and eventually he will roll over and you can grab
him. Or do something else for awhile and try later. Give him tea pill(s) if taking, 1 Feline Immune Support tablet and 500mg lysine
twice a day. If he starts having episodes of vomiting, stop the tea pills for at least a month, longer if the weather is cold, then start
back at 1 twice a day if his conjunctiva is looking red or he is panting when running around. Give him a couple pieces of dry after
the pills to make sure they go down.
Snickers: Atenolol in barely enough Duck and Pea pill pocket to cover in AM. Put it on the plate on island used for canned food
overnight. She will clean the plate, too.
Chirpy: Budesonide /prozac/flagyl combo cap (in Entocort EC bottle) once daily. I give it in the AM, you may find it easier to give
in the evening. Put plate of canned food in front of her afterwards to make sure pill goes down.
QUICK REFERENCE:
Med regimen by cat:
Chirpy – Entocort EC /prozac/ flagyl capsule once daily. B12 0.25cc sq every 3 weeks, Adequan 0.18cc sq every 3 weeks.
Check my calendar, it’s on same day that L’s dog Ginger gets her shot.
Buddy – Feline Immune Support tab BID, Lysine 500mg BID. Ming Mu Di Huang 0-2 BID.
Maggie – diltiazem in ½ salmon or chicken pill pocket BID, Pepcid ac in ½ pill pocket in the evening, Benazepril ½ tab in AM, ¼
tab in PM sharing the half pill pocket with the diltiazem. B12 0.25 cc 1st day of each month
Snickers – atenolol in Duck and Pea pill pocket qAM,
Care regimen by time of day:
AM
Diltiazem and benazepril ½ tab sharing ½ salmon or chicken pill pocket for Maggie. Atenolol in just enough duck and pea pill
pocket to cover it (about a ¼ pocket), put on plate left out on island overnight, and put in front of Snickers. ½-3/4 Can of food onto
a plate, put on floor, spoonful of food on plate on island. Give more wet food as they eat it up. Give Buddy tea pill(s) if using,
Feline Immune Support, 500 mg Lysine, then drop a few pieces of dry in front of him to make sure pills go down. Clean and refill
water bowl, scoop litter boxes, refill dry food as needed.
Evening
Benazepril ¼ and diltiazem in half a salmon and chicken pill pocket for Maggie, pepcid ac in other half pocket. Entocort
EC/flagyl/prozac cap for Chirpy, immediately put plate of wet food or couple pieces of dry in front of her to make sure it doesn’t
stick in her esophagus. Give Buddy Feline Immune Support, Lysine, and tea pill(s) followed by a few pieces of dry. Scoop litter
boxes, continue to give wet food as needed, most on floor, little spoonful on island.
Vets-
Cat Hospital – ph#xxxxxxx - Prefer Dr. A especially for the annual exams. Either her or Dr. B fine for acute illness. Dr. C does
surgeries/dentals. Often fill-in vet on Saturdays, so try to go on the weekdays. Alternative: Dr. D, ph#xxxxxxx.
Buddy also sees Dr. F at. Acupuncture/Complementary vet – ph#xxxxxxx
Ophthalmologist – Dr. E ph#xxxxxxx
Emergency vet – Prefer Animal Emergency ph# xxxxxxx
www. website, all medical records are in filing cabinet in spare bedroom closet.
How to make Tater’s budesonide combo caps:
www.Ibdkitties.net, click on medications, click on budesonide, or http://ibdkitties.net/Budesonide.html. I put the budesonide in the
capsules first, followed by the prozac, then flagyl which you can cut in half if too tight. The tip of a steak knife is very handy for
manipulating tiny pill pieces into place in the pill cutter. The wood cap holder and pan are on top of fridge, everything else is on
second shelf corner cabinet in a pie plate.
Injection info:
Everything you need is in left middle vanity drawer. Extra box syringes is in bottom right. After drawing up the shot, warm it by
putting it in your pocket, armpit, or waistband, helps a lot with comfort.
For Tater, distract her with margarine on a knife or Kitty Kaviar and when she is engrossed with eating it give her the shot.
For Maggie, distract with Kitty Kaviar or when she is eating food out of the little container. It doesn’t work to sneak up on them
while they’re sleeping and do it, trust me.
Where to get supplies:
Meds:
There is a big stash of meds in 2nd drawer of my vanity, also some in kitten room and green bathroom, also in deli drawer in
fridge. These are things you don’t need for everyday.
Entocort EC (Budesonide) Canadadrugs.com. Tater’s order number is: yyyyy
Make sure to get brand name, the generic is not beaded, doesn’t work as well and is difficult to separate into capsules. Get an
Rx from the vet.
Atenolol, diltiazem, fluoxetine, B12 – Target
Flagyl – Walmart – they cut much easier than Target’s
Benazepril – Publix. The yellow triangles sold by other places disintegrate when you cut them.
Ethex or Amneal are manufacturers of benazepril that make pills easy to cut if you have to find them elsewhere.
Adequan – Drsfostersmith.com. They will fax the Cat Hospital for Rx, just fill out info
Lysine – Finest Naturals from Walgreens is small enough to pill without cutting.
Standard Process Feline Immune Support and the tea pills get from the acupuncture vet office.
Can also get the Immune Support on Amazon, and tea pills from Chineseherbsdirect.com
Pill Pockets are widely available, Petsmart usually has the best price locally, but I usually buy the salmon and chicken online from
entirelypets.com. or discountpetdrugs.com. They email out coupons frequently. You can get duck and pea at Petsmart, not
carried by entirelypets.
Feliway diffuser refills – Entirelypets.com. Usually order them when I get Pill Pockets, buying enough to get free shipping which is
always $85, but often there is a coupon for $25 free shipping at entirelypets.
Litter –Petsmart. Precious Cat and Cat Attract are made by the same company.
Food :
Natural Balance cans are available at PetSupermarket and Petco. Can also be obtained from PetFoodDirect.com.
BFF, Before Grain –Pookies or online
Kitty Kaviar – Everyone’s favorite treat - Petco and probably other stores. I buy shaved bonito at the Asian store, it’s the same
thing for a lot less.
What to do if:
Fleas: Revolution is in fridge deli drawer. 0.75 ml for cats less than 15#, 1.0 for cats over, i.e. Buddy and Snickers.
Trini’s or Buddy’s eye looks red, squinty and possibly pus is draining: Use idoxuridine in fridge even though it’s expired, initially
start at QID, taper to TID after a few days then slowly taper by decreasing by one drop every week. Also use chloramphenicol
ointment BID and taper. Make appointment with Dr. E for Bud-Bud if he flares, Trini can probably be handled by Cat Hospital –
really just need a new scrip for idox for her. Try to get her to eat Lysine 250 – 500mg BID, you can put it in some Fancy Feast for
her and she will usually eat it. Free powder in my vanity, there’s also caps in kitten bathroom.
If I forgot something or you need something new, many links are on my document “Resources for feline forum”.
Also review Vacation cat care guide, it is an abridged version but updated more frequently.
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