After a recent veterinarian appointment for my cat, Skittles, I discovered that she needed dental surgery. In addition to worrying about the large bill, I also worried about the aftercare that she would need. Even though I am a pet owner to two wonderful cats, I do not claim to know everything about giving medication to cats. I picked Skittles up at 7pm after her long day of surgery and I awaited the news. I discovered that I needed to give her two liquid medications, twice a day for a week. The veterinarian technician provided me with the prescriptions and the medicine droppers in a large bag and gave me an overview of where to apply the medicine. It all sounded too easy, “just apply the liquid pain killers and antibiotics directly to her gums,” she informed me. I left the clinic unsure and not confident in the least with my ability to provide medical care to my 10 year old cat.
Consulting a veterinarian or a veterinarian technician is the preferred first step to deal with this dilemma. This was not an option because I received my five minutes of training and veterinary advice and now it was my responsibility. “This will be no problem at all,” I said to myself. Skittles will understand that I am there to help her and she will graciously open her mouth and allow me to apply the pain killers and give her the antibiotic. I needed reassurance from trusted resources. Although I am not a trained veterinarian, I will be a trained information specialist and I can handle this! I decided to consult the internet first.
I conducted a Google search using the following queries:
- How to give a cat liquid medicine
- Giving medication to a cat
- After care for cat dental surgery
My search queries resulted in a plethora of informational resources. In addition to step by step print guidelines, the search also displayed video demonstrations of veterinarians giving liquid medications. I was thrilled with the combination of results. In Everything is Miscellaneous (2007), Weinberger states, “If only there were a way to arrange the stuff in stores so that every possible interest could be captured. When we know what we want, we’d find it immediately”. I understood the meaning of this quote much deeper after conducting my online search for this assignment. Since I learn in different modalities, I appreciated the multitude of videos and print resources.
I expected some of the resulting information resources while others were a pleasant surprise. I expected to see about.com, wikihow.com, and ehow.com in my results and I was not mistaken. I used these sites to provide me with basic medical information and resources. There was not enough sufficient information on these sites to satisfy my need to care for my ailing cat. Both Cornell and Washington State University’s veterinary departments offered sites explaining how to provide cats with oral medication. These sites contained the most useful and trusted information and included several videos and pictures of the step by step procedures. I spent the duration of my time with these sites. Veterinarypartner.com and petplace.com offered great resources as well, but I felt more comfortable receiving my information from the educational resources that I consulted. The URLs are listed below:
http://cats.about.com/b/2009/06/27/video-how-to-give-a-cat-liquid-medicine.htm
http://www.wikihow.com/Give-a-Cat-Medicine
http://www.ehow.com/tips_14829.html
http://partnersah.vet.cornell.edu/pet/fhc/liquid_medications
http://www.petplace.com/cats/how-to-give-liquid-medication-to-your-cat/page1.aspx
http://www.vetmed.wsu.edu/cliented/cat_meds.aspx
http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&A=120
I did want to continue my research in this subject to include more than internet resources. I trust the reliability of the sites that I consulted but I wanted to pair them with print resources to check accuracy.
Before consulting my local public library, I remembered that I had an excellent cat reference material at home. Therefore, The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Cats, Cat Breeds & Cat Care was my next source of information for my question. I quickly found two pages of information regarding how to administer liquid medication to a cat. Much of the information provided, duplicated and reaffirmed the information from my internet search. The book suggested holding the cat from the back of the neck, and while tilting the head backwards, to slowly squeeze the liquid medication into the side of the cat’s mouth. It cautioned the careful method of applying the medicine so that the medicine does not enter the cat’s lungs. If medicine is inhaled into the lungs, the cat is at risk of developing pneumonia. This resource reassured my preparedness to provide my cat with excellent home care.
I next consulted my local online public library catalog using the search term “cat care”. My search resulted in 109 results. The first several caught my attention and appeared to be trusted sources:
Cat Care Essentials by Francesca Riccomini
101 Essential Tips: Caring for Your Cat by Andrew Edney and David Taylor
The Humane Society of the United States Complete Guide to Cat Care by Wendy Christensen
K.I.S.S. Guide to Cat Care by Steve Duno with a forward by Christopher Walken
Complete Illustrated Guide to Cat Care by Bruce Fogle
The books all included sections on safely administering oral medication to cats. It was easy to access these materials because many of the titles were at multiple branches of the Cuyahoga County Public Library. These print resources were all valid and trustworthy. The Humane Society of the United States is one of the most well respected resources in animal care. The other titles were all written by current or former veterinarians, or included veterinarian consultations in their research.
After my quick initial tutorial from the veterinary technician, my internet research, and my exploration of several print resources from my local library and my bookshelf, I feel confident to administer medications to my recovering pet. She is counting on me to be her personal veterinarian for the next several days and I will not let her down. I have successfully completed my informational need through a variety of well trusted sources and materials. Overall, the combination of the information strengthens my knowledge. I viewed video tutorials that I received through my internet resources and I read detailed descriptions from my print resource examination.
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