DO NOT EVER GIVE A CAT ASPRIN UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES! IT IS LETHAL TO CATS!

 

You're not the only one. My tally right now:

Vierna--tiny, hyper shorthaired cat, all black except a white patch under her chin
Maya--Huge, lazy, massively-furry Maine Coon Cat, currently on my lap & thinks she's a dog
Marmaduke--Enormous St. Bernard mix that sleeps 14 hours a day

Vierna & Marm play all the time. Maya ignores the dog (and Vierna) completely.

Cats are very adaptable--my friend has a Siamese that is about 24 years old. Prince is completely blind & has been for about 6 years. It hasn't slowed him down in the slightest. he still turns switches on and off, opens the storm door, and sleeps next to the heater all winter.

 

I trust my vet implicitly. But you are correct in saying that larger doses of aspirin is lethal. Adult doses are usually 250 to 500 mg per capsule or tablet. A baby aspirin varies, but is around 84 Mg per tablet.

When my Siamese broke her front leg, I took her to one vet to get her x-rayed to see if anything could be done. He wanted to put her out to take a "good" x-ray, but I explained that would be pretty hard on her, because of her age. Then he just wanted to put her to sleep, out of her misery....she's old..blah blah.... I took my cat and left and never went back.

I then contacted the vet I have been using for a number of years now. He told me to bring her in... and saw no reason to put her under anesthetic just to take an x-ray. He got an excellent picture and unfortunately there wasn't much he could do without chancing major surgery on her arm. He is the one who told me to give her a 1/4 to 1/2 baby aspirin once or twice with at least a 12 hour lapse in between. I did so for a couple days, but she didn't appear to be in too much pain..she slept a lot anyway, so that therapy didn't last long with her.

In any case..different vets have different theories on the subject of aspirin treatment in animals, but I've also given aspirin to my dog, who had ear surgery a half of a children's aspirin for a few days and she is fine. I love my animals as if they were my children and I would never do anything to harm one of them.

 

Dogs do well with aspirin. Kitties lack a liver enzyme to get rid of it. Vets certainly know a hell of a lot more on the subject than most people. A little off track here, do you know how hard it is to get into vet school? Pretty much anything a vet says to me has to have some intelligence behind it. MD's? ... a grain of salt.

 

Just see if you can coax the cat into coming out. Try putting a canned wet food out from where they're at. Each time, set it further and further away, until you can earn it's trust. Just be careful, whatever you do.

You can call your local animal control, ask for a trap to catch it. Then, decide what to do next.

Kenny, I live near UC Davis in California. It's the top vet school in America. I once had my head set on being a vet. I think you need 7 years of college for it. I think it takes a 3.5 or 4.0 score to get in there. If a vet cannot track down an illness, they send the reports or the animal to U.C. Davis to figure out.

 

Yeah, my point exactly. I humbly think that acheiving a doctorate in vet medicine puts one on an intellectual pedestal I can only gape at. Awesome folks, and not in it for the $$$$.

 

Teeder, decide on your course of action yet? Please keep us (at least me ) updated on your success or failure, as the case may be. Always good to hear about another kitten saved from misery.

 

If you decide to put him down, DO NOT use .22 shot. You will accomplish nothing more than blinding him or adding more pain. It will probably run off and die in misery days later. Cats are tough and even a .22 solid must be placed well. If your Mom's attached to them maybe you should try to save it.. It may seem expensive but animals understand kindness and it may turn into a good tame pet ..

 

To draw it out to catch, I suggest canned tuna (in water--oil can make a cat sick).