Help me take 4 cats to the vet

July 3, 2017 11:43 AM

I have 4 cats (pics inside!). Help me take to them to the vet (1) with a little stress as possible (1a) for the cats and (1b) for me, and (2) as efficiently as possible. Last time, I tried to take them in pairs on the same day (2 in the morning, 2 in the afternoon) and it did not go well...

My 4 cats: B (female), G (male) and Z (female), and M (female), occasionally need to go to the vet for checkups. G and Z are 2 year old litter mates and get along with each other really well. B is our newest and we estimate she is 5 years old. She gets along reasonably well with the others. M is about 9 years old and kind of grumpy, she will sometimes groom Z but only tolerates the others. She wears a Feliway collar, which I change each month when I give everyone their flea treatments.

A couple of months ago was the first time we had all 4 and they needed to go the vet for checkups. I had the day off work, and took B and G in the morning. It went okay, but soon after I got them back in the car G peed in the carrier. I cleaned it when we got home and let everyone chill for a few hours before the next round.

M was annoyed from the start (she and G are the biggest, so she used the same carrier). By the time we got to the exam room she was near kitty melt down. The vet decided M should go first, but she bit me and drew blood (I'm fine), and we had to cut her exam short. Z was so scared by this point, but the vet was able to do a full exam of her. I took M straight to the guest room to chill by herself when we got home, and a couple hours later she was ready to come out. Everything is fine with the cats now.

Obviously, I made several mistakes here, but I still want to know if its even possible to take them in 2 trips next time. The changes I know I'll make are (1) We now have 3 carriers, so even if 1 is peed in, I can sub in another, and (2) The vet gave us gabapenten and recommended both G and M take it an hour before the next exam to keep them calm.

Are there other things people in multi-cat households have found to work? I don't think different cat pairings would help, but I've thought of spraying a blanket with Feliway for M's carrier. I'd rather not take M solo, because that will necessitate 3 trips (2 solo trips, and 1 pair), but I also don't want to put M through that again. Help me, MetaFilter!

posted by Is It Over Yet? to Pets & Animals (17 answers total)

Are there any vets in your area who will do house calls? It would cost more, but given that you've got four, it might not even be much more on a per cat basis.
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 11:52 AM on July 3, 2017 [10 favorites]

Cats don't like going to the vet. I don't think you did anything wrong. They just hate it. I took my three about a month ago, all at the same time in separate carriers, and one cat was fine, one was violent, and the third hid for hours afterwards. I think the Feliway is a great idea and the spray kind works super well on 2 of my 3, but even that did not prevent them from having tiny feline meltdowns when they got back to the house. I think that if I were you, I'd get a fourth carrier and a friend who will help you take all of them at the same time, and then allow them separate chill spaces once they come back to the house. I'd also stay home with them afterwards if you can for the rest of the day, so you can provide comfort. That reduces the stress on you because you can make one trip, and gives them plenty of time to recover afterwards.
posted by possibilityleft at 11:53 AM on July 3, 2017 [2 favorites]

Could you take G, B, and Z all at once (using your three carriers) and then take M separately, perhaps even on a different day?

Is there anyone who can help you with cat wrangling on vet day? That way helper could sit in the waiting room with the two who are not on deck while you go in one at a time with each cat.

Alternatively, in my area there are several vets who do home visits. Is this an option for you? It might even end up being cost effective if it saves you multiple trips / time off work.
posted by charmcityblues at 11:53 AM on July 3, 2017 [2 favorites]

I have a cat who pees in his carrier and I use puppy pads. They soak up the pee and it doesn't leave a smell. I have also read that cats like to be in pillowcases on a lap when they are on car rides. I haven't tried it but it may be worth checking in to.
posted by chocolatetiara at 12:01 PM on July 3, 2017 [1 favorite]

Your kitties are very cute! I tried bringing two cats to the vet at once with my current pair, and it was much more stressful for everyone than if I'd taken them separately, so that's the new plan (which is working out better already). Not sure what I'd do with four, other than stagger their visits a LOT.

Also? Mad props to you for your ability to get two cats into carriers at the same time. Mine flee the minute one is trapped and howling.
posted by clone boulevard at 12:06 PM on July 3, 2017 [3 favorites]

Back in the day when I had a lot of cats and vets didn't make house calls, I took one in each quarter. Taking more than one at a time, when it was just me, wasn't worth the angst.

I would probably investigate the mobile vet option, if I had cats today.
posted by Lyn Never at 12:10 PM on July 3, 2017 [6 favorites]

Do you have a cat-only vet practice you could use? I've found them so much less stressful for my cats. For the two I've used, they have both allowed the cats to roam around the "room", and everybody (cats, myself) was so much more relaxed. The rooms were typically very cat friendly, with feliway diffusers and places to hide as well as all the exam-room stuff.

I only have three cats, but when I can I take all three at the same time. It makes life back at home so much easier when they all smell the same, and hence don't get all agitated at the new-smelling cat(s). Otherwise, I have 2-3 days of pissed off cats, so it's worth the hassle of taking in multiple cats.

I also have this pet roller backpack. It can fit two cats easily, 3 in case of emergency (but its a tight fit). I love it, and always get comments and questions from people. (I currently use this for 2 cats, and a traditional carrier for the third cat). It's so handy to wheel the cats instead of carrying them! If I had 4 cats, I'd probably get a second backpack, and then transports cats in/out 2 at a time in one of these.
posted by cgg at 12:10 PM on July 3, 2017

I can't imagine trying to take all four cats at once, despite us having four cat carriers. I personally have found it least stressful for myself to take the cats to the vet in pairs on different days. Ideally the days are closely spaced so there's a burst of vet-smell in the house that slowly gets extinguished. If I'm willing to book a few weeks out, getting two days in a how hasn't been a problem.

Naturally for the cats I pair them to minimize bad interations. Cat 2 generally gets along with everyone, Cat 1 and Cat 4 both dislike each other, and cat 1 is more likely to dislike cat 3 than cat 4 is on any day, so cat 3 and 4 go as a pair, and cat 1 and 2 go as a pair. As 1 and 2 are the original cats, I take them first. Perhaps I should switch it up, cat 3 tends to be worked up by the next day and I've been peed on during the loading into the cat carrier process more times than I like.
posted by nobeagle at 12:11 PM on July 3, 2017

Can you take them on two separate days and only take two half-days off work (assuming that's the thing keeping you from just taking one at a time generally)?
posted by Etrigan at 12:12 PM on July 3, 2017

I have a stroller-style carrier for my 2 cats and I love it. So much easier than wrangling two carriers. Stairs are the only issue, but streets are easy and smooth.
posted by Pallas Athena at 12:14 PM on July 3, 2017 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Thanks for the suggestions, everyone! I've been feeling bad about how it went, so I especially appreciate the reassurances!

I don't want to thread-sit, so just to quickly answer some questions: I really like our vet (its a multi-vet practice, and they were very helpful caring for our previous cat the last few years of her life) and would like to keep going there. I've been thinking we need a 4th carrier just in case, and I really like the backpack carrier idea. I also don't mind taking the day off work, it's a nice excuse to spend a day talking about my cats!
posted by Is It Over Yet? at 12:31 PM on July 3, 2017 [1 favorite]

I used to work in veterinary medicine, and my wife has been a vet tech for 20 years, so I can pretty confidently tell you you have done nothing wrong, and this sounds like a pretty reasonable vet visit for four cats, with the exception of you getting bit. You should probably not be handling - and certainly not restraining - your cats during their exam. For liability reasons, your vet should actually insist on this, though I know that very few of them do.

The only changes I would make are: 1) You should have enough carriers on hand to evacuate your home with all of your pets, if you need to. If they can share carriers, great, if not, you need one for each. 2) Consider spacing their visits out throughout the year so y'all aren't all slammed with the stress in one day. 3) Call your vet before your appointment and ask for the following: a) Have them book your appointment(s) such that your cats can be examined in a room that has not been used by dogs that same day. Many vets now keep cat-only exam rooms for this purpose. b) Ask that, when you arrive, you be allowed to bring your cats directly into the exam room, and not wait in the waiting room. Again, this is becoming standard practice in some places. and 4) Allow the vet and their technician to do all the handling of your cat during the exam.

Great job with your cute cute kitties.
posted by Rock Steady at 12:49 PM on July 3, 2017 [3 favorites]

I've read here that one cat will get upset if another goes to the vet and brings home new smells. It takes a while for the cats to get comfortable with each other again. This could be making things harder. I would either have 4 carriers and a dolly and get it over with as quickly as possible, take each one each quarter as suggested above, or look for a vet that makes house calls.
posted by Vaike at 2:56 PM on July 3, 2017 [3 favorites]

I stagger my visits in groups of two. You don't need the stress of a second vet trip on the same day. And your cats don't need the stress of two rounds of weirdness in the same day.
posted by wotsac at 2:58 PM on July 3, 2017 [1 favorite]

Puppy pads or tidy cat breeze liners for pee cat. You need at least 1 carrier per cat. Can you get a cart or something with wheels to load 4 carriers onto?
I think taking 4 in one trip will be only marginally worse than 2. I would want to take them at the same time in part because then they'll all have been out and have the vet smells. When we can we have started taking both cats to the vet regardless of who has the appointment because when just 1 went and came back smelling different it caused major fighting. Also see if your vet has any recommendations.
posted by oneear at 11:02 PM on July 3, 2017

My cat likes a bag more than a carrier. I put him in a pillowcase, tie the end shut with a rubber band, and put that into a second pillowcase tied shut with a different rubber band (so if the cat gets out of one bag, he's still trapped in the second).

If I'm a passenger, I keep him cuddled against me on my lap. If I'm driving, I put the pillowcase down in the foot well of the passenger side (on the floor so he can't fall off the seat).

Make sure never to place the bag on any high surface- even a chair or bed- as the cat is blind in it and will fall off the edge and could land badly. Always hold it or put it on the floor.

I wouldn't say my cat LIKES being bagged, but he definitely prefers it to being boxed. He hates the box, won't go anywhere near it, and basically screams when he's in it. He'll willingly enter the bag and only meows occasionally when he's in it.
posted by pseudostrabismus at 12:43 AM on July 4, 2017

We have three cats; but the two humans probably helps the most.

But these are some of our tricks:

1)the carriers come out a week before the appointment, and stay open. This let's them have sniff time, investigate time, and such so going inside is not so traumatic .

2)The pair gets to go together. They actually have a medium dog crate with a little more space.

The other one has a cloth cat carrier he tolerates. The order matters he has to go first or he will ultimately wegde himself in a place where I will spend time rearranging furniture and tempting with cat food, and he will just give me a 'do you think I'm stupid look? '

3) Don't be afraid to ask your vet for help with easy favors. Can I drop off my four carriers inside the door and then park my car?
Or If a cat pees on the way there, ask to wipe it down there and for a replacement towel (many offices have tons of old towels exactly for this purpose).
posted by AlexiaSky at 8:40 AM on July 4, 2017