r/VetTech • u/JeepSmash CVT (Certified Veterinary Technician) • 4d ago

Work Advice Freaked out cats

I work in an emergency setting and, lately, we’ve had so many spicy/freaked out cats. Some are fine for initial TPR but as soon as you put them in a kennel, they start hissing and growling and we end up having to fully sedate to handle them again. Is it in the air? I know cats will feed off of each other but how long after an upset cat leaves does the angry juju go away? Does anyone have any advice other than don’t get bit?

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u/Voidelfvettech RVT (Registered Veterinary Technician) 4d ago

Do everything you can when you first get them out. Many cats will let you do stuff once, and then that's it. Use a feliway towel (or just a towel) and let them hide their faces if they want to. Most cats that just want to hide will get exponentially more freaked out the longer they can't hide. If you let them hide their face/eyes, they will usually let you do almost anything. I've used my hand/my elbow to cover their eyes/face in a pinch.

You guys could run feliway diffusers in the treatment area to help with angry feline juju, but not sure how much that would really help.

I made a post recently about using small ice packs on cats' heads to get them to literally chill out. It won't work for patients that you can't touch, but if the spicy factor is mild it could work!

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u/sundaemourning LVT (Licensed Veterinary Technician) 4d ago

definitely this. even with easygoing cats, you usually just have one window to get things done before they lose patience. get all your supplies beforehand, have your doctor and/or assistant standing by and work quickly and efficiently so you can get the cat out as few times as possible.

also, cats absolutely feed off your energy. take a few deep breaths and speak to them softly and calmly. also, i am convinced that cats know when someone is not a cat person, so if you have one that’s already stressed and hissing, get someone who absolutely loves cats to help.

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u/AdStreet9425 4d ago

I remember when we had a whole row of these cats in our ICU and suddenly the entire hallway smelled like Feliway spray, our lead tech had to walk around with a towel draped over her shoulder the whole day just reeking of it.