Quote Originally Posted by elizabethann
Wow! You are very dedicated to your kitties and must love them very much to give them all that care & attention. There's a spot in heaven just for you! What did you do when you went on vacation? Did you get a pet sitter to administer the fluids?
That made me laugh, a little wryly I must admit. The only place I vacation is at home so there is never a problem with keeping up with therapies.

I had a very hard time with Simka at first and ended up taking her to the vet every evening so I could use their table and their "atmosphere" to quiet her down to the point where I could give her fluids. They know me well so let me do this free of charge. She bucked, reared, rolled, thrashed, and the needle came out lots of times. Eventually, she got used to it and I was able to do them at home and then the other two needed treatment and I was experienced enough to control them.

Like you plan to do, I used the bedroom with the door closed and hung the bag by the closet, but I put in a nail so I could hang the bag higher. You want to be able to see the marks on the bag so don't want it too high, but you want it high enough for the fluids to run in as fast as possible. Since it's only going under the skin, it doesn't matter how fast the fluids run in. Some techs will squeeze the bag to make it go fast but I found that impossible alone since I was holding the cat with one hand and adjusting the needle or valve with the other.

If the fluids don't run well, it's often because the slanted open part of the needle is sitting against fat or skin so you have to turn the needle slightly. To hold the cat, and everyone does it differently, I knelt on the floor with the cat between my knees, and my ankles locked so they can't back out. I scruff and lift the skin high between the shoulder blades so it's in a U shape and slide the needle into the middle of the U. This is the trickiest part because it's the time when you are using both hands and the time when the cat is most likely to react. If Cosmo reacts extremely badly to the needle, you may have to use a narrower gauge - I did with my Artful Dodger. The problem with that is the fluids run a lot more slowly.

If I did get a sudden loss of control of the cat during the time I was giving fluids and the needle came out, I put on a new needle and started again if it was 50cc or less and gave up for the day if it was more. The reason for that is that it's hard to put a needle into a bulge of fluids.

I'm sure you will get lots more advice, and I'm sure I will learn more from others who have gone through this also - because I know it will come up for me again, and any advice is useful.