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June 18th, 2007

How I draw cartoons

cartoon helper

Evie sits on the desk and shows me where the lines should go. Unfortunately she is rather more interested in things like noises and creatures, so her attention is often divided as the picture shows.

This evening I had planned to some of the drawings you suggested earlier and also one or two e-mails, but I spent the evening attempting to feed tablets to cats instead.

Tomorrow I will be phoning the vets and explaining our problems.

Apologies for the things I have left undone (e-mails etc). See note above about tablets.

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24 Responses to “How I draw cartoons”


  1. Dave says:

    PS. I do not really draw with my left hand. That was just done for the camera.

    June 18th, 2007 at 11:51 pm
  2. Mary says:

    You need a pet piller – like a syringe that lets you get it so far back down their throats they can’t spit it out. Ask your vet. This simple invention changed our lives when one of the cats developed kidney trouble and now has to be pilled every day. It isn’t so much fun to describe or draw but it’s quicker and less bloody.

    June 19th, 2007 at 12:11 am
  3. Dave Rattigan says:

    You have a very hairy arm. Almost lupine.

    June 19th, 2007 at 12:49 am
  4. Anne says:

    Two veterinarian-tested methods for giving the cat a pill:

    1) Tablet buried in large gob of peanut butter.
    2) Hand tablet to spouse and say, “Here, Darling. Would you mind giving the cat the pill?”

    Hope the cat feels better soon!

    June 19th, 2007 at 2:53 am
  5. jody says:

    aawww what’s wrong with your cat?

    we have had to give our cat tabs, here are my various suggestions:

    1. ask for a ‘capsule’ instead, sprinkle the inside of the capsule into gravy and mix with catfood – do not get rid of catfood until it has been eaten, eventually cat will get hungry enough to eat it.

    2. you could do the above with crushed tablets I suppose.

    June 19th, 2007 at 9:37 am
  6. PeterD says:

    In some respects you are lucky: our cats love to sit on any piece of paper laid flat on the floor or table. It can make reading the paper difficult.

    June 19th, 2007 at 10:26 am
  7. Gregory Porilo says:

    Simplest way is to crush the tablet as finely as possible and mix it into a saucer of milk. Never fails for me.

    June 19th, 2007 at 10:32 am
  8. Sarah B says:

    Apparently you can roll the cat up in a towel, pop the pill in its mouth close the mouth and massage the throat which makes it swallow. ALLEGEDLY!!

    I have seen a vet do a weird Mesmer like thing of stroking the middle of the cat’s forehead until the cat would do almost anything the vet asked and then just pop the pill in, continue the stronking and the cat swallows… then again I have alsso seen vets with lots of scrtaches on their face and arms and a cat attached to the light-fitting so…

    All the best!

    June 19th, 2007 at 10:34 am
  9. Chris Clark says:

    Does this make it a catoon rather than a cartoon?

    June 19th, 2007 at 10:42 am
  10. Paul G says:

    Wrap cat in towel to avoid bloodshed. Insert fingers on either side of jaw to open mouth. Poke tablet as far as possible into mouth. Clamp mouth shut and hold shut until you observe it swallow. This can take much longer than seems possible. Don’t expect the cat ever to trust you again.

    Paul

    June 19th, 2007 at 10:49 am
  11. Dave says:

    Thanks for the suggestions. Some of them sound like what we have tried to do. Milk might be worth a try though. The vet recommended the pill-giving device, so we might have to try that.

    Unfortunately I fear Paul is right with ‘Don’t expect the cat ever to trust you again’. One problem is that we quite like having cats who do trust us – it is a lot less hassle for one thing.

    Another complication is that, without going into medical details, we can’t be exactly sure how many of the two cats have the problem. Therefore both have to get the treatment even though they probably don’t need it.

    June 19th, 2007 at 12:25 pm
  12. deeleea says:

    I’ve successfully applied the towel method mentioned by Sarah B. Wrap tightly, pop the pill right at the back of the throat, and stroke under chin to induce swallowing…

    Of course, it sounds easy on paper…

    June 19th, 2007 at 12:42 pm
  13. Poppy says:

    What worked for us when the cat was having antidepressents (long story, pills were cheaper than therapy) was to wrap up the pill in cheap pate. Cats fought for the pate and the trick was to feed the bit of pate with the crunchy centre to the manic cat last so that he was desperate to get at the treat that all the others were getting.

    June 19th, 2007 at 1:40 pm
  14. Miffy says:

    I go for the hand the pill to spouse or son method with our kidney challenged moggy. Didn’t know about the piller thingy. Will check it out with our vet.

    June 19th, 2007 at 4:01 pm
  15. SarahW says:

    I’m with Paul G on this one (hi Paul). Use your fingers to open the cat’s jaws and then tilt the head back as far as you can. Then the pill will go straight down the cats throat.
    I had a cat with Asthma (no he wasn’t allergic to me!) and had to give him a steroid tablet everyday. The vet gave him normal tablets which he (and I) hated – horrible taste. The pill feeding got easier when I started to give him my sugar coated steroids and we soon got into an early morning routine of him sitting patiently whilst I fed him the tablet before he got his breakfast. Not a towel or drop of blood in sight.

    June 19th, 2007 at 4:02 pm
  16. joe says:

    Might be worth checking with the vet before crushing. This increases the surface area of the pill, which in turn might change the speed of uptake of the drug.

    June 19th, 2007 at 4:27 pm
  17. ash says:

    feeding tablets to cats is harsh and normally ends in pain for both of you. Normally you more so.

    The only thing I’ve seen work is the old horse-tube technique….

    One person wraps cat in towel to avoid being cut to peices, and holds csat down, holding open its mouth. Other person has a tablet in a long straw/ tube. put tube in cat’s mouth and blow hard. Tablet should shoot down cat’s gullet.

    June 19th, 2007 at 5:16 pm
  18. Matt Wardman says:

    Callous suggestions:

    1 – Put tablet into mouse. Put mouse next to cat.
    2 – Forget about tablet. Feed cat to dog.
    3 – Get a pessary.

    Sorry.

    Matt

    June 19th, 2007 at 5:20 pm
  19. Brian says:

    I had to feed my fussy alpha cat some antibiotics once. We tried most of the techniques described (except the piller, which we didn’t know about). He would get so anxious about the pilling procedure after 3 days that he started foaming at the mouth, and nothing we could do would convince him not to throw the pill up on a corner sometime later.

    However I found some lovely little kitty treats that he likes, and the little pill would fold nicely into the treat. He ate them out of my hand and wasn’t any the wiser.

    We never had to resort to the piller, but I don’t think it would have helped. He’s convinced we’re trying to poison him or something.

    June 19th, 2007 at 6:11 pm
  20. Rick says:

    Marmite is the answer – they love it.

    June 19th, 2007 at 7:05 pm
  21. Sarah B says:

    Surely there must be some cats who HATE marmite as well…???

    June 20th, 2007 at 12:02 am
  22. hopeeternal says:

    When I was at work I used to have a visiting feline who ‘helped’ me with my work. The typewriter mechanic used to complain about the cat hair in my machine!

    A lady who homed strays (and provided us with a cat) recommended the ‘truss the cat up’ method of pill giving and it has worked for us over the years with various moggies. She used a pillowcase. She also recommended clamping the jaw shut and gentle throat massage until the cat swallowed. I like the idea of the piller though and the straw technique sounds as if it might be similar. A treat after the tablet is a good idea.

    Lots of cartoon ideas in these comments? Love your blog!

    June 20th, 2007 at 10:27 am
  23. Rachel says:

    Our cats like lying on my keyboard. Twice now they have managed to press a key combination which has resulted in the screen flipping through 180 degrees making everything upside down and queasy to read. An expensive phone call to India resulted to find out what to press to get the screen back upright again. My dad had the same trouble caused by an atlas and resorted to hanging his screen from the ceiling, which gave him extra desk space!

    Cat pills are given crushed in a teaspoonful of tinned tuna. They don’t eat tuna at any other time, but love the smell. Only one is allowed in to eat at a time so I know who has had what.

    June 20th, 2007 at 6:12 pm
  24. Carolyn Campbell says:

    I’ve persuaded the vet to give me all cat medicines as injections so far (am a medic, so happy with sticking needles in cat) the cat barely notices.

    Even with the towel-back of throat-jaw clamping-throat stroking thing you can release the cat ten minutes later and she goes “ptoeee” and expels the pill accross the room. They have a secret mouth pocket somewhere…

    June 21st, 2007 at 11:55 pm