Tips for giving meds to a cat?

galah

Hi all,

more a rant than anything, but if anyone has tips on how to con a cat into taking medication, please do share!

Our cat has been diagnosed with lung worms, and a secondary infection. So far, so expensive at the vets (thank Crunchie for pet insurance!).

Anyways, he was sent home, and we now have to give him his medication: 1 small pill (relatively easy to hide in a treat), one pill the size of a small rock, and some granular stuff that's supposed to mix in with his food.

Problem is as follows - while I can crush the pills and hide them in treats, it's still very awkard, and he knows there's medication in the food. Mostly, I can trick him into taking it, but it's difficult. I must add that not even the vet would give him pills the normal way - last time we tried, the poor vet nurse ended up with a lot of scratches. And she's a professional, so no hope in hell for me to do that and live to tell the tale.

Now the stuff that worries me most is the "mix-in with food" variety - this might work for a dog, but grains that dissolve into a slimy goo when touching the food it's supposed to get mixed in fail to impress my cat (and anyone's cat, I'm sure). They're not stupid. (I tried to mix it with cream - but to achieve a proper consistency, one needs A LOT of cream, which he never eats...)

Short of bringing him to the vet every day to get his medication injected - has anyone an idea on how to trick this cat into taking his meds, especially the granular stuff?

And does anyone know if there are any treats out there actually designed to hide pills for cats? (like a default hole one can stuff a pill in, for example? I'm sure our cat is not the only one that doesn't like pills...)...Oh, and the spot on worm stuff does not work in this case, forgot to mention that...

Cheers,

galah

Chiaki

with the pills and granular stuff you can do the following
grab a towel or ironing board cover and wrap the cat in it sticking only the head out (best use 2 people)
-put the pill on the front of your cats teeth and slide it around the side there is a gap in the teeth push through and the cat will swallow it before it realises (the 2 circles in the picture, the long one is the most effective)
if your cat is sneaky as my kitana and spits it out after pretending to swallow it open cats mouth and put the pill all the way in close the mouth and hold it closed until she swallows it (the eyes kinda sink back a bit)
-for the granular crap mix with a little water (never cream or milk as it will give her the runs!) get a syringe and put it in the gap in the teeth and squirt! do it little by little so she has to swallow and doesnt throw up

Jack B. Badd

Does your cat like tuna? I usually find that a little bit of that mixed with crushed tablets and some regular food is pungent enough to mask the taste of the medicine from our cat.

banshee_bones

When we had to medicate any of our cats our vet told us a technique.
we used to get the cat, wrap it in a towel incase it tried to scratch you, open its mouth and insert the pill. Then massage their throat to make sure they have swallowed it. Its annoying but at least the cat will be getting the medication...

ynotdu

banshee_bones wrote: »

When we had to medicate any of our cats our vet told us a technique.
we used to get the cat, wrap it in a towel incase it tried to scratch you, open its mouth and insert the pill. Then massage their throat to make sure they have swallowed it. Its annoying but at least the cat will be getting the medication...

banshee your suggestion always worked for me on the most cantankerous cat in history we had the misfortune/good fortune to own.

definatly tickling the throat works for reasonable sized tablets.
the syringe for liquid.
if the bigger tablet can be broken into smaller pieces use the tickle the throat method and yes ya have to force open their mouths toss in the tablet then physicly hold their mouth closed while tickling.
otherwise for the large tablets i would ask vets advice as to wheter the tablet can be crushed added to water and still be effective.

it is a trauma trying to be kind to a cat!:) I,d prefer 12 rounds against Tyson:D

comongethappy

One of my cats, when he had to take a course of antibiotics, the first few pills he would swallow fine with the rub throat method, but then he decided that he wasn't going to have it any more and would make himself throw up afterward :P . He's fine for the occasional worming or flea tablet, but not for a steady course of tablets.

What I found helps is if you fry lamb's liver in a bit of olive oil, and grind the pills down and mix with 1-2 tsp olive oil to coat the liver, they'll eat it right up. Liver seems to be the only thing strong enough to mask the smell / taste of the tablets. The only other thing that worked well most of the time was tinned mackerel in tomato sauce (add a tsp of olive oil to this as well to mix ground pills into food).

Blueprint

My vet gave me a tip about getting tablets into a cat. He said that if you coat the tablet in oil or honey first, it's slippery and won't stick to the roof of the mouth like dry tablets so the cat is more likely to swallow it. I've not had to try it yet, so I don't know how well it works.

One of my cats has been known to keep the tablet in her mouth and then spit it out minutes later when I'm not looking!

Call me Socket

How to give a cat a pill:

1. Pick up cat and cradle it in the crook of your left arm as if holding a baby. Position right forefinger and thumb on either side of cat's mouth and gently apply pressure to cheeks while holding pill in right hand. As cat opens mouth, pop pill into mouth. Allow cat to close mouth and swallow.
2. Retrieve pill from floor and cat from behind sofa. Cradle cat in left arm and repeat process.
3. Retrieve cat from bedroom, and throw soggy pill away.
4. Take new pill from foil wrap, cradle cat in left arm, holding rear paws tightly with left hand. Force jaws open and push pill to back of mouth with right forefinger. Hold mouth shut for a count of ten.
5. Retrieve pill from goldfish bowl and cat from top of wardrobe. Call spouse from garden.
6. Kneel on floor with cat wedged firmly between knees, hold front and rear paws. Ignore low growls emitted by cat. Get spouse to hold head firmly with one hand while forcing wooden ruler into mouth. Drop pill down ruler and rub cat's throat vigorously.
7. Retrieve cat from curtain rail, get another pill from foil wrap. Make note to buy new ruler and repair curtains. Carefully sweep shattered figurines and vases from hearth and set to one side for gluing later.
8. Wrap cat in large towel and get spouse to lie on cat with head just visible from below armpit. Put pill in end of drinking straw, force mouth open with pencil, and blow down drinking straw.
9. Check label to make sure pill not harmful to humans, drink 1 beer to take taste away. Apply Band-Aid to spouse's forearm and remove blood from carpet with cold water and soap.
10. Retrieve cat from neighbor's shed. Get another pill. Open another beer. Place cat in cupboard, and close door onto neck, to leave head showing. Force mouth open with dessert spoon. Flick pill down throat with elastic band.
11. Fetch screwdriver from garage and put cupboard door back on hinges. Drink beer. Fetch bottle of Scotch. Pour shot, drink. Apply cold compress to cheek and check records for date of last tetanus shot. Apply whiskey compress to cheek to disinfect. Toss back another shot. Throw T-shirt away and fetch new one from bedroom.
12. Call fire department to retrieve the damn cat from tree across the road. Apologize to neighbor who crashed into fence while swerving to avoid cat. Take last pill from foil-wrap.
13. Tie the little @!!@#@#$%'s front paws to rear paws with garden twine and bind tightly to leg of dining table, find heavy-duty pruning gloves from shed. Push pill into mouth followed by large piece of steak filet. Be rough about it. Hold head vertically and pour 2 pints of water down throat to wash pill down.
14. Consume remainder of Scotch. Get spouse to drive you to the emergency room, sit quietly while doctor stitches fingers and forearm and remove pill remnants from right eye. Call furniture shop on way home to order new table.
15. Arrange for SPCA to collect mutant cat from hell and call local pet shop to see if they have any hamsters.

How to give a dog a pill:

1. Wrap it in cheese.

But seriously, the one thing that works every time for me with my cats and dogs is pate, y'know the plain pork liver pate you get in the shop....they love it and it's smelly and rich enough to mask the flavour of the crushed pills or granules:)



.

ynotdu

call me socket,that is fcuking hilarious:D:D:D:D:D:D

Call me Socket

lol Wish I could take credit for it! Don't know who the author is but it's been floating about the www awhile now. Cracks me up every time I read it!

Sigma Force

The wrapping in towel methods does work and at least you'll be sure the cat got the whole thing. I used to coat tablets in butter the quicker you do it the better because if it takes too long you end up getting frustrated and the cat starts to resist.

Is is possible for the vet to give you any of the medication in liquid form?

Mixing some in cat milk might work as well.
Cats cop on to meds very quickly wish they would invent more tasty ones for them.

I loves my dogs to worm then I just pop it in with some yogurt they don't even sniff their food they're so greedy.

galah

Cheers guys, all very helpful comments!

I'll try the tuna one first, cause that's oily, too.

Might also try joghurt for the granular stuff (Elvis doesn't get the runs from dairy products, and I know he loves joghurt).

But the problem is still the 'cop on' factor - they know that I'm hiding stuff in their food...Cat stared at me reproachfully all evening yesterday, with a look that said 'how dare you!' ;-)

@ Call me Socket - shouldn't have posted that, I'm in stitches and people are looking at me funny...That describes us EXACTLY!!!

MoonDancer256

I have 5 cats, and the wrapping in towel method usually did the trick but I still got scratched, scared the living crap out the cats and even made one of them panic enough that they started frothing at the mouth last time I tried it.

The best method I've found (from having to regularly pill one of my sick kitties 2-3 times a day for several weeks) was to put the cat on the floor and straddle him, knees on either side. Heels together to stop him backing up to escape under your legs.

Left hand on cats on cats head tilting back to open mouth, right hand to poke pill down next.

With a bit of practise the whole maneouvre can be done in about 5 seconds.

Once I had the hang of it, I'd come over to my cat, quickly kneel, pill, then stand up and stroke him again. He'd hesitate a bit, and give me a funny look, but keep purring, instead of turning into a terrified, drooling mess like all other attempted methods.

Since then I've tried it on the other 4 cats and it works brilliantly. Only one of them managed to scratch me and thats because I took too long about it.

ynotdu

galah wrote: »

Cheers guys, all very helpful comments!

I'll try the tuna one first, cause that's oily, too.

Might also try joghurt for the granular stuff (Elvis doesn't get the runs from dairy products, and I know he loves joghurt).

But the problem is still the 'cop on' factor - they know that I'm hiding stuff in their food...Cat stared at me reproachfully all evening yesterday, with a look that said 'how dare you!' ;-)

@ Call me Socket - shouldn't have posted that, I'm in stitches and people are looking at me funny...That describes us EXACTLY!!!

the cop on factor(actually should it be called the cat on factor?

hiding stuff from them they give ya an infraction for the amount of time THEY decide you should suffer guilt!

hiding stuff is in the minor leauge though compared to when ya bring a tom to have his goolies whipped off!

for at least six months
they give ya a "dont go asleep" look:D

p.s they undestand English but would never dignify a lower form of life like human beings by speaking to us!;)

The Sweeper

It's worth reiterating what MoonDancer has said - wrapping a cat in a towel is a scary experience for the cat, so if you can pill your cats without doing it, then don't do it.

Also, when worming your cats, the syringes of worm paste are quite a issue with larger cats, because it can take nearly a full minute to get the paste into the yacking, coughing, spitting cat - so if you can pill them, again, do it.

Of my five cats, I can pill four of them without dramas, so they get drontal worm medicaton (treats all intestinal worms). It's also handy to buy medication designed for your size cat - most worm tablets do one average 4kg cat. My 6kg boy needs 1.5 tablets as a result, and my juveniles get a half a tablet. The half isn't too much of a drama, but the 1.5 can be because I have to pill him twice each time.

The straddle-n-scruff method works nicely for me with the four that I can pill - don't even have to straddle the smaller ones, just gently scruff them. I keep a small syringe barrel full of water handy, in case I need to wash the pill down a bit - just trickle a little water in the side of the mouth while the pill is in there, helps them swallow.

And ALWAYS give a treat and cuddles afterwards.

The other boy - the intelligent one - is a living nightmare to worm. Wrapping him in a towel isn't a solution. He's 5kgs and becomes EXTREMELY distressed at being restrained, so the towel just makes things worse. Sometimes I just scruff him and smear his worm paste dose on his two front paws because I know he'll have to lick it off.

Pilling him is difficult because he jerks his head when you try to open his mouth - and he's also dextrous with his paws, so if he can get the pill to the side of his mouth he'll hook it out and fling it away with one paw. He had a broken jaw from a car impact at less than a year old, so he's very precious about people trying to open his mouth.

These days, if I'm on my own, he gets paste on the paws. If the two of us are home, I straddle and scruff him and hold his head gently with my other hand, while OH opens his mouth and throws the pill down. It takes less than 30 seconds. He still hates us for an hour afterwards.

ynotdu

Five cats? you must be a glutton for punishment:)

great idea about putting the med in a paste on the paws!

galah

Found an even better solution to my problem - hubby. ;-)

He thinks it's no problem at all to medicate the cat. So I'll leave him to it. Will stock up on disinfectant and band-aid, though ;-)

Call me Socket

Hahahaha!!!:D

Madame Razz

MoonDancer256 wrote: »

I have 5 cats, and the wrapping in towel method usually did the trick but I still got scratched, scared the living crap out the cats and even made one of them panic enough that they started frothing at the mouth last time I tried it.

The best method I've found (from having to regularly pill one of my sick kitties 2-3 times a day for several weeks) was to put the cat on the floor and straddle him, knees on either side. Heels together to stop him backing up to escape under your legs.

Left hand on cats on cats head tilting back to open mouth, right hand to poke pill down next.

With a bit of practise the whole maneouvre can be done in about 5 seconds.

Once I had the hang of it, I'd come over to my cat, quickly kneel, pill, then stand up and stroke him again. He'd hesitate a bit, and give me a funny look, but keep purring, instead of turning into a terrified, drooling mess like all other attempted methods.

Since then I've tried it on the other 4 cats and it works brilliantly. Only one of them managed to scratch me and thats because I took too long about it.

+1

though could I add that, in addition to the straddling bit, it helps, once you poke the tablet into their mouth, to hold their nose. The result is that they almost immediately open their mouth to breathe and hence swallow the tablet. It's good to simultaneously massage the throat whilst holding the nose.

Even the wiliest cat will take even the largest pill in a matter of seconds with this method; works really well for dogs too, especially snub nosed breeds!!!

galah

galah wrote: »

Found an even better solution to my problem - hubby. ;-)

He thinks it's no problem at all to medicate the cat. So I'll leave him to it. Will stock up on disinfectant and band-aid, though ;-)

God, I love it when I'm right. The 'sure, so easy to give the cat the pill, I don't know why you make it so difficult' thing by Mr. Smartarse turned into a major operation involving a large blanky, a lot of cursing, a scratched arm, a really cranky cat, and me in stitches on the floor.

And obviously, we missed yesterday's medication since the little b*ll*cks is onto me for hiding pills in food.

Tune in again tonight for another attempt at drugging the b*stard.

MoonDancer256

Madame Razz wrote: »

+1

though could I add that, in addition to the straddling bit, it helps, once you poke the tablet into their mouth, to hold their nose.

If you get the pill to the back of their tongue on first attempt (takes a bit of practise) they actually can't spit it out anyway, and will automatically swallow. Only way they can get rid of it then is by gagging and puking it up, but only one of my 5 cats tries that.

Call me Socket

galah wrote: »

God, I love it when I'm right. The 'sure, so easy to give the cat the pill, I don't know why you make it so difficult' thing by Mr. Smartarse turned into a major operation involving a large blanky, a lot of cursing, a scratched arm, a really cranky cat, and me in stitches on the floor.

And obviously, we missed yesterday's medication since the little b*ll*cks is onto me for hiding pills in food.

Tune in again tonight for another attempt at drugging the b*stard.

Thanks for the laugh Galah...hilarious!

.

Luxy

MoonDancer256 wrote: »

If you get the pill to the back of their tongue on first attempt (takes a bit of practise) they actually can't spit it out anyway, and will automatically swallow. Only way they can get rid of it then is by gagging and puking it up, but only one of my 5 cats tries that.

I have another spin on this technique, it has always worked on every cat I've ever kept!

Make sure you get the pill into the back of the cat's throat first.
(You might need a helper to restrain the cat somehow while you hold its head back & open its mouth as wide as you can!)
Close the cat's mouth & hold it shut, then place a small bit of food, liquid, spit, on the cat's nose.
Most cats, when released, will be overwhelmed by the need to clean their nose.
They'll immediately stick their tongue out to lick it.

And the tablet should just fly down their throat!