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Respected Contributor
Posts: 3,458
Registered: ‎06-10-2015

Re: Need Advice on Pilling Cat / Oral SCC

Thank you so much for all of your replies.

 

@candyagain , I didn't say that Tammy was wild, but I actually call her "a wild woman." She tramped up to my breezeway door one December night 10 years ago, braying like a donkey, and surrendered herself. She's a tough little girl who's difficult with cats but loves people. This is a picture of her in a pensive moment some years ago after she upset her toy box. She looks fat, but she's not. Just solid.

Tammy.jpg

@candys mine, I'll try to find another place to stabilize her for pilling, but that may not be possible, given the furniture in her room. It would only traumatize her further to take her elsewhere, pill her, and then bring her back, I think.

 

@FancyPhillyshopper , I really wish this cat was food motivated, but she's not. She's a sturdy little one, but the closest she comes to tucking into food is Fancy Feast, and she'll even leave much of that. I haven't tried baby food, my last resort. But I'm taking the advice from @Sammycat1 to heart. I'll pill Tammy as best I can tonight, but first thing tomorrow I'll be calling my vet to ask about getting oral buprenex instead. Frankly, I didn't quite understand prescribing the gabapentin. I know it as Neurontin, as it's often given to MS patients for neuropathy, although I've never taken it. Tammy did very well with the buprenorphine. She was quite jolly, purring and lolling on the carpet last night and this morning.  I hope the vet will let me use it on her. If nothing else, she'll be happy.

 

@marcar01 , thank you for the suggestion about putting the meds in capsules. I'd never have thought of that. Even if I wind up using the oral buprenex, I'll tuck that suggestion away for future use. Preventing the cat from tasting unpleasant meds is really important. Great idea. Re lubricating the meds, I've used good olive oil in the past to help slide a pill down a throat. I was thinking of coating the outside of the pill gun with it to help it ease it into her mouth. I'll stay with her post-pilling for a lot of head stroking, which she loves. 

 

@Sammycat1 , as I said above, I really appreciate the suggestion for the oral buprenex. There may be a reason they didn't want to go that route, but it certainly sounds like it's perfect for this situation. Thanks so much.

 

@NickNack , you certainly have done the rounds with the dogs in your life. I'm sorry to hear that you lost one to this cancer. I will be ecstatic if the swelling goes down, meaning it was an infection, but am braced for the SCC outcome and know that it's all about quality of life. That's why it seems important to get the medication business right from the start--I have no idea how much longer Tammy has. She's such a robust little girl, it's hard to imagine this could happen. The point is to give her good time.

 

@Tinkerbell3 , I'm keeping the baby food in mind if feeding becomes rough in the future.

 

Thank you all for your responses, it's a huge help.

Honored Contributor
Posts: 13,775
Registered: ‎07-09-2011

Re: Need Advice on Pilling Cat / Oral SCC

@noodleann 

 

I am so sorry that Tammy is not well.  Hope you are able to get the meds in liquid form.  Sending Good Wishes to you both.  

"Animals are not my whole world, but they have made my world whole" ~ Roger Caras
Regular Contributor
Posts: 159
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

Re: Need Advice on Pilling Cat / Oral SCC

If she likes cheese, take a piece and pack it all around the pill and give it to her that way. This is what works for me with my cats. 

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Posts: 3,458
Registered: ‎06-10-2015

Re: Need Advice on Pilling Cat / Oral SCC

@Sammycat1 , I got the oral buprenorphine, six doses of 0.15 ml each to be given every 12 hours. I'll give her tonight's dose this evening, so I can approximate a 12-hour gap.

 

This stuff is not cheap. The 3 days' worth, a total of 0.90 ml, cost me over $38. At nearly $13/day, I need to find a way to bring down the cost, if possible. This won't be an issue if she just has a mouth infection, which will resolve in the next few days, but I'm assuming it's the sarcoma.

 

She's a very happy camper on this drug, though. I'd have no problem in keeping her stoned (what it looks like) as long as it works. It's not as if she misses reading the paper and doing Sudoku.


Thanks for the advice.

Respected Contributor
Posts: 3,458
Registered: ‎06-10-2015

Re: Need Advice on Pilling Cat / Oral SCC


@susielong wrote:

If she likes cheese, take a piece and pack it all around the pill and give it to her that way. This is what works for me with my cats. 


@susielong , thanks for that idea. I will definitely try the cheese wrap if I wind up having to pill her again. Right now I'm trying her on the liquid oral version of the painkiller the vet gave her Monday evening by injection. I hope that will get her through until he sees her again.

Valued Contributor
Posts: 884
Registered: ‎10-21-2019

Re: Need Advice on Pilling Cat / Oral SCC

Coincidentally I'm fighting the gaba battle in my household again right now. I'm supposed to sprinkle it over my older cats wet food to relax him so I can add drops in his ear. 

 

Sounds great in theory, right? 

 

The problem is second cat. He waits for just the right moment: first time was when exterminator showed up early and second time was when smoke detector went off upstairs.......and then he hustles over to the drugged food and goes to town. 

 

Right now he is snoring like a lumberjack, on his back and all four paws straight up in the air....legs spread......looks like a survivor from a Vegas bachelor party Smiley Surprised

 

This is my older cat's second ear infection since the pandemic and I had the same problem before with second cat trying to get the drugged food.......I guess I really should have learned my lesson then.

 

So future drugging endeavors will take place behind a closed door. 

 

The vet explained to me that the gaba acts much like a xanax, and when we brought rescue kitty home (8 hour car trip) the vet gave him gaba before we left......and it was a very pleasant car trip!

 

I knew that it is prescribed to some humans for neuropathy pain, but I didn't understand it to be a pain reliever for cats. Learned something new today.

 

 

Whatever gets you through the night; it's alright, it's alright. It's your money or your life; it's alright, it's alright---John Lennon
Respected Contributor
Posts: 3,458
Registered: ‎06-10-2015

Re: Need Advice on Pilling Cat / Oral SCC

@SunSprite , funny story about your gaba battles. I just managed to dose Tammy, the subject cat, with buprenex. Next dose is at 9:30 tomorrow morning. I hope cats can't become junkies.

 

Frankly, I don't understand giving something that's not really a painkiller for pain, so I can't make sense of the gabapentin Rx for my cat. But as @Sammycat1 indicated, it's become le dernier cri among vets. 

 

Now I'm reading stuff about CBD and wondering if that could help my cat as thing go on, take the edge off. The problem is that everything I read is on sites that sell the stuff. I have deep issues with the primary agent, and one problem is the inability to get unbiased info on it. To hear the dealers--uh, sellers--talk, it's an all-purpose, no-harm agent that can only do good. No such thing exists. Oh well. One thing at a time.

 

I've just discovered that Tammy likes to eat her kibble fromthe rug, not from the bowl. This is something new.  Maybe it hurts to press her face against the other kibble in the bowl. Or maybe she just likes watching me pick up a few dozen kibble every morning. She's an enigma.

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Posts: 6,363
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

Re: Need Advice on Pilling Cat / Oral SCC

[ Edited ]

@noodleann wrote:

@Sammycat1 , I got the oral buprenorphine, six doses of 0.15 ml each to be given every 12 hours. I'll give her tonight's dose this evening, so I can approximate a 12-hour gap.

 

This stuff is not cheap. The 3 days' worth, a total of 0.90 ml, cost me over $38. At nearly $13/day, I need to find a way to bring down the cost, if possible. This won't be an issue if she just has a mouth infection, which will resolve in the next few days, but I'm assuming it's the sarcoma.

 

She's a very happy camper on this drug, though. I'd have no problem in keeping her stoned (what it looks like) as long as it works. It's not as if she misses reading the paper and doing Sudoku.


Thanks for the advice.


 

@noodleann 

 

I know iit can be pricy but it gets the job done. If it's the sarcoma you can ask your vet to order it by bottle in which you get some discount...or go directly to an online pet pharmacy. Our vet has one tech who is the specialty/compounding pharmacy drug person for their practice and she found it at some savings for us.

 

I'm glad, most importantly, that your baby's not in terrible pain! 

Valued Contributor
Posts: 884
Registered: ‎10-21-2019

Re: Need Advice on Pilling Cat / Oral SCC

@noodleann  My oldest cat has his yearly appointment coming up (if we don't end up back there before then) and I'm going to ask about the CBD. It makes sense it would help to mellow them, particularly if they are on the uptight side. My oldest cat definitely fits that category.

 

The funny thing is of all people my Mom was the one that brought up CBD for the cats to me. (if you knew my Mom you'd understand the "of all people" lol). She's done some research and thinks it would be helpful for her very elderly cat (she suffers from dementia and almost total blindness). She hasn't broached it with the vet yet though.

 

I did get a good chuckle over the eating from the rug! My daughter's shelter adoptee dog is the same way. He will pick up his bowl with his teeth and shower the room (carpet or hardwood lol). And then  he would clean it up by eating it. She just gave in and purchased a snuffle mat (I think that is what it is called) at the vet's suggestion. I wonder if they make those for cats?

 

Good luck to you and Tammy both! I hope everything works out and she is ok Heart

Whatever gets you through the night; it's alright, it's alright. It's your money or your life; it's alright, it's alright---John Lennon
Respected Contributor
Posts: 3,889
Registered: ‎08-20-2012

Re: Need Advice on Pilling Cat / Oral SCC

@noodleann  Get a few washable placemats of similar cloth type to the rug she likes.  Put down a cloth placemat to put Tammy's kibble on.  Then you can pick it up when she's done, shake the leftovers bits into the trashbin and toss the placemat in the wash.