Pet Lovers

[Goldengate8361]

My sick cat HATES pills. I tried buying a compound formulation; I tried those pill popper covers; grinding them up and putting in food, etc. Nothing works. I’m so stressed out! Any wisdom to share about pills and cats???

[Venezia]

You have my entire sympathy.  I have four cats and at one time a few months ago was having to give 3 of them pills twice a day!

Right now I'm down to just the one cat with a twice-a-day pill and she's very good about it.  (And the pills are small and coated, so they go down easier.)

My Tonkinese...well, there's a different story!  She's left me battered, bloodied and bruised more times than I can count.  However, I've even finally managed to deal with her.  I get her on a counter, wrap one arm around her holding her tight to my chest, to make sure she can't use her claws on me and then pry her mouth open with the other.  I chuck the pill as far back in her throat as I can and then keep her mouth shut, rubbing her under the chin.  

The only thing I can think of, if you can't manage that, is have you tried Pill Pockets?  They worked for a while with the Tonk.

[GCR18]

I used to hide it in smoked turkey from the deli.  I'd give him a bite and then the next bite had the pill.  He was always so excited, he didn't really chew it.

[Venezia]

@GCR18- Your reply made me smile.  I tried to "hide" the pills for my Tonk in her favorite tuna.  The little ...darling...would eat her way around it and I'd find the dish empty, except for the pill.  

[LUVNLIFE]

The advice my vet gave me was to hold them close, push the pill down their throat,hold their mouth shut and quickly blow in their face. I ended up with bite marks on my hands. 

There really is no good way that doesn't stress you or your cat out.

Good Luck!

[De Anna]

I don't have a cat, I have a dog that gets an allergy pill everyday. We give him his medication in a little piece of American cheese. 

[Venezia]

Dogs are so much easier!  I used to have dogs and they'd gobble down whatever I gave them.  My sister-in-law's dogs are the same.

Cats have a mind of their own!

[tennvols]

Try giving the pill with peanut butter put some on a spoon and he will eat it 

[beach-mom]

---

@Venezia wrote:

You have my entire sympathy.  I have four cats and at one time a few months ago was having to give 3 of them pills twice a day!

Right now I'm down to just the one cat with a twice-a-day pill and she's very good about it.  (And the pills are small and coated, so they go down easier.)

My Tonkinese...well, there's a different story!  She's left me battered, bloodied and bruised more times than I can count.  However, I've even finally managed to deal with her.  I get her on a counter, wrap one arm around her holding her tight to my chest, to make sure she can't use her claws on me and then pry her mouth open with the other.  I chuck the pill as far back in her throat as I can and then keep her mouth shut, rubbing her under the chin.  

The only thing I can think of, if you can't manage that, is have you tried Pill Pockets?  They worked for a while with the Tonk.

---

@Goldengate8361 - DH would advise you to do this, tilting her head up and rubbing until the pill goes down. Right now we're finishing a regimen for one of our rescues, but luckily we could crush it and mix it in with his food. We had to isolate him from the others so they wouldn't get it. It took him a while, but he eventually ate it all!

@Venezia - We are Tonk lovers too! We had one of the first generation kittens. Mom was Burmese and Dad was Siamese. DH "met" his mom when he was asked to help judge a cat show, which he had never done and hasn't done since! The couple showing their Tonks, and had "mom" with them,  kept in touch with DH and gave him a kitten from her next litter! He was one of a kind and we loved him dearly. We registered him, but because he was our pet we had no intention of breeding him so DH neutered him. One day a lady driving by saw him in the window and stopped. She was hoping  she saw a male she could mate with her female. DH told her that wouldn't happen! She couldn't understand why we stopped him from being a dad! He had just turned 20 when we had to say goodbye.

Now we have another little one who is farther down the line. He was different and nobody wanted him, so we got him. He's a sweetie, but tends to be a one-person cat. That person happens to be DS, who is away at college most of the time! He tolerates the rest of us, but when DS comes home he has a shadow with him constantly! 

I would love to have another Tonk, but we keep getting rescues. We just took in another one that DD's friend found at a construction site in the middle of nowhere. The guys fed him for two days with dry food, but they knew they had to do something because he was bleeding. He had been roughed up and was emaciated. He still might have some health issues, but after saying "no more cats," it didn't take long for me to fall in love again! So once again, as a vet tech once told me, "I think he's found his home!" 

[Sammycat1]

We are now giving a cat recovering from liver failure many pills, twice a day, and years earlier, a cat with heart and kidney failure, the same type of thing. A few tips:

1. If they are prednisolone or an antibiotic like metronidazole, they are uncoated and beyond foul. Coat them with the thinnest veneer of pill pocket...and rotate those flavors of pill pocket.

2. If they are not scored and can be broken, cut them into smaller pieces. Think how many people can't take capsules because they gag at the size of them. Why does the vet pharma industry think small creatures should be able to do the same? (In some fairness, many pet medications are human ones also, and the industry isn't interested in making them smaller for small animal use).

3. If they are too big, insist on an alternative that's smaller. If they doesn't stock something, various pet retailers sometimes stock the "tiny tab" version.

4. If your cat is not a diabetic, offer a few drops of unflavored pedialyte to soothe the throat ahead of time. Do so from the side of the mouth, placing the drops on the tongue....not too far back to trigger a drowning, gagging reflex.

5. When tilting back the head, don't go too far, or you'll kickstart a narrower throat and thus a gagging or choking reflex....and panic.

6. Two words: pill gun. Very good for capsules or awkwardly shaped pills, like flat ovals.

7. If none of this works, tell your vet and/or work something out with a vet tech to make a house call.

Hope this helps!