Administering pills nightmare

Today was drontal day. I have only been able to worm one of the 4 cats who can have drontal. It was a nightmare getting them to take the pill. My husband held the cats in place, while I tried to put the pill in (I did read up on the net about the best way to give pills..but that was no use!), but cats struggled so much that it was getting too injury-risky for me or my husband to continue.

I went out and bought a pill syringe type device from the pet shop . But again, the cats have learned and they struggle too much!

I just dont understand how the vets do it so easy.

Is there any safe, humane way of getting these cats to ingest these pills?

Ive tried crushing it and mixing it in their food (even tuna!!!!!), they wont go near it. Ive tried wrapping the tablet in pork...they wont go near it. Ive wasted so many doses of drontal..I only have enough left to actually get it right.

Any recommendations?

My husband suggested wrapping the cat in a towel so it cant move so much and trying to give the tablet then. Is that safe?


ps - After submitting this I noticed a similar thread with suggestions. Off to study that now. But just wondering if the towel method is ok?

Towel wrapping is one of the best methods, and very safe.

Great - thanks for that Arlyn. Will try it tomorrow morning!

Yes, I second Arlyn's comment. The towel wrap method is safe, and can be very effective.

We found the best way to get a kitty to swallow pills is to have one person gently hold him/her by the scruff of the neck with one hand, and tilt their head gently backwards (the other hand keeps the cat's body/legs still. You still need to do this if the cat is in the towel).

Then the person administering the pill (easiest with a pill gun/shooter), gently pushes the tip of the gun into the back corner of the kitty's mouth. This seems to naturally force the cat's jaw open. When their jaw does open, shoot the pill in there. If the cats head is tilted backwards, they don't have much choice but to swallow.

Also, you might try administering the medicine on a table, or on top of a shelf. We found that if our cat was not on the floor, she was slightly less likely to struggle.

We found that we had to approach pilling our cat extremely confidently, like we'd done it all our lives (it was all acting, because we were very nervous ). If we failed to administer the pill after a couple of tries, we'd give the kitty a break for at least 10 minutes, then try again.

Good luck!

thanks hyacinthbucket. Good point about the table - i can see how that would help.

Besides the suggestions here and that other thread you found...I will add 2 things about Drontal specifically.

One, it tastes REALLY bad. Keep that in mind...this is likely not one that will be "hide-able" in cat food.

Pill Pockets are a great product, and I don't have a cat that won't take an occasional pill with these. You can get them at Petco, Petsmart, and other pet stores. You put the pill inside the squishy specially designed treat, seal it up in a ball...and watch with delight while kitty eats his pill.

HOWEVER, Drontal is a big pill in terms of cat size. For pill pockets, I prefer to cut Drontal into 4 pieces and hide it in 4 individual pill pockets. My 13 lb cat needed SIX of these delicious treats to get wormed, but he did it and he enjoyed it.

I hope it works that well for you. Good luck

Oh, you have my sympathies, Drontal is a terrible pill to give. It has an awful (I think) bitterness that just doesn't go away. We did end up using the wrapping technique. It actually seems to calm Bella down. When she's in the "Bella Burrito" she doesn't flail as much (we don't wrap her that tightly) and it gives us enough time to open her mouth and insert the pill shooter.

Also, I have a shooter that lets you hold the pill on the end and put some water in the syringe part. That little bit of water makes it more likely that they'll swallow.

Even if you get the pill in, watch them closely for a few minutes after. I've had some cats that were masters at spitting out pills. I try to keep everyone confined to the kitchen until I'm sure they've swallowed. That way I don't find pills under the bed.

After putting it off a few days, I have got round to worming the cats tonight using the towel method.

The result....the cats won't come an inch of me and my finger and leg are bleeding.

But atleast all 5 were wormed.

I'm going to the vet next time!

Glad to hear you got them all Drontal'd. I completely understand - I do 13 at a time and it ain't easy!!

Have you thought about zipping the cat up in a sports bag, leaving her head out? Years ago I had a cat who was a terror to tablet (even the vet couldn't do it and proclaimed her 'the second most evil cat I ever met!') and this really helped as razor sharp paws always slipped out of the towel. It also helped us judge her fake gulp as she used to spit the tablet out!

Lol, karma has now sent me a softy docile cat who purrs whilst being pilled! Even so I still worm with the drops from the vet - so easy.

Ps. she was a very confident cat. Being zipped up in bag wouldn't suit all cats!

The last time we wormed our cats it was awful too. We tried the pill popper and the pill pockets, without any luck. We just ended up with a really angry cat that was running around the house with foam dripping from their mouth and shaking their head so it was slinging the foam everywhere. I scoured the CatSite and tried something that was suggested- cover the pill in butter before it goes in their mouth, it makes it slide down easier. So I covered my pills in butter and put them in the pill popper and they went right down. I also am a fan of the kitty burrito too.

Our vets have it in an injection, so that the way to go for me now ! I just find pill giving a nightmare and the cats do too

Thanks for your suggestions.

The butter idea sounds good. The sports bag idea....yes I can see how that would work with a nice, considerate cat but I am a bit scared to even try it with my tearaways (bless them...love them to bits tho)

Good job I don't have to think about worming for a while...its all covered now for 3 months. In 3 months time they are all due for vacinations....so the vet can have the worming job WITH PLEASURE.

Next time I have to worm them myself will be the end of the year (by which time my skin will have grown back and the scars faded! lol).

I forgot to add that the kitty burrito in my house is always followed by a treat (as immediately as possible). This way, although Bella is still very leery of the burrito she wants the treat too, so that moment of indecision is just enough time for me to shove the pill in. I also think the treat makes her more likely to swallow (she wants to get that treat in her mouth so badly she'll swallow the pill to make room)

Thank heavens we have a compounding pharmacy that makes most of her meds in liquid form!

I thought I would share this with you all. I struggled getting my cat to take pills for a new condition she got - a hyper thyroid. My mom told me I should try hiding the pill in baby food. I started doing that and it worked great. I used Gerber Turkey with Gravy. And recently I started crushing the pill into a powder. I do this by putting the pill into a teapspoon and I put anther teaspoon over it and crush it. I mix the powder into the baby food. This works great and is keeping my cat alive!

I've never tried the towel method, but it does seem like it would work pretty good.

Right now to pill our little girl, my girlfriend holds the cat in her arms (quite naturally... one arm supporting the back legs, the other arm under the front legs, so her front legs dangle). This is where the towel would come in handy if your cat likes to squirm I assume. I then put one hand over top of her head from above (my palm ends up pretty much covering her eyes), so basically with that hand I can manipulate her head pretty much however I want. I then gently force her head back to point straight up with that hand, and gently pry open her mouth with my thumb and middle finger of that same hand. Then with my other hand, I try my best to drop the pill to the very back of the throat, right in the middle. This takes a little practice. If you get it dead center in the back the cat has little chance to spit it out. If you miss and the pill falls to the side of the mouth, the cat usually ends up spitting it out. I've never used a pill gun, but I would think that it would come in handy here. Anyways, after the pill gets dropped to the back of the throat, try your best to keep the cat's mouth shut (head still pointed up). Stroking their throat at this point might help. Usually it's pretty obvious by looking at their throat when they've swallowed. Another good indication is the tongue flicking in and out of their mouth.

Different people may have different theories, but my experience tells me that it's bad to allow them to fight their way out. They might get stressed and fight the first couple times, but if you don't let them get away, eventually they find out it's a lost cause to struggle. With our little boy, he was able to fight his way out a couple times, and then we would try again a few minutes later. Subsequent days would get harder and harder to pill him, because at this point he knows that if he fights hard enough he can get away. Those first few times you will probably feel bad, but if you can eventually get them to not struggle every night, it's more than worth it! With our little girl it has gotten easier and easier. It's usually over and done with in less than a minute now.

Then, of course, give them a treat afterwards! I find it sometimes helps to bring the treats out into the open before you pill them, so they at least know that a treat is coming soon. This also helps to get the cat out in the open as well so that you don't have to go chasing after them to pick them up.

One last tip. Try to pill them at a time that is somewhat convenient for you. There's nothing worse than trying to pill a cat in the morning when you're in a hurry to get to work! If it doesn't go smoothly you'll be left extremely frustrated, late for work, with a grumpy kitty who will end up being the butt of your frustration. Wake up a little earlier if you have to. Good luck!

Originally Posted by LunaLou

I scoured the CatSite and tried something that was suggested- cover the pill in butter before it goes in their mouth, it makes it slide down easier. So I covered my pills in butter and put them in the pill popper and they went right down. I also am a fan of the kitty burrito too.

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One downside to covering the pill in something is that the pill starts sticking to your fingers, making it that much more difficult to direct the pill to the back of the cat's throat where it needs to go.

Originally Posted by ziola1039

And recently I started crushing the pill into a powder. I do this by putting the pill into a teapspoon and I put anther teaspoon over it and crush it. I mix the powder into the baby food. This works great and is keeping my cat alive!

Click to expand...

Make sure you ask your vet about this if you are thinking about trying it. I've heard that some pills should not be crushed, as it gets absorbed into their system too quickly.

ETA...

Originally Posted by hyacinthbucket

Also, you might try administering the medicine on a table, or on top of a shelf. We found that if our cat was not on the floor, she was slightly less likely to struggle.

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I think this is probably along the same lines as our method of holding the cat in our arms. We tried the "we kneel on the floor and hold the cat between our legs method", but it was much too difficult. Cats must feel more confident about getting away when their feet are on the floor.

I'll shut up soon I promise!

I'm sure it varies with the cat, but I find that if the cat is in our arms and it starts to squirm/bite/scratch, it helps to speak to it loudly in a bold, commanding voice. No fear! At least with our cats, they're much more of a handful when they think they're the bosses. It doesn't work all the time, but sometimes is better than never!

Ohhh you don't have to shut up. Pilling cats always sparks some good conversation.

It makes a big difference when you have to do it everyday. It gets much easier, although I'd do without the whole activity if I could . I agree that it's important to reinforce the fact that they will not be able to get away until the pill is down. They're smart and will try harder each time, if they get away once or twice.

I use the floor, on my knees, cat between the legs method. I use a pill gun too...once you get used to using it you don't want to do without it. It helps me, cuts down on some of the aiming effort. Beandip and I do this every day, 3 pills (in one sitting, not 3 separate times thankfully). I gently pinch the spots at the back corners of his mouth, left thumb on one side, and middle finger on the other. That makes his mouth come open. I give a little backwards tilt with my wrist but not much. We've had enough practice that his head doesn't have to be back all the way. Then I come in from the right side, off center with the pill gun and down it goes. I actually have more success getting him to swallow the pills reliably by letting go of his head and lettting it return to a normal position...the opposite of what I hear a lot. But whatever works is the best way!! I have 3 pill guns, all loaded when we start.

The towel method is psychologically more of a negative technique then other proactive methods. I will explain why later.

There are a couple of methods that can be used as positive reinforcement techniques:

1. Try crushing the pill and mixing it with Turkey Baby Food. Start the cat/kitten off with just smidgens so they "lust" for the food. When it comes time for the medication and down the road, the cat will remember the Turkey Baby food is a reward and there will be no problems.

2. Insert quickly using a pill inserter/syringe. Do not insert directly from the front, hold the upper jaw on both sides with one hand. The cat will open their mouth to pull down away from your hand. With you other hand, quickly push it between the jaws towards the back. **Now before you do this, make sure your cat knows there is a treat to follow this. Try the technique using a cat treat first. When you go to do the real thing, quickly follow with the treat.

Cats respond by LEARNED behavior.

If you wrap a cat in a towel they will panic and struggle more then necessary. The panic stresses the cat and learns two lessons:

1. Human is mean
2. Towel is bad

I hope that helps.