HELP--Administering Baytril

My 8 year-old cat needs Baytril to treat a sinus infection caused my a tumor that is evidently growing behind his eye socket, and pressing on his sinus cavity, which has resulted in a lot of sneezing. Clavamox seemed to be helping until 10 days ago when he started to sneeze blood--not a pretty sight--so the vet switched him to Baytril. I have tried this drug in pill form, liquid, and compounded tuna-flavor liquid. I've tried crushing it into Fancy Feast, disguising it in a pill pocket, dissovling it into tuna "juice"--you name it. I cannot get him to take the pills, even though they are supposedly flavored to be palatable, and he basically spits up the liquid formulas in a foamy mess. He is not a particularly finicky cat, but he is totally onto me and more averse to this medication than anything I've ever given him. Although I am pretty good at administering drugs to animals, this is just beyond my skill. I know my cat is not long for this world, but for the time being he seems fine (purring, stalking, jumping on counters, etc.) so I feel I need to do everything I can for him. Still, I have a toddler to care of and another child on the way, and this is getting rather stressful. Has anyone out there had experience with this drug?

My Samina had to take Baytril recently for a sinus infection also. After numerous failed attempts, I got a pill gun from the vet and empty gellcaps from the pharmacy, broke the pill in tiny pieces and put it in the gellcap. These gellcaps really make it a lot easier to pill with a pill gun and I always follow up with 1/2 a syringe of water. Imagine yourself trying to swallow dry pills or yucky (to cats) liquid, a drink of water surely helps
Anyway, I had no trouble pilling her and I hope this helps you and your sweet kitty.

Wow, that sounds awful. I've only given Baytril to rats. They got a chicken flavoured one meant for cats that they faught over taking. I had to separate the sick one so the healthy one wouldn't steal the meds, crazy! Before that I'd gotten an unflavoured one, but they still easily ate that in fruit baby food, so it doesn't seem like it could have THAT terrible a taste.

It's sounding like you'll just have to do something like saminas mom suggested..

What method did you use for the Clavamox (was it liquid or pills)? When I gave Baytril, I always pilled the cat like I did with any other medicine. Then again, I was lucky enough that Spot was very easy to pill (I'd put the pill as far back in his mouth as possible, and tell him to swallow--he'd do it every time). I used basically the same method with Willow, my squirmer. Gelcaps are another option as Saminas mom mentioned. You can even coat them with a little bit of butter so they taste good and slide down the throat more easily.

I can relate to how you're feeling!

I've been having to administer all kinds of meds to Winchester for his FIP, and it's gotten to be a real battle! He cringes now when I pick him up, b/c he figures he's gonna get a dose of something!

I got one of those pill syringes too from my vet, which seems to work fairly well. I never thought of giving him a "chaser" of water though to wash it down. Good Idea!

I'll try that next time when I have to give any of the cats a pill!

KittKatt

For Baytril for Beandip, I use the piller. I like the ones with the soft rubber fingers on the end, not the hard plastic end. Like cloud_shade, I just put it as far back as I can, then I let his mouth close and he swallows. Granted, Beandip and I have had a lot of practice and he's fairly cooperative. I will say that it used to be difficult w/him. Those are supposed to be beef flavored, but apparently they aren't too tasty.

For Precious' Baytril, she only needed a half a pill per day. I cut it half (quarters) and put each quarter in a pill pocket. She accepted those, although I think she did crunch the pill. She took it for 10 days like that, though. I've never succeeded with more than a 1/4 Baytril per pocket. If he's wise to the pockets, you might give it another shot like that (smaller piece of pill), but roll the treat in brewer's yeast. Most cats like the taste of it. That might give the treat a "new" taste.

For Leopold and Baytril, I failed miserably. Every trick failed to work so I went back to the vet and got injectable Baytril. Although it was impossible to pill him it was much easier to stick a needle in him.