Wrapping up a Cat to Give Meds?

I don't know where to post this, sorry if it needs to be moved.

How do you wrap up a cat to give medicine? Poor Dorothy is TERRIBLE with this liquid panacur stuff for giardia. I went for it over the metro pills because it's 3 days instead of 10. BF held her last night, I squirted. Then she puked right away. This morning I held her, BF squirted. I now know I am not good at holding her, and we both got scratched pretty badly. I know I've heard of some of you burrito-ing your cats in a towel for meds, and I think we need to try that for tomorrow morning.

Thanks!!

Definitely wrap her up. Its the rare cat that takes liquid meds well, especially when those meds taste terrible.

It's a bit like wrapping up a baby. With a cat you start (sit on the floor, of course) with roughly the middle of the towel at their back. Bring one side of it tightly around the front and over the front legs pining them down, tuck it in behind them, then bring the other side around. You need a decent sized towel for this, but try not to use a really bulky thick one as they'll make your wrapped kitty bundle huge and hard to handle. Depending on the cat's size, you may have to play around a little bit until you find the best way and towel size for wrapping them up.
Hold kitty bundle up with their back to your chest. Use one hand to open the mouth and the other to squirt the med.
The key to getting it down with less fight and drooling at that point is to get it as far back on the tongue as possible, aim for the back of the throat. The less the cat tastes the better.

How many cc's is it? If it's quite a bit (over a cc dose) only give a little bit at a time as you do not want to choke her. ...Actually, I just remembered you're giving panacur, which means it probably is a large dose. I've had to give that one and only a little at a time. The good news is, that aside from it's chalkiness, it's not the worst tasting drug to give a cat.

Offer a treat after if she take one.

Thanks. We'll try it. The dose for both cats is 2.5 cc. Last night BF held, I squirted. Rookie mistake with Genever, I tried to get it in all at once to get it over with. With Dorothy I learned and did a bit at a time. Then she puked it up. So this morning when we tried again, I tried to hold, and BF squirted. A little at a time, not only because that's the way to do it, but because she kept squirming and scratching so much. Fun times!

Oh, and I did give each cat a treat afterwards, and they were happy for them.

Good. I was giving it to the three kittens and only one is food driven enough to accept treats after meds... the others ran away and give me dirty looks.

Definitely break that dose down into a third of it at a time. You may try offer a small bit of food before giving it if it's upsetting their stomachs - call the vet and make sure that's ok. I can't remember what the bottle of panacur that I had said about food. You may also try giving a few cc's of water after the med to wash it down as maybe the taste was still in Dorothy's mouth and made her gag. (you can just slowly squirt water in the side of the mouth)

Do you mean give 1/3, let her go, then a bit later give her 1/3, let her go, and a bit later give her the rest? Because what we tried last night and this morning was a few seconds and obvious swallowing between squirts.

No, you'd have a cat that wouldn't let you near her if you did that. No, just give her time to swallow like you've been doing. You can't drink half a glass of fluid in one swallow, likewise a cat can't swallow a large amount of fluid in one swallow, either.

We have to wrap up Monster sometimes to give her meds sometimes and SW's advice is right on the money. The only other piece of advise I can give is try to catch her when she's sleeping to wrap her up. It usually is easier for us to "mummify" Monster is she's still a little sleepy. Then just give a little bit at a time, let her swallow, then give a little bit more.

No other advise except good luck! At least it's only for a few days.

Thank you. Catching her whileshe's sleeping would be nice but it's supposed to be given after a meal. So she'd kind of have to be awake. But she's so docile (except while having her mouth pried open) it should hopefully be ok to wrap her up.

I called the vet about the puked up dose last night, and they gave me another 3ml for free. I guess they figured I spent enough there in the past 2 days, and I'll be spending much more in the coming weeks/months/years..

I know the course of meds is almost done, but for your future reference: Why I love my cat bag - video (Thread by Carolina).

Yes! We definitely could've used a cat bag last night/this morning for Miss Dorothy. If for some reason she stops liking her thyroid chews and we have to give her real pills (without a pill pocket), then I may invest in one. Lucky for us Genever loves her Pill Pockets for her prednisone. (knock on wood!)

Originally Posted by DarkMavis

Yes! We definitely could've used a cat bag last night/this morning for Miss Dorothy.

If for some reason she stops liking her thyroid chews and we have to give her real pills (without a pill pocket), then I may invest in one. Lucky for us Genever loves her Pill Pockets for her prednisone. (knock on wood!)

Click to expand...

Tip about the pill pockets: Kitties can get tired of them... What I use instead, that Gracie or Lucky have never got tired is Purina Whisker Lickin's. Get the soft ones, smash one in your hands, put the pill inside of it, and mold it closed (the bigger ones work better, heart or fish shaped for example). Buy several different flavors, so your kitties never get tired of it... Also always feed a couple plain treats after you feed the treat with the pill in it in case they bite the pill treat - kitties are smart, and they can catch on the pill pocket trick if they bite into it... Purina treats are cheaper and more effective than pill pockets IMHO...
I have been doing this for months 2x a day, and Gracie never got tired... She got tired of pill pockets in about 2 weeks time.

I've been giving Genever pred. in pill pockets since September, and she gets pretty excited about her 'midnight snack'. I call it that since I give it to her at night. Sometimes I do run out of the Pill Pockets and use the soft treats, which work andare definitely cheaper, but to me they're kind of hard to mold around the pill, they tend to crumble for me. Also, the pills she gets are tiny, so I can use a half of a pill pocket, so a pack lasts longer. Thanks for the tip though, if I have problems I will definitely try the regular soft treats again, since we usually have them on hand too.

Well, again, I appreciate the advice from you on wrapping up a cat. I made BF read the thread last night, and he said OK. Then this morning, he decided to just hold Dorothy on his own. He's much better at it than I am, and it worked fine enough, we got the medicine in her in 4 squirts, and she happily ate a Tuna Pounce. I still think a towel would be easier, but hey, if he's willing to hold her with his bare hands, then fine. Just one more day of this. Sigh. Men.

We always wrapped up our cats for liquid meds. My RB girl Tiger was the only "good" one which is fortunate because she needed quite a lot in her last months. You should have seen me trying to get the 2 worming pills into each of my girls last winter! Anyone who thinks cats are dumb never tried to get them to swallow pills!!

Originally Posted by DarkMavis

I still think a towel would be easier, but hey, if he's willing to hold her with his bare hands, then fine. Just one more day of this. Sigh. Men.

Click to expand...

The other reason to use a towel to give a cat a liquid med is to help prevent getting it all over you should you miss or kitty manages to spit it out. But if he's willing to risk getting covered in panacur (which isn't that bad), it's his choice.