There has to be an easier way to give a cat a pill

This is so stressful, for all of us. Getting hold of her has gotten easier since we blocked off her access to under the bed, but she's a strong kitty and she clamps her jaws shut so that DH can't get her mouth open to deposit the pill. We eventually get her to swallow it, but I'm so afraid of hurting her and so is DH. She won't take it in any kind of food or pill pocket or anything like that. How do people give their cats medicine when there's only one person to do it? We can barely get it done with the two of us.

Does anyone have any tips we can try? We have 11 more days of this.

Most medicines can be called into a compounding pharmacy to be made into either liquid form or transdermal form.

With liquid, you dont even have to have her mouth open, just syringe just inside her lips between her teeth and lips... transdermal, you just rub it on their ears.... it makes it so much easier for the kitty and you.

Have you tried a pill shooter? That way you don't need to get your fingers near her mouth...

Pill Pockets usually work great for me. Sometimes the cat will eat them straight but usually I have to bury it in a tablespoon or so of wet food at meal time. I don't put it in more than just a little bit of wet food because I want them to gobble it up quick while they're hungry. I give them the rest of their meal only after they've eaten the PP. I also rarely use an entire PP. I make it as small as possible so it will be easy to swallow and they'll be less likely to bite into it.

http://www.petsmart.com/product/inde...ductId=2755242

Originally Posted by Ms. Freya

Have you tried a pill shooter? That way you don't need to get your fingers near her mouth...

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I haven't tried pill shooter, I'm kind of afraid to shoot it in her mouth in case she swallows it wrong. I'm a wuss. We have thought about it, though.

Originally Posted by Pami

Most medicines can be called into a compounding pharmacy to be made into either liquid form or transdermal form.

With liquid, you dont even have to have her mouth open, just syringe just inside her lips between her teeth and lips... transdermal, you just rub it on their ears.... it makes it so much easier for the kitty and you.

Click to expand...

This sounds interesting. Where would I find a compounding pharmacy? Would I just ask the vet about it? Rubbing it on the ears would work as well as giving her a pill?

Originally Posted by mschauer

Pill Pockets usually work great for me. Sometimes the cat will eat them straight but usually I have to bury it in a tablespoon or so of wet food at meal time. I don't put it in more than just a little bit of wet food because I want them to gobble it up quick while they're hungry. I give them the rest of their meal only after they've eaten the PP. I also rarely use an entire PP. I make it as small as possible so it will be easy to swallow and they'll be less likely to bite into it.

http://www.petsmart.com/product/inde...ductId=2755242

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She won't eat a pill pocket, with or without pill. Neither of my cats will. I tried it once without a pill to see if they would, but nope. In any case, all she does is lick her food and never eats all of it, so that's not an option. I wish it was.

I should start by saying my kitty is fairly good about taking pills.

Here's what I do.

If Puddy seems like she is going to be squirmy (sometimes she is, sometimes she isn't), I wrap her completely in the familiar blanky that we keep on our couch. Obviously, I leave her head poking out : )

Then I use a trick I learned from putting bridles on horses: I stick a finger in one corner of her mouth to make her open her mouth. Then I quickly shove the pill in and hold her mouth shut, and if I can (if she's not squirming too much), I massage her throat gently, to encourage swallowing (my mum taught me this, she's loved many cats).

I do all this as swiftly as possible so Puddy doesn't have much time to realise what's happening, while handling her as gently as possible and speaking in a firm but soothing way.

I hope these tips might help you and your kitty in some way, though I am guessing you might have already tried them.

Originally Posted by Misty8723

This is so stressful, for all of us. Getting hold of her has gotten easier since we blocked off her access to under the bed, but she's a strong kitty and she clamps her jaws shut so that DH can't get her mouth open to deposit the pill. We eventually get her to swallow it, but I'm so afraid of hurting her and so is DH. She won't take it in any kind of food or pill pocket or anything like that. How do people give their cats medicine when there's only one person to do it? We can barely get it done with the two of us.

Does anyone have any tips we can try? We have 11 more days of this.

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I would say hide the pill in some food the cat likes.

My DSH Shadow loves Pounce cat treats, so I hide the pill in them (squish the semi-moist treats around the pill).

For Panda the DLH who loves some wet foods that are too rich for her medical diet, I can hide the pill in that and she eats it. Or since she is so used to getting medication I will give her a Whisker Temptation Cat treat then her pill which she swallows and then another treat. Since she is/always will be very sick she is used to taking medication. Since I make it worth her while aka giving her treats for taking the medication.

Now for Loki my F3 Savannah who eats anything (wet cat food, meat, paper, plastic ). I just hide it in some canned food.

Originally Posted by Misty8723

I haven't tried pill shooter, I'm kind of afraid to shoot it in her mouth in case she swallows it wrong. I'm a wuss. We have thought about it, though.

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I understand completely...the shooter is if DH needs to pill them, I prefer to do it by hand. One thing we found worked was crushing he pill into yogurt...it helps if your cat is obsessed with yogurt, though.

Maybe crush it into baby food or something she can't resist?

One of my cats was on some medicine that is known for tasting bad and was giving me a hard time when I had to try to give him meds by myself one morning. I took a small piece of a slice of cheese and wrapped his medicine in it. I smushed the cheese into a small ball and he ate his pill immediately without noticing it. This worked for over a week until he was done with it. One of my friends was successful with this method too.

Originally Posted by Misty8723

This sounds interesting. Where would I find a compounding pharmacy? Would I just ask the vet about it? Rubbing it on the ears would work as well as giving her a pill?

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You can just look in your local phone book under compounding pharmacy and if you dont have one near you, there are ones online. You would just have your vet call the prescription into the pharmacy.

I would choose the pharmacy first and call them and ask them if what you need is available in transdermal form and if not ask about liquid. (they can also add beef or chicken flavors to the liquid) and then once you know which one they can do, then call the vet and have him call in what you need. Transdermal is definitely the easiest.

And yes it is just as effective, just in a different form.

The pill shooter worked for me when I had to pill my feral for something like 4 weeks straight. I would corner her, wait until she hissed, and stick it in her mouth. I never had any issues with it going down the wrong way.

I also second the compounding pharmacy. Although she doesn't like cream in her ears either, it's much easier than pilling.

This particular cat has immune system problem, and I was so thrilled when Covenia came out that I couldn't see straight.

Originally Posted by lovely2011

I also second the compounding pharmacy. Although she doesn't like cream in her ears either, it's much easier than pilling.

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Oh I have never had to use it in cream form or in the ears. Mine was a thin, similar to gel, but a lighter than gel substance, that I rubbed right near the tip of the ear, not inside the ear, with just a tiny amount. It was done and over with in a sec.

This has rarely failed for me. I've been pilling 2 of my cats every other day for years now, and have used this for extremely skittish cats.

Have the pill ready to administer. Kneel on the floor with your ankles crossed under your behind. Place the cat between your thighs with his/her head facing away from you. The cat can't scoot backwards with your ankles in the way and can't scoot side to side with your thighs there. Have your thighs close to the cat without squeezing them.

Assuming you are right handed: Place your left hand on the top of their head with your thumb on one side of their upper jaw and your index or middle finger on the other side. Open their mouths and use your right hand to insert the pill. I use a pill gun, and come at them from a slight angle so they don't see it coming. Once the pill is in their mouth, (drop the pill gun if you used that) place your right hand under their chin and angle their head upwards at about a 45 degree angle. Rub their throat if necessary if they have not swallowed. I then give them long scritches and praise them to death. With my Muddy, I kiss the top of his head over and over again as he really likes this (e.g. do something after the pill that is very pleasurable to them).

And before you do this, take a deep breath and remain calm. It's always harder to do if you are stressed yourself as your cat will pick up on that.

I've just been giving 2 vile tasting pills a day to 3 cats. No type of food can disguise the taste, so I used same method as post above. There's only me at home, so have to kneel down, wedge the cat between my legs and drop in the pill. This is the key to success - dropping the pill beyond the cats tongue. Then it's a question of waiting till they swallow, I had to sit holding one of the cats for about 20 minutes this morning as they've become too smart to swallow. I found squirting a bit of water in can help. It's a major annoyance I have with vets here that they seem to only order in dog sizes of pills, so cats get a half - Half a pill is much worse to give than a whole one, especially when the contents are bitter and make the cats foam at the mouth (flagyl)
It's stressful.