Ideas for "hiding" pills?

  I am so sorry for poor Jamie and you, and vibes for both.

Tricia, I'm so sorry about Jamie. I didn't see this until you posted about him in one of the threads in the Lounge.

When Banshee was so sick, she was taking two pills pretty much every day. In the beginning it was difficult trying to get pills into her. We tried pill pockets and she'd spit the pill out. We did the pill shooter and she'd still give us a hassle. She would froth at the mouth and everything; it was a mess.

Rick and I finally got to the point where I would hold her and Rick would take his thumb and forefinger and "push" at each side of her mouth, forcing her mouth open. He would say, "Open!" the whole time. And he toss the pill down, and then stroke her throat. She always got treats afterward, but it was a constant struggle.

Eventually, I got to the point where I could do it by myself. And one morning, I walked over to her when she was sitting on the back of the chair. I said, "Open!" and prepared to push against her mouth. And she opened her mouth on her own!  I was so shocked I just stood there.....Rick said, "Toss the pill, toss the pill!" And I did.

From then on, she was no problem. She'd open her mouth, I'd toss the pills, she'd swallow and she got her treats. And it got to the point that on Sunday mornings, when I was filling her pill holder with her pills, she'd sit on the back of her chair and chirp at me til she got her pills.....and her treats. It was amazing. I never thought a cat would be so docile with meds.

Human tuna is a good idea. Or how about a cheese cube that you could put the pill inside? Shrimp is good. Are the pills allowed to be crushed and mixed in with his food? Banshee's pills couldn't be crushed; they were time-release, that's why I'm asking. Have you tried to coat the pill with butter to make it a little easier to go down his throat? Or perhaps coat with honey?

I hope he'll be OK. Sending you and Jamie (((hugs)))

Tricia, I always pill Gracie with Purina Whisker Lickin's soft treats - the best ones are the chicken and salmon flavors. I flatten one on the palm of my hand, put the pill in, and fold the treat over the pill back again - does that make sense? You kind of rebuild the treat with the pill inside -always, always works, 100% of the time - have been doing it 2x a day for the last year, and it never failed me. I do different flavors so she doesn't grow tired of them, but she loves it. Hope it helps!! :vibes: :wavey:

I'm so sorry to hear about Jamie.  I had no idea he even had a heart problem, let alone how bad it is.  But I'm glad at least he can take pills to help with it. 

I'm dealing with the same issue as you right now with pilling a cat who doesn't cooperate, and am looking into compounding pharmacies on the internet.  They can compound many, many drugs, and can make them into many different type of solutions...pills form, powder form, liquid form, even topical to rub on their ears.  All your Vet has to do is call them and they'll make them up and mail them out.  Not all drugs can be compounded, but many can. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by jcat 

I'll have to talk to my vets and the pharmacies around here to ask about compounding. We live in Germany, and it doesn't seem to be common here.

Internet is where I found pharmacies that compound.  Just google it.

I am so glad I came across this thread, as my poor little Rusty is terrible when it comes to giving her her pills!! This maybe a silly question and I only ask as Ive never heard of it, but doesnt mozzarella not give them an upset tummy? x

Wow, that is so fabulous that he is responding to the good stuff! I am very sorry to hear about your kitty's HCM though :-( :-( :-(.

When all else failed, and most of my cats fight pills as if they are poison, I have had tremendous luck putting the pill in my kitty's mouth kind of from behind with my left hand, and then very quickly with my right hand squirting a little bit of water into kitty's mouth with a syringe. This really helps with horrible tasting pills. 

I just joined today, so do not know you or your kitty at all. I wanted to say how sorry I am to hear your furrbaby is ill and hoping for the best.  I am not sure if you can do this depending on the medication. My cat got an eye infection and the ointment burned, so my vet put my cat on a pill.  The very first time I put the ointment on my cat, he learned the look of the tube, so if he sees the tube he runs, so I get that they become wise to our tricks very quickly.

Anyway, I cannot remember what it was my cat was on, but I grinded up one pill very finely and measured it. I did this three times, just for accuracy.  I found it was exactly 1/4 of a teaspoon each time, so I grinded up the entire bottle (my cat HATES the grinder...too loud) and put the spoon with the container, and even marked on the container (where I put the grinded up pills)  what color the measuring spoon was, as I noticed sometimes different measuring spoon sets vary very slightly, and if someone moved the spoon or washed it (yeah right...lol). I generally use real tuna and use just two spoons, so that I know he got all the medicine. When he grew tired of the tuna, I moved on to whipped cream. If he just sees the can he is my best friend. I can call and call him and he won't come. He will pick up his head and look at me, but will not come. But, if he hears or sees that whipped cream he comes....I put a bit of whipped cream down and then put the grindings on it and then add a bit of whipped cream on top. I did not mean for this to turn in to a long post...but I thought I'd share my idea. Hoing Jamie is getting stronger every day.

Quote:

Originally Posted by beautifuldoug 

 When he grew tired of the tuna, I moved on to whipped cream. If he just sees the can he is my best friend. I can call and call him and he won't come. He will pick up his head and look at me, but will not come. But, if he hears or sees that whipped cream he comes....I put a bit of whipped cream down and then put the grindings on it and then add a bit of whipped cream on top. I did not mean for this to turn in to a long post...but I thought I'd share my idea. Hoing Jamie is getting stronger every day.

So, I'm guessing from the sound of this that you use something like Redi-Whip, in the can that sprays out of the nozzle?  Hmm, I would never thought of that as something cats would go for.  But may need to try it. 

Yesterday I asked my Vet for some tricks to use for Pepcid AC, since it's got a bitter taste, and she suggested hiding it in small pieces of hot dog.  So I painstakingly cut a small piece of hot dog, then cut a slit in it and got some tweezers to stuff my 1/4 tab of the pill into it so I wouldn't get any of the scent of the pill on the outside of the hot dog, and do you think that worked?  No Way!  So today I used Carolina's trick of flattening a soft Whiska Lickins and burying it inside, but FIRST, I coated the 1/4 tab with butter to hide the scent, and it WORKED   I might re-try the hot dog, but coat the pill in butter first and see how that works.  Also, guess I'd better get a pill grinder to use with some whipped cream as a back-up.  I've tried grinding up those Pepcid tablets between 2 spoons, and that just didn't work.
 

I'm glad the spray cheese is working as a back-up for you.  Have you tried Carolina's trick using the soft Whiska Lickin's yet?  That one works for me once in awhile.   Also, once in awhile I can get away with using a Greenies Pill Pocket, but I have to smoosh it up first because the 1/4 pill still won't even fit in it,  After I smoosh it up, then I can wrap it around Sven's 1/4 pill.  I can't tell you how many of his "spiked" treats have been thrown away because he won't eat them! He has refused "spiked" hot dogs, spray cheese, cream cheese, liverwurst, motzarella cheese, and I think something else but I can't remember right now!   I was wondering, though, HOW you hid it in tuna.  Are you talking about an actual tiny piece of raw tuna steak?  Otherwise, how would you hide a pill in a piece of tuna that comes in a can?  Isn't that flaked?  (just curious, because I'm getting desperate here!)

Tricia, I just saw this thread because of the one Carolina started. My prayers are with both Jamie and you.

My Dad said cream cheese works for his cat.

I wish I knew all these pill secrets when i was trying to get my cat to take them for a week... A HUGE hassle. 

Jcat my thoughts are with you and Jamie for you both. 

When I covered Sven's pill in cream cheese, it kept it's shape alright...as a matter of fact, it's still round, and it's still uneaten , along with a whole lot of other little round balls of pills surrounded by liverwurst, soft Whiska Lickins, American Cheese & even Velveeta Cheese.  Not to worry, though, I'm storing them all in the fridge in their own little ziploc bags, and every day I bring them out and try to entice him to eat just one.  He is one obstinate cat!  Unfortunately, he's only hurting himself, because when he doesn't get his pills, his tummy gets upset (he pills are Pepcid AC).  It's a catch 22 I think, because he doesn't feel well, so he doesn't want to eat, but if he just would eat enough to get the pills down, then he'd feel like eating more.  Well, I bought some FRESH soft Whiska Lickins today in a different flavor, so I'm hoping he'll try that one right after we give him his sub-qs.  Wish me luck

Another thing you can try with bitter pills is to put them into a small gelatin type pill capsule. I have started doing this with Sneakers' pills because some of them taste bad and if I try to put them in a treat, as soon as she bites into the treat and tastes the pill she'll spit it out. If it's in a capsule that doesn't happen.

I still have to pill her often but she doesn't fight it as much if they're in a capsule (I sometimes also put a layer of greenies pill pocket around the capsule.
It is a struggle to pill Sneakers but it helps if I wrap her up in a towel so she can't claw me.