Pilling a difficult cat

finnlacey said:

 
You know they sell flavored gelcaps online, chicken, beef, bacon. It helps at least. They also sell these sort of blanket bags you put them in and zip up so they can't scratch you and fly around all over the place.

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I would love more information on the blanket bags.  Do you remember the name of the company that sells them?  I, too, have a difficult cat.  I, too, have tried everything.  I have ended up at the ER once getting stitches...although, the cat did get the pill, so it was worth it.  I think.  That pill cost me just over $500.

Mamanyt1953 said:

I would love more information on the blanket bags.  Do you remember the name of the company that sells them?  I, too, have a difficult cat.  I, too, have tried everything.  I have ended up at the ER once getting stitches...although, the cat did get the pill, so it was worth it.  I think.  That pill cost me just over $500.

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I use this one to give subq fluids for my CRD cat and it works very well. It looks scary but he feels very safe and secure in there.

Birdie is the same.I found using a very small syringe to give her water with the pill helped. Get the head back and the mouth open get the pill way back in the moth in the middle WAY back close mouth. Bring head back to normal. get the little tiny syringe ( I got one from the vet to give liquid meds). Squirt a bit of water in and the cat will swallow. Don't do it with the kitty's head back or water will go donw the wrong pipe. That worked for Birde. Not always but it helped.

Jenny82 said:

 
I highly recommend this pill popper:


I just learned how to use it correctly.  You can add water to it for a chaser, and then dry the tip and place the pill just inside.  You can turn it upside down without the pill getting wet.  Then I hold my cat and try to plunge it far into the back of her mouth.  There's a little water spillage but the pill goes down easily, and there's no foaming from the pill dissolving too early.

Good luck!

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Agreed on this one. Although the smaller the cat, the more difficult it is regardless, at least for me, lol. Slippery eel cats!

@Birdie1953, I wish it worked like that for me. Thankfully Sara does pill pockets. After Lucky got sick though, he stopped taking them. I went through every possible way I could think of to get pills into him before getting this pill popper.

Pill pockets.

Mixing the crushed pill in with tuna water and SLOWLY administer the mixture by syringe/dropper.

Pill masker - a type of flavored "paste" that you form around the pill to give to your cat.

Pill shooter.

Asking if the medication comes in liquid form. 

Use a drier pate food and make a "meatball" around the pill and give it. 

Do you have to give the full dose at once or can you do it in increments throughout the day? 

amandad said:

 
Pill pockets.

Mixing the crushed pill in with tuna water and SLOWLY administer the mixture by syringe/dropper.

Pill masker - a type of flavored "paste" that you form around the pill to give to your cat.

Pill shooter.

Asking if the medication comes in liquid form. 

Use a drier pate food and make a "meatball" around the pill and give it. 

Do you have to give the full dose at once or can you do it in increments throughout the day? 

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Regarding mixing it with tuna juice and administering via syringe - be VERY careful with this! 1) I ended up with my cat's tooth firmly in my thumb and even worse 2) he developed an aversion to tuna and tuna juice. Definitely not something you want to have happen. Plus some pills do not work well with this method. Thinking Pepcid and mirtazepine off the top of my head.

Jenny82 said:

I use this one to give subq fluids for my CRD cat and it works very well. It looks scary but he feels very safe and secure in there.

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Went there, Bookmarked that!  BOY...Amazon really does have a bit of everthing, doesn't it?  I shall be ordering one when my January check comes in!  Until then, I'll just burrito her as best I can and pray for the best.  She has to have a Comfortis tomorrow.  They're HUGE, and she hacks and gags on them.  I may try dissolving it in water and syringing it in her, as much as I hate to do that.

Also be careful to wash your hands after touching the pill and not touch the pill pocket with hands that touched the pill. Tweezers to put pill in pocket helps.

I didn't know this and now can't use the pill pocket. Cat's smell is so good they can smell the medicine on the pill pocket the smell is on your hands when you touch it.

Donutte said:

 
Regarding mixing it with tuna juice and administering via syringe - be VERY careful with this! 1) I ended up with my cat's tooth firmly in my thumb and even worse 2) he developed an aversion to tuna and tuna juice. Definitely not something you want to have happen. Plus some pills do not work well with this method. Thinking Pepcid and mirtazepine off the top of my head.

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If you scruff your cat while giving medicine, you shouldn't have to worry about them biting you or clawing you. The very first time I had to give any of my cats medicine, I asked the vet what I should do. They said to get the medicine ready, scruff your cat, and administer the medicine. All of the cats I've ever had that I could remember their eating habits have been really picky (except Lincoln). My one cat, I did a mixture of Tuna water and her medicine and she still ate tuna when I would have it or if it was in their wet food. I'm not saying that it can't happen, but in my experience, it hasn't. 

amandad said:

 
If you scruff your cat while giving medicine, you shouldn't have to worry about them biting you or clawing you. The very first time I had to give any of my cats medicine, I asked the vet what I should do. They said to get the medicine ready, scruff your cat, and administer the medicine. All of the cats I've ever had that I could remember their eating habits have been really picky (except Lincoln). My one cat, I did a mixture of Tuna water and her medicine and she still ate tuna when I would have it or if it was in their wet food. I'm not saying that it can't happen, but in my experience, it hasn't. 

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If you have a cat that is losing its appetite due to a medical condition, it doesn't take a lot to make it averse to something. That's why I say to use tuna juice when administering pills with caution.

And I have never, and will never, scruff my cats while giving meds.

Donutte said:

  
And I have never, and will never, scruff my cats while giving meds.

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Although the general consensus of almost all veterinarians and cat behaviorists is that scruffig done properly does not harm the cat, and can be a fairly gentle and positive way of controling one, there's always that "done properly" that is a concern.  And there is the occasional "scruff-proof" critter that just isn't having any of it.  I have scruffed cats in the past, especially when giving injections, when moving would cause damage, and was trained by my vet when I had a cat that required twice-daily injections.  He never had a problem with my scruffing him at all.  That said, Hekitty is apparently scruff-proof.  She could care less how professional my technique is, it doesn't affect her except to tick her off royally.  That tortitude, once again, rears it's ugly-cute head.  I'm one day late with the Comfortis...I swear I'll dose her tomorrow...but I am NOT looking forward to this one little bit.  I can't break the tablets to make them smaller(afraid of sharp edges), they're HUGE and she gags on them, and they taste horrible, so dissolving them in water is gonna end up so badly.  It's probably what I'll resort to...I'd never put a very bad-tasting pill in tuna juice.  It's one of the few things outside of kibbles that she really loves, and I don't want to discourage any liquid (although I have to refill all four water dishes daily, and there's always the BIG bowl {potty} that is her faill-back position.  Water intake is not an issue with this cat.  She sucks it down like a camel.  Had her checked for diabetes because of it.  She's fine, just drinks a lot.)

Dear heavens, that was convoluted...

Mamanyt1953 said:

 
Although the general consensus of almost all veterinarians and cat behaviorists is that scruffig done properly does not harm the cat, and can be a fairly gentle and positive way of controling one, there's always that "done properly" that is a concern.  And there is the occasional "scruff-proof" critter that just isn't having any of it.  I have scruffed cats in the past, especially when giving injections, when moving would cause damage, and was trained by my vet when I had a cat that required twice-daily injections.  He never had a problem with my scruffing him at all.  That said, Hekitty is apparently scruff-proof.  She could care less how professional my technique is, it doesn't affect her except to tick her off royally.  That tortitude, once again, rears it's ugly-cute head.  I'm one day late with the Comfortis...I swear I'll dose her tomorrow...but I am NOT looking forward to this one little bit.  I can't break the tablets to make them smaller(afraid of sharp edges), they're HUGE and she gags on them, and they taste horrible, so dissolving them in water is gonna end up so badly.  It's probably what I'll resort to...I'd never put a very bad-tasting pill in tuna juice.  It's one of the few things outside of kibbles that she really loves, and I don't want to discourage any liquid (although I have to refill all four water dishes daily, and there's always the BIG bowl {potty} that is her faill-back position.  Water intake is not an issue with this cat.  She sucks it down like a camel.  Had her checked for diabetes because of it.  She's fine, just drinks a lot.)

Dear heavens, that was convoluted...

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LOL, well, we are talking about cats here...

My Luck's last 16 days were not pleasant. I chose to gently hold his head and tilt it back. The day he bit me, I remember thinking, "good, he must be doing better if he had the energy to fight me like that". Sigh. I shake a lot so find doing a lot of things "properly" to be difficult. I have no idea how I managed the subqs.

As for your kitty, you may find it helpful to invest in the pill popper, and some gel caps. then you can break the pill into pieces, shove it in the gel cap, and then pop it in. You can put some butter on the top of the gel cap for ease in sliding down.

Donutte said:

 
LOL, well, we are talking about cats here...

My Luck's last 16 days were not pleasant. I chose to gently hold his head and tilt it back. The day he bit me, I remember thinking, "good, he must be doing better if he had the energy to fight me like that". Sigh. I shake a lot so find doing a lot of things "properly" to be difficult. I have no idea how I managed the subqs.

As for your kitty, you may find it helpful to invest in the pill popper, and some gel caps. then you can break the pill into pieces, shove it in the gel cap, and then pop it in. You can put some butter on the top of the gel cap for ease in sliding down.

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And I'm a total idiot.  I actually have gel caps and a mortar and pestle.  All I need is the pill popper, and till then, I can just poke 'em on down.  Actually, I have several mortar-and -pestle sets.  One for medicinal only, internal herbs, one for culinary only, one for medicinal external only, and one for blending incenses.   I would think that if it is safe for the cat to take internally, it isn't likely to poison me.  If there is any cross-contamination, at least I'll be flea-free!

Mamanyt1953 said:

 
And I'm a total idiot.  I actually have gel caps and a mortar and pestle.  All I need is the pill popper, and till then, I can just poke 'em on down.  Actually, I have several mortar-and -pestle sets.  One for medicinal only, internal herbs, one for culinary only, one for medicinal external only, and one for blending incenses.   I would think that if it is safe for the cat to take internally, it isn't likely to poison me.  If there is any cross-contamination, at least I'll be flea-free!

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I literally LOL'd just now!

If I really need to smash a pill up, I put it in a folded-over paper towel and smash it with blunt end of a screwdriver. Yeah, I'm fancy, lol. Gel caps definitely make it easier for those times I don't have a better way of doing it. Like that last time that Sara decided she didn't want her pill pocket, and I had to give her three pills that morning. I somehow miraculously shoved them ALL into one gel cap, and pill-popped that baby into her. Granted, THAT was a struggle in itself because she's a slippery little eel.

Donutte said:

 
I literally LOL'd just now!

If I really need to smash a pill up, I put it in a folded-over paper towel and smash it with blunt end of a screwdriver. Yeah, I'm fancy, lol. Gel caps definitely make it easier for those times I don't have a better way of doing it. Like that last time that Sara decided she didn't want her pill pocket, and I had to give her three pills that morning. I somehow miraculously shoved them ALL into one gel cap, and pill-popped that baby into her. Granted, THAT was a struggle in itself because she's a slippery little eel.

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I'm so familiar with slippery eels kittehs.  Hekitty can mule-kick her way out of a cat burrito in about 33 seconds flat, so I have to move fast when I get started.  She is starting to go into hiding whenever I bring a towel into the living room.  How a grown cat can fit into the places she hides is utterly beyond me.

I've recently started administering Clavamox to my little one. Despite all my efforts to hide the pill (either crushed into dust or quartered) into her wet food, she can detect it. Seems like most cats won't touch this stuff with a ten foot poll! The throw-it-down-the-hole method didn't work either, as she has stomatitis and her gums are very sensitive, so I don't want to force her mouth open - twice a day at that. 

I suspected that as soon as the medication touches moisture it will smell much more potent than in its' dry form. 

My solution was to hide it in a treat that I know she goes crazy for - Temptations or Greenies SmartBites. Someone else mentioned that they try this as well with success. I use the regular, dry kind, with the soft flavoured insides. 

My method:

-Chop the Clavamox pill into 4 peices - this makes it a manageable size for the treat

-Carefully chop off one end with a knife, just enough to see a gap where the filling is 

-Gently slide one piece of the pill into the hole that you've created 

-Hold the treat so she can smell it, but NOT the end where the pill is inserted. It's important to keep your thump or finger over any exposed medication until it enters their mouth so they can't smell it directly. 

My cat will eat all 4 pieces, and beg for more. 

I should note that I don't particularly like giving her Temptations, as I know they are like kitty-crack, but in this case I've had to make an exception, as a small amount of grain and additives are the lesser of the two evils that is her UTI. The greenies are better in contents, however, I find they are smaller is size than the Temptations and a bit harder to create that hole for the medication to hide in.

Hope this helps. Good luck ya'll!