Pilling a cat

They should have an emoticon for tears for my subject line! Im so frustrated!
I have to pill Jayce with antibiotics (Clavimox I think?) 2 times a day for 10 days. Yeah right! How the heck am I gonna do that?
The vet made it look sooooo easy! Just firmly hold the bone under the eyes and pull the head back, drop the pill in the gap in back of the hump of the tongue and gently close its mouth.

We just did our first pill and Im a wreck Its Jayce, my easiest cat thank God. Fortunately I didnt suffer any damages although my poor baby probably hates me now!! It took almost 10 minutes of struggling and different positions and tricks. I even tried to hide it in some good wet cat food. Nope, he ate around it So then I had to shove it down his mouth.

Hissy, how the heck do you do this to ferals?????!!! My God, it is more difficult than I ever imagined! Its times like this I wish I had someone else living with me to help. I ended up putting him on top of the stove and trying to pin him down with one arm and prying his mouth with the other. I almost got a few angry paws in my face but I was able to move out of the way.

But man, Im shaking, that was so difficult and frustrating. How am I going to do this 19 more times???

Ok deep breath-

First off, make sure you have a pill gun. You can get one at your vet's office for under $1.00

Next time you go to pill, make sure you have the gun loaded and laying on a paper towel on the floor. Pick up your cat, cradle him in your arms, next kneel down near the loaded pill gun, cross your ankles behind you. Place Jaycie between your spread knees, tip his head up, pick up the pill gun, tickle the gums with the tip of the gun until he opens his mouth, insert the pill gun and shoot the pill down his throat. Give him a few strokes and pets and let him go.

I am sorry to read that . Yes pilling is not easy at all , some cats are ok with it but I have a few I rather would not try that . I had to pill Snowbal for over 6 weeks . I hate pilling cats .

wow a pill gun , next time I need to do that I make sure I get me one from my vet .

Oh, don't feel too bad!!! Hissy gave great instructions already, so I'll just give a little story.

The vet was demonstrating how to pill my Mozart. He was 2 mths old, a baby. Same thing, raise head, drop pill in, close mouth, massage, voila! Done. Great. See how easy?

Mozart proceeded to open his mouth right after the vet said, "See?", and spat that sucker all the way across the room into the corner. "Goal!" So out came the pill gun next.

This was a vet in business for 20 years. So see, even vets have problems pilling sometimes.

If Jayce still won't cooperate, try 'burrito'ing him - wrapping snuggly in a towel so he can't rip your eyes out.

Good luck!

Thanks for the laugh, Superkitty

Ok, pill gun. Sounds excellent. Thanks Hissy I will pick one up on Monday when they open. Until then, only 3 pills to do by hand I did try that thing to cross my ankles behind me and try to hold him between my legs as I kneeled, but my skinny little guy snuck through a gap between my ankles and my butt So I'll have to try and maneuver that better.

About wrapping him, I hadnt thought to do that because Id heard you can hurt a cat if you dont do it right?

You have already gotten some great advice here.

All I wanted to say was that one of my cats will eat around a pill,too.All the rest will gobble it down.Strange how they know it's in there.

If you have to do it again before you get the pill gun,maybe you could break off a small piece of hot dog and try to hide it in there.Maybe try tuna,or something they realllllly love.Heck,I don't know,just trying to throw out ideas here.

Good luck and try to calm yourself down.

Anytime, MamaKat!

Originally posted by MamaKat
About wrapping him, I hadnt thought to do that because Id heard you can hurt a cat if you dont do it right?

Click to expand...

I don't know about that, can't help there. I've wrapped my little guys up successfully, and haven't had any problems, knock on wood. Gotta do it nice and secure, if they're pissed they will wriggle the hell out of it.

I had better success this morning. The towel wrapping trick worked well. I started just by knelling over him like Hissy described but he can still sneak out somehow. So then I wrapped him and kneeled over him and finally after a few tries with that was able to do it.

I still feel so bad though because this treatment is for his face. His face is scabby and probably sore, and here I am pulling at it to open his mouth He cried out one time when I almost had his mouth open but I felt so bad I let go. My poor baby

Thanks for the help though, Im still going to try and get a pill gun tomorrow. But with the towel trick, its slightly easier.

Glad the towel worked- I forgot to say, you have to hunker down and sit on your legs after you cross your feet. You must have a nimble cat! LOL

I am SO glad someone else is struggling, and I'm not alone.
My cat Pau Sau is the first cat I've ever had problems with
in getting a pill down his throat. He is such a thin boney wriggly thing, that the wrapping technique was almost as exhausting as fighting to get the pill in his mouth, and maybe I wasn't doing it right, but it just didn't work for me.

The Pill Gun for me was worse. I have little hands and the plastic
nozzle coming towards him freaked him out. I still have the scars !

After a few pints of blood loss, and yowling sessions from both my my cat, myself, and my mother who was assisting the procedure, we drafted in extra troops...my dad and brother. Everyone grabbed a bending writhing feline body part, and in the tablet went...more wide-eyed wriggilng and writhing, not to mention frothing at the mouth, and rolling eyes, and the pill was inside...well at least for a few seconds until he sat up, everyone released this wild cat, and he reguritated a soggy mess...or if we were really lucky, with a
skillful flick of his head, we were covered in froth and/or a mushed up peice of semi-liquified tablet.

My method of hiding the pill in chicken and packing his greedy
mouth so full, then play threatening to take it all off him, so he ate it all down as quickly as possible, is slowly wearing thin....and after an hour long attempt, I have had to change
my tactics. So now we have Phase 4.

Wake the cat, with pill in hand ready to go. Gently rouse the
furicious beast with a friendly head rub. When his bleary eys
open and look up, before he can focus, quickly grab his head,
prise open the jaws of the clearly shocked cat, and drop in the
pill before slamming his jaws shut and as he gulps, in a baby
talk voice saying things like " oh pooooorrrr Pauie, what was that?
did you have a bad dream ??? Never mind, you go back to sleep now,
its alright, etc ". At which point he lays down his head, and
continues his dreams...errr....probably plotting an armed attack
against me !

Well, at least its giving time for the scars to heal, until this method begins to fail too !

Seriously though, as you can tell, I have no useful advice to offer,
I just wanted to re-assure you...you are NOT alone in your
Battle of the Feline Pill!

Peace, Love, and Happiness, Always
Sonia

My vet mixed clavimox with a little water or something so I could give it to my cat with a dropper. That seemed alot easier. Good luck

maybe you can try putting the pill in a fillet of sardine? I have never tried this, I've always had drops with Amber, but maybe that might work?

How's it going today Mamakat? Were you able to get a pill gun from your vet?

Em is now scared of me coming at him with a towel or small blanket. I've been wrapping him up to put his ear drops in. It works.

Em was doing so good with his ears, now one is bothering him again. I'll never get his ear well? What is wrong? I feel so bad.


Ok on to the topic. I had to give Em some pain killers when I got him back from being fixed. I crushed it up into powder and mixed it in a little wet food and he ate it.

You could try that.

Sonia,

Not to make light of your situation, but I was laughing so hard while reading your post - I nearly choked.

Hi All

I have to give my cat Tessa phenobarbitol 2 x a day for her seisures. It's nasty tasting. Just ask her.

I have resorted to mashing the pill to complete dust in a ceramic bowl and then do one of 2 things; I either mix it with hot water and then pour her dry food on top until the water/pill mix is all soaked into the kibble or I mix it really well into plenty of tuna or meat based baby food.

Good luck!

Beth

If you have to give your baby Clavimox, see if your vet can give you the liquid form. Every time I had to give Clavimox to one of mine, it was always a liquid and was much easier to give that way than the pills. I don't have one of those pill guns that Hissy mentioned. My vet uses one of those and makes it so easy.

I had to give my cat Smokey a pill every day for the last 2 years of her life. I was VERY lucky. She took it very well. However, on occasion she would somehow manange not to swallow it & spit it out on the carpet after about 5 minuets. I'm always amazed at how good they are at that little trick. I did read that you tried to put it in food, but I don't know if you crushed it? That is what we do at the shelter. If we crush it & mix it in with the wet food they don't know it's there. Another little treat that you cat might like is chicken baby food. we feed this to cats who are sick, but when I've given it to my boys you'd think I had gold in those little bowls. So if you crush the pill & kind of mix it in chances are it won't be noticed. & Like someone else said don't feel bad there are vets that have a hard time with some cats.

Its going much better with some practice and Jayce staying wrapped in a towel. It works like a charm
Well, almost
I did inquire about a "Cat Piller" at the vets but they were all out I saw her use one on Abby though and it was slick as can be! Just this narrow pencil shaped thing that was very flexible and saves your fingers from getting nipped. They'll let me know when some arrive for me to come pick up.
Until then, I just have to try and relax and do our best.
Thanks for all the great tips and responses!!!