Giving liquid prozac to cat nightmare!

Hi, our cat whom we have had since 1 day old (abandoned by mother) has started to aggressively bite her back and pull her hair out, she started at about age 4 years, she is now 7 years old.  At first we thought it was pain in her back, but have figured out it is caused by anxiety.  Recently she has started to come after us aggressively once in awhile, with teeth and claws.  It is very scary.  I talked to our vet and we have put her on prozac.  However, I can not get her to take the liquid.  I have a lot of experience with giving animals medication, as I have always had all kinds of animals, for over 35 years, worked in a kennel and never have I ever experienced anything like this.  I wrapped her in a nice soft blanket, so she could not escape or hurt me and then I tried to give her liquid prozac.  At first it was 1ml. in a syringe, chicken flavour her favorite-- and no way, she hist, somehow backed out of the blanket and absolutely freaked on me.  I phoned the vet we got the dosage down to 0.5ml triple fish flavour, just tried it, same reaction and she started to foam at the mouth.  I think this stuff must be horrible if she is reacting like this.  I am at a lost, what do I do now?  She is part of the family and we desperately want to help her, but she is her own worst enemy right now.  Is there anyone out there that has any ideas?  I don't want to torment her, but she really needs some help.  Thanks for your time, Annette

Does she like treats? You could go through a compounding pharmacy and get chew treats or get the pills and try pill pockets. Prozac also comes in a transdermal gel that is rubbed on the ear flap but I would try that as a last resort because from what I've read it's not one of the drugs that is absorbed that well.

My cats are on prozac and yeah, the taste must be awful.  There have been a few aborted dosings and the reactions by the cats to tasting the prozac is very obvious.

Luckily, my cats will eat gel capsules along with their kibble.  So I cut up a tablet and place it in size 4 or 5 capsule.  Size 5 is the smallest and unobtrusive.  Place the capsule in a snack made up of a teaspoon of wet food, a tsp of water, place capsule on top and cover with 6-8 kibbles.  I use very small condiment bowls and I think that is essential.  You want the snack to remain compact so they can hoover up food and medication together.  You don't want the capsule to be moving around and to the side of a big bowl or plate. This has resulted in both cats gobbling up their prozac 99 times out of 100.  Sometimes, if the capsule is off center in the bowl, I'll push back to the center and that's enough to encourage the cats to lick it up.  A couple of times, they've finished the snack with the capsule still around.  I throw a few kibbles on top of it and it all gets hoovered up.  

I guess this is pretty specific stuff--works if your cats are kibble-fiends like mine and are not bothered by capsules or mistaken them for kibble.

I think I am going to order the prozac in capsule form and try that way.  She is not much of an eater, extremely picky.  I tried putting the liquid on her favourite treats and she refused to eat them.  Perhaps, if I try the capsule (I hope I can get it in a very small size) and put it in a pill pocket that will work, if that capsule breaks open she will spit it out.  I may even see if I can order some of the rub for the ears.  Perhaps if the prozac starts to works via ear rub, then it will be easier to give her the capsule form?  Thanks for the suggestions, Annette

Have you ever tried The Cat Sack? You can google it to see what it looks like and how it works.

It is a sack made for holding cats in place so you can administer medicine and they can't get away from you. I have two of them, one for each of my cats (because one needs an Extra Large and the other one needs a Large). I put them in it to brush their teeth every day. I have also used it to give liquid antibiotics and when I need to put Revolution on them.

They didn't like it at first, but once they are zippered up in the sack they calm right down.

My cats don't even mind it anymore. I just open the sack all the way, put them on top and zipper them in. 

No, I have not ever heard of that.  Even if I could restrain her though, she is spitting it out, foaming at the mouth, it seems quite cruel this prozac administration.  I am thinking I need a different administration method completely.  Thanks for the idea.

imagine said:

 
I think I am going to order the prozac in capsule form and try that way.  Perhaps if the prozac starts to works via ear rub, then it will be easier to give her the capsule form?  Thanks for the suggestions, Annette

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imagine, I buy prozac in 10mg Tablet form.  I use a pill cutter to cut it in 4 pieces (2.5mg) and place the 2.5mg in gel capsules.  I buy the empty capsules from Amazon.  Do a search for gel capsules size 4 or 5.  Initially I was using size 4 but recently, I discovered that size 5 is the smallest available and Amazon carries it.  The size 5s are great and are about the size of the kibbles.  

Prozac may be sold in capsule form but I would definitely check to see if they are in a size appropriate for cats.  

Also wanted to add that if your cat won't eat/take a capsule willingly, you could use a combination of the advice in this thread.  Use the sack to restrain her.  Pop the capsule quickly in her mouth (always give water/something to eat immediately so it moves the capsule down her esophagus.).  She may not like it but since she won't taste the prozac, she's less likely to foam at the mouth.

Also, pilling cats is MUCH easier with a pill gun. I ordered mine on Amazon for less than 2 dollars each. The shipping cost more than the pill gun and it makes giving a cat a pill unbelievably easy. 

And definitely gently squirt a little water in the side pocket of the cat's mouth or, as suggested above, give the cat some food or treat after so the pill does not get stuck in the cat's throat.

I didn't have much luck with a pill gun, but luckily my cats allow me to stick my fingers in their mouths.  They don't like it--it's pretty rude but they don't chomp down.

I suggest that you ALWAYS taste anything you are going to try to get your cat to swallow before you try to put it into their mouths.  If it's bitter, no matter what flavor masks it, they will foam at the mouth and become increasingly more difficult to pill.  The gelatin capsule technique works well for bitter things, but be sure to chase it with liquid (like half and half cream for instance) so it doen't get stuck -- we don't take capsules without liquid, so why should they?  I always give them a squirt of the half and half FIRST so they will know I am not putting anything awful in their mouths (it will take your cat a little time to trust you with squirting anything in her mouth after this recent experience, ).  After they swallow the first squirt of half and half, which they like, they relax and I can pop in the apsule (usually greased with mayonnaise on the leading end) and then chase it with more half and half.  Once she gets used to a non-traumatic pilling every day, it will get easier.  Until then, you'll have to make a kitty burrito with a tough towel or else get one of those cat sacks mentioned by @Abby2932.

Yes, that is what I am thinking.  Wrap her, pill her, treat/water.  But, I think I definitely need to go to the pill form rather than liquid.  Thanks for the good advice.

Excellent advice.  I am so glad you responded with this procedure.  I am going onto amazon now to find the gel capsules.  Never would of thought of a little mayo to grease it, great idea.  Liquid afterwards makes sense, otherwise just like us it could get stuck.  Crossing my fingers that this will work better for her.  Thanks Annette

Has your cat ever been checked by a dermatologist?

No, her fur is fine actually very silky.  We feed her a hypoallergenic  Vet formula of cat food.  There are no rashes on her skin.  No lesions.  It is more a nerve/anxiety problem we think.  Why do you ask?

Because often times dermatologic conditions can be misdiagnosed as behavioral or neurologic.  Four years of age is also a common age for a cat to develop allergies. May I ask why she is on the hypo allergenic cat food?

As for the Prozac administration. Have you tried smelling or tasting the product yourself? Chances are if she is foaming it is horrible and bitter. If that is the case there is no amount of compounding or mixing it with tasty things that will take away the bitter.

You might do better to get it in the pill form if that is okay with your vet and then putting the pill half or quarter or whatever her dose is in the gel cap and pilling that way.

It sounds to me like pill time is becoming a major stressor, so I would change whatever time pill time is.

I don't find that wrapping cats up in a towel to be helpful. If you need a towel or blanket it is best to wait a while. IMO

Don't make any sort of production about getting the pill out. In fact what I do is leave the pills in the drawer and use one of the snap type pill containers because cats can hear the pill bottle rattle a mile away. Get the pill out and put into the gel container.

Really important to not call your cat to you for pilling. Also don't put the cat on a counter or pick up the cat. Just find out where the cat is and leave it at that. Once you know where the cat is and some time has passed and the pill is out etc. Go to the cat quickly and quietly. No speaking to the cat. Approach from behind. If you are discovered abort mission and act like you were doing something else. Return to mission in about 5 minutes once cat has forgotten you had a mission. Keep your energy neutral and once again approach cat from behind. If right handed use left hand to hold top of cat's head and upper jaw, use left hand with pill between the index finger and thumb use third finger to gently open the lower jaw keeping your only hold on the cat's head, with your body behind the cat toss pill in gel capsule to the back of cats throat. Care full not to scratch cat's thoat or roof of mouth with your fingers. Give your cat a special treat she likes and walk away. Don 't talk to cat during this.

It is so important to keep a positive attitude and have confidence with cats. Also important they don't have warning and anticipatory time to work themselves up.

Good luck with her

Thought I had posted this last night when I wrote it but guess I didn't

I had a horrible experience giving my kitty a liquid antibiotic, and after first taste he would eye ball me every time I came out of the kitchen. :/
She substituted for a pill form, and I divided into 4 peices (it was already pretty small) and would mix it with a bit of tuna, then I would put them in those pocketed pill dry foods, so the tuna/pill was like a filling.
Right before feeding time I would offer them on a plate, and he gobbled them up without any problem. (But he loves tuna and is a treat Hoover!)
Hopefully this or one of the many methods above will help kitty accept pill time

As for ear meds, my cat hates that more than pills, but every pet is different (I administered his pain meds via the ear cream pen). Got so bad that he'd hide from me when he heard the pen "click" from being loaded. Could be maybe the feeling was odd?

Good luck and don't beat yourself up! You'll find what works best for you both

It is true that food allergies can manifest in strange ways like itching in the ears and on the skin.  I'm not sure what is in your vet hypoallergenic food but hopefully no corn, wheat or soy.  Some cats are even allergic to chicken and rice.  Anyhow, do read the label because you can't trust that she isn't allergic to something in the food even if it is supposedly hypoallergenic.

Hi, fantastic advice.  I am absolutely going to follow it as you have described.  I have asked my vet office to order in pill form, I am just waiting for them to arrive.  I have completely stopped giving the medication as it was too traumatic for both of us.  I think the medication was extremely bitter, I ask the vet assistant on the phone and she said if the cat's mouth foamed it is a reaction to the bitter taste of the medication (over production of saliva).  I don't think this is new to the vet community so I am very surprised they gave it to us in liquid form with no warning.  Anyways that aside once I get the pill form, I will try to administer it as you have described.  It sounds like you really know what you are talking about.  Thanks for your help, Annette

imagine, I'm not sure who you're replying to--but if you're going to try my method--good luck!  To reiterate, make it a SNACK size serving of food.  Although my cats usually finish their full size meals, it's not always 100%.  When served a small snack--they always clean up and lick up every tiny bit in the plate--ensuring the capsule is eaten.  I watch carefully and make sure the capsule is eaten.  We've been doing this for almost 6 months now and it's only recently that I've relaxed a little bit.