Filling gel caps?

I need to give my kitty Minnie 250mg ( half a pill) of a supplement 3x a day. Even a half pill is too large for pilling her so I was thinking of crushing it and putting it in a size 3 gel cap. Anyone have experience with those? We are new to pilling and its a tad stressful for her so fewer times is better thus I want to pack the most mg I can in a capsule as she needs half a pill but I can only manage 1/4 at a time right now since they are so big.

MnM said:

I need to give my kitty Minnie 250mg ( half a pill) of a supplement 3x a day. Even a half pill is too large for pilling her so I was thinking of crushing it and putting it in a size 3 gel cap. Anyone have experience with those? We are new to pilling and its a tad stressful for her so fewer times is better thus I want to pack the most mg I can in a capsule as she needs half a pill but I can only manage 1/4 at a time right now since they are so big.

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Have you considered putting small parts of the pill into pill pockets? They are hollow treats designed for pills. 

The very first thing I would suggest is that you TASTE the pill.  Many of these supplements do not taste bad at all.  L-lysine for example is pretty much tasteless but just a little salty.  Some of the others can differ between brands, some being bitter, others tasteless.  If whatever supplement you are giving has little taste, forget the pills, crush it and mix it in with some food she loves, like tuna juice or chicken gravy etc.

If it's a bitter supplement and there is no alternative brand that is not bitter, yes, use the capsules.  When giving capsules, I dip the leading end into mayonnaise to make it slippery, then give a squirt of half and half in a syringe to wet the whistle, then open the mouth and give the capsule a little start down the throat hole followed by a chaser of half and half.  That works with most of my cats.  There is one who requires being turned into a kitty burrito and immobilized first, but the rest are fine.

Good luck -- I'm hoping it is one of the tasteless ones.  (BTW you should always taste anything you expect to give your cat so you will know what you are dealing with ahead of time.)  Pill pockets are fine unless you have something nasty tasting, particularly the bitter sort.  Bitter things do need to be put into capsules!

What I have found to work with my boy who freaks with any "polling" and won't touch pill pockets is to put the pill..in my case it's 1/4 of a pill..into the smallest portion of a gel cap that it will fit in..I'm using a #4 and only needing the smaller part..I then put a tiny amount of cat food on top and wrap the gel in the smallest little ball of food that I can. Then I hand feed him that little "ball" with some other little bits of food...it works. And his pill is extremely bad tasting...even the Vet had problems getting it down him. This works IF the cat will eat from your hand and if you can get the ball of food small enough. A whole gel cap, even the smallest ones is too big..he spits it out.

Yes I have tasted and smelled it. Zero smell and taste according to me ... so perplexed why she walks away when its thoroughly hidden or crushed and mixed in her wet food had success once in a pill pocket and once crushed in food. I will try putting it in the gel then hiding in food as there wont be any smell at all then in case she does smell something. Hand held ... not for her unfortunately. Thought of crushing and mixing in something to put on her leg so she licks it...

Yesterday is the first time we did the pilling .. got a pill gun and hubby helped. The last time I actually took the pill with my fingers and was able to do it myself.. so it could possibly be something we will get used to.. however I am concerned if we have to do it so often she will not trust me like she does now... thus I want to make sure to get more in her in one shot!!!

Size 3 may be a bit big for a cat.  You might want to look at a 4, or even a 5.  Lots of health food stores sell empty capsules, so you could check them out in person to see which will fit your needs best.

And Red Top is right on with their advice about the mayo and water usage with the gelcaps.

We've been pilling one of our cats with prednisone for a little while.  First it was half a pill 2x day, then half a pill 1x day, and now half a pill every other day.  Some days she can be difficult.  We were told to massage her throat to encourage a swallowing motion so she will swallow the pill. Some days she will spit it out 4-5 times before we successfully get her to take it, and then there are days like today where it went down the first time.