can these pills be crushed and given?

Teddy is hard to pill (what cat isn't); we've gotten his medication into him traditionally, and have also put it in a teeny bit of cheese, but he knows which part has the pill and refuses it. Since my other half will be out of town for the next few days, I'm stuck medicating Teddy without any help.

Can either (or both) Clavamox and Chlorpheniramine be crushed and mixed with food? I'm going to the vet tomorrow morning to get him some food and can ask there, but was wondering if anyone happened to know.

Thanks!

I don't know...but I do have a kitty on clavamox, and I believe it's a rather bitter tasting pill. I think it would be worse giving this crushed up and mixed with food.

Hopefully, someone else will know if re the medication working as needed if it matters if either of these is crushed or not.

Have you thought about using an empty small gel capsule - pop the pill inside, coat the capsule with butter and give? Not sure what size folks use, I just know it's a very small one (you can buy refillable gel caps at most health food/vitamin type stores).

Originally Posted by Pat & Alix

I don't know...but I do have a kitty on clavamox, and I believe it's a rather bitter tasting pill. I think it would be worse giving this crushed up and mixed with food.

Hopefully, someone else will know if re the medication working as needed if it matters if either of these is crushed or not.

Have you thought about using an empty small gel capsule - pop the pill inside, coat the capsule with butter and give? Not sure what size folks use, I just know it's a very small one (you can buy refillable gel caps at most health food/vitamin type stores).

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That's funny; Teddy is having more problems with the other one and not the Clavamox!

I hadn't heard of the capsule thing before. I guess it would never occur to me because I didn't know that those would be okay to give to a cat. Teddy is sensitive, which is why I might hesitate.

So you can't just get it down his throat?

The way I have pilled all my cats (when by myself) is to wrap them in a towel, stick them inbetween your armpit and side (with their bum on the table) using the hand on the arm that is holding them to stick my fingers in the corner of their mouths and use the other hand to pry the jaws open and pop the pill in - Then close the mouth and keep it closed with your hand and then rub the throat until they swallow. They don't like it but with a bit of practice it makes things a lot easier and quicker.

Have you ever tried pill pockets? Theyre little treats (made for both cats and dogs) that are shaped like a little pocket and you stick the pill inside so they get the meds when they eat the treat... my mom's been using the large ones for my dog while she's on UTI meds.... my mom got them at petsmart, so I'm sure petco would have them too and I'm pretty sure I've seen them in Drs Foster and Smith

I've tried giving my cat pills crushed in her food and she refused to eat it. I looked up info on chlorpheniramine and it is bitter, also. My cat has foamed at the mouth due to this. I now use a pill dispenser; this helped a lot, after some practice. When pills are cut in half, they are often bitter. I don't know if all cats can eat butter, but my Vet suggested covering the pill with it to block the bitterness and help it slide down.

If the pill does not have a coating, then it is fine to crush it. You can also open a gel cap and mix the contents in food.

I find chicken baby food is a great vehicle for pills. Make sure to use enough of the treat food to really dilute the pill.

Pill pockets are great for dogs but few cats are silly enough to fall for them. Dogs will wolf down anything that looks like a treat and not even notice what they just ate. Cats nibble at their food and can find even a tiny hidden pill. Unfortunately, cat pill pockets are just another example of viewing cats as lesser dogs rather than as unique creatures with very different habits.

I am having this problem right now with a very bitter pill. My vet crushed them and mixed them with Karo syrup. And its now in a liquid form given with a measured eye dropper. Its a lot easier to squirt the liquid in their mouths then to get them to swallow a pill.

I have crushed pain pills to give Henry in the past, but I don't know about the two you mentioned. He takes liquids much better than pills so I get liquid or something crushable.

Henry is currently on Clavamox liquid right now, and fortunately it's not bitter--it tastes like bubble gum(!?!)--but he's still not fond of it. IT's a wrestling match to get him to take anything.

And don't ask how I know it tastes like gum. I want to know what my baby is going through. Clindamycin is bitter as all get out, though, so have plenty of water available for kitty if yours has to take it! LOL!

Pill Pockets are working great here -- so far & fingers crossed that it continues. I thought for sure that she'd bite into it and discover the pill, but she's taken to just snarfing them down. I give them before breakfast and dinner when she's really hungry.

it amazes me what cats know.
Teddy won't take his pills crushed in wet food. I pilled him tonight (by myself for the first time, I was shaking a ton!), and tomorrow morning, I'll be at PetSmart getting some pill pockets. The medications make him so much better - I just wish he realized that I do it for his own good, not to torment him!

Originally Posted by JennyAnnieDots

And don't ask how I know it tastes like gum.

I want to know what my baby is going through. Clindamycin is bitter as all get out, though, so have plenty of water available for kitty if yours has to take it! LOL!

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Clindamycin liquid is nasty stuff! I always, always get that in pill form. If the cat isn't easy to pill, then I break open the capsule and mix the contents with baby food or another treat. The pill seems to taste much, much less nasty than the liquid.

You might see about getting the liquid form. Like it's been said, it tastes like bubblegum, it smells more like it than by taste [[I tried it lol]]. They hate it, but it's easier to give.

With the clavamox drops you can scruff your cat, and put the syringe in the side of his mouth and squirt. It's really easy, vs. getting your finger eaten trying to give him a pill.

A piller would work too, just scruff and pill him.

I don't know what the names of the drugs Mitts has had to take are in English, but they were anti-biotics and de-worming pills, at seperate incidences.

But we have always mixed it with Gerber baby food (chicken or veal flavor) Our vet recommended it and even ground the pills for us. He (Mitts, not the vet! ) laps it up.

We do continue to give it to him every great once in awhile to keep him interested so we don't have problems the next time.