I know exactly what you mean about pilling being stressful. Cali (avatar pic) had chf too. He was so impossible to pill that the vet decided that the stress of pilling cancelled out any benefit the meds would give You've got to love such determined characters! As a result he didn't get treatment until the disease was near end stage and he'd developed asthma as a complication.
Sorry if I'm stating the obvious, but have you tried pill pockets or coating the pill in something strong tasting and yummy (we used to use paté - not ideal for cats but better than a fight to get the pill in). I have to say, that never worked for Cal...He'd sucking the coating off and spit out the pill. He even learned to 'tounge' his meds and swallow nothing...20 mins later I'd find a soggy pill in another part of the house! :lol3: Eventually, we worked out (when we no longer had sn option) that he was far easier to syringe than pill. On the vets advice, I'd dissolve the prediction in as small an amount as possible, draw it up in a clean syringe and squirt it into his mouth. So, there are plenty of options available.
The best position I've found for straight pilling is to kneel down, snuggle the cat between my legs, use one hand to restrain the chest and the other to pop in the pill, hold up the head and stroke it down. Others have mentioned buttering the pill to make it slide better and chasing with a little water from a syringe to help it down.
Good luck with the battle
Sorry if I'm stating the obvious, but have you tried pill pockets or coating the pill in something strong tasting and yummy (we used to use paté - not ideal for cats but better than a fight to get the pill in). I have to say, that never worked for Cal...He'd sucking the coating off and spit out the pill. He even learned to 'tounge' his meds and swallow nothing...20 mins later I'd find a soggy pill in another part of the house! :lol3: Eventually, we worked out (when we no longer had sn option) that he was far easier to syringe than pill. On the vets advice, I'd dissolve the prediction in as small an amount as possible, draw it up in a clean syringe and squirt it into his mouth. So, there are plenty of options available.
The best position I've found for straight pilling is to kneel down, snuggle the cat between my legs, use one hand to restrain the chest and the other to pop in the pill, hold up the head and stroke it down. Others have mentioned buttering the pill to make it slide better and chasing with a little water from a syringe to help it down.
Good luck with the battle