Dry pilling

[Musiaka]

My cat needs to get a liver medicine every day, the pill is dry and big. I tried crushing it and administering with water, but my cat starts foaming at his mouth, even though the pill is not supposed to be bitter. He is probably just sensitive to taste and gets extremely anxious about it. I will have to quarter the pill and get him to swallow it.
How to do it in the safest way for the pill to not get stuck in his esophagus? Does the water chaser guarantee that it won't get stuck?

 

[LTS3]

Lots of tips here:

Pilling Cats: Must-know Tips For Hiding Pills – Cat Articles
The Best Pill-taking Secret I Know...
How We Give Our Pill Hating Cat A Pill
Getting Cat To Take Pills... Post Tips Here.

No, don't give the pill dry. It may cause throat irritation. Giving a full 5ml syringe of water helps but can be messy if the cat doesn't want to swallow anything. Have you tried cutting the pill into smaller pieces abd hiding each piece in a Pill Pocket or something? Ask the vet if the medicine can be compounded into an easier to give form like a favored liquid or chew treat.

 

[Mr. Meow]

Make sure the medication you're giving is ok being cut/smashed up. Some medications state to not do that.

 

[FeebysOwner]

Hi. Lots of ideas in the articles/links above. If the pills can be smashed, try mixing it with any of the following:
1.) baby food meats (Gerber Stage 2 or Beechnut)
2.) the 'juice' from canned tuna or chicken in water - with a piece of the meat as a treat afterward
3.) lickable treats such as Applaws, Vitakraft, Wholehearted, Inaba Churu, Tiki Cat Stix. There are others as well.
4.) Tiki Cat Mousse, which is actually a 'complete' cat food as opposed to just a treat.

I interchange these so that Feeby isn't getting one of them consistently. So far, she still considers them all 'treats', especially the lickable ones.

 

[Musiaka]

Musiaka is almost diabetic, so I'm not sure about giving him treats...

 

[Musiaka]

Called the vet, she approved of giving the pill together with treats!

 

[Musiaka]

It kinda worked with a lickable treat, although it was more promising in the beginning than it ended up being. I crushed up the pill and mixed it with a lickable treat - at first he licked it on his own, but then probably sensed the undertaste of the pill and stopped, so I put it on his teeth, the way they do in the video LTS3 posted a link to. So the good thing is that there was no foaming and salivating but he still ran away from me and is acting mad now. After the vet visit he seems really traumatised about things being done forcefully to him, which is sad he was always so forgiving about me giving nasty tasting stuff to him. After the visit he gets offended so easily and is not affectionate like he normally is. He has changed so much! It wasn't like that after his other vet visits. I think it's the fact that they put him in a restraining bag to clean his ears, because he was running away from it. I feel so bad seeing him like this, as he clearly thinks he is being violated. But what can I do. Glad that it worked to pill him with the lickable treat method

 

[LTS3]

Musiaka is almost diabetic, so I'm not sure about giving him treats...

A treat is fine to give. Anything to get the medicine into the cat. Does the vet have any suggestions on how to manage the blood glucose levels in your borderline diabetic? A simple diet change to low carb canned food will often lower blood glucose levels to normal levels.

 

[Musiaka]

A treat is fine to give. Anything to get the medicine into the cat. Does the vet have any suggestions on how to manage the blood glucose levels in your borderline diabetic? A simple diet change to low carb canned food will often lower blood glucose levels to normal levels.

We're on Royal Canin Diabetic kibble, but probably gonna continue with the DRN Solo 100% rabbit patè as well, as it contain almost no carbs at all (which RC kibble does). The vet said to only use for a while if Musiaka refuses the kibble, but at the same time said he should be on low carb, so I trully do not understand why the Solo food would be bad. It has no fillers, no grains, and RC diabetic kibble has gluten in it. I don't trust the vet fully. She also said dry pilling is fine which it isn't

 

[LTS3]

The DRN Solo 100% rabbit patè isn't a complete diet. It's just 100% meat with nothing else. That is why the vet doesn't want you to feed it exclusively.

It looks like you are in Europe? Zooplus has a variety of complete balanced low carb canned foods. You may be able to find some brands in your local pet store. I don't know specific brands but try this UK list: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1J5JpMe6TDXrHq_aTl9hUtHy6Gs9oRBqlz4nPGKxtySA/pubhtml