Help!!! I Gave My Cat Liquid Medication Incorrectly!

[drelocks]

I was giving my cat a 3 mm dose of a pain med and he moved and I accidentally shot it straight in his mouth rather than in cheek pouch.

He smacked his lips, didn't spit it out or cough or anything, but now I'm worried about aspiration pneumonia. How soon would I know if he aspirated the medicine?

 

[drelocks]

This was his first dose. I feel horrible! He's looking at me like I'm crazy...

 

[stephanietx]

He will probably be fine. Just keep an eye on him and if you notice him developing any upper respiratory infection symptoms then get him to the vet.

 

[drelocks]

Sorry, I meant ML, not MM. I'm a mess!

 

[drelocks]

I can't figure out how to edit - .2 ml, not 3 ml.

Would he have tried to cough or hack if he had aspirated it?

 

[stephanietx]

Not necessarily. Most likely, he just swallowed it.

 

[drelocks]

Not necessarily. Most likely, he just swallowed it.

Okay thanks. It's been about an hour, he's sleeping. I listened to him, nothing sounds off, but I'm a nervous wreck.

 

[Mamanyt1953]

Slow down and take a DEEP breath. IF he had aspirated, he would almost certainly have choked or coughed immediately, like when you swallow and it "goes down the wrong tube." If he is rest comfortably and his breathing is easy, I really think that you are fine.

Do you not see an "edit" button at the lower left of your posts, in the first 120 minutes? Generally, you get the edit button after 5 days of membership, and 20 posts. If it isn't there, contact one of the moderators and ask them about it.

 

[drelocks]

Slow down and take a DEEP breath. IF he had aspirated, he would almost certainly have choked or coughed immediately, like when you swallow and it "goes down the wrong tube." If he is rest comfortably and his breathing is easy, I really think that you are fine.

Do you not see an "edit" button at the lower left of your posts, in the first 120 minutes? Generally, you get the edit button after 5 days of membership, and 20 posts. If it isn't there, contact one of the moderators and ask them about it.

I'm laughing right now as you are right! I have calmed down. I was so panicked about giving him the meds and then it all went wrong!

Now I can see the edit function. I wasn't at 20 posts before this.

thank you!!!

 

[Libby.]

He'll be ok, I think you're supposed to put it in the cheek pocket to try and avoid the tongue because it's really bitter and to probably let the med be absorbed sublingually. If he swallows, it may reduce the effectiveness of the pain med.

 

[Antonio65]

Just relax.
In the case of accidental aspiration, the cat would cough. If it didn't happen this could mean he is fine.

 

[Mamanyt1953]

Cats can panic us as fast as infants when they are sick. There isn't one person here, I don't think, who hasn't had an SOS moment.

 

[1 bruce 1]

D drelocks I'm glad things are OK.
We have a cat with chronic airway disease (asthma) that gets liquid medicine daily, and that aspiration possibility always is at the back of my mind. Sometimes, I've shot the syringe wrong and it does go down the pipe instead of into the cheek, but we're almost 2 years in and so far he's been absolutely fine every time.
Make sure you rinse the syringe out very well after each use, it will be a lot easier to slowly administer the medicine. If the syringe is sticky, it won't slide so easy and will "shoot" the liquid, rather than slowly dispensing. Learned that one the hard way
I'm glad you're kitty is OK and Mamanyt1953 is right, everyone here has had that SOS moment.

 

[bitkit]

I always squirt meds into the back of the mouth, as far back as I can go. I've also put the liquid in gel caps and pill them but that's a pain. I've tried many times squirting on the side but with medications that taste bad to them they shake their head and spit it out.

 

[silkenpaw]

Mamanyt1953 is right, all of us have made mistakes medicating our cats, the important thing is not to panic. I recently gave my Java two units of insulin instead of one because of a syringe I was unfamiliar with. I stayed up with her all night, a bottle of Karo syrup and glucose test strips by my side; she was fine.

Most of the time an animal will cough if something goes down the wrong way, so your cat probably swallowed the medicine fine.

And, by the way, welcome to The Cat Site. We love cats here and love helping you with any cat problems.Pleas come back and let us know how your cat is doing.

 

[drelocks]

Mamanyt1953 is right, all of us have made mistakes medicating our cats, the important thing is not to panic. I recently gave my Java two units of insulin instead of one because of a syringe I was unfamiliar with. I stayed up with her all night, a bottle of Karo syrup and glucose test strips by my side; she was fine.

Most of the time an animal will cough if something goes down the wrong way, so your cat probably swallowed the medicine fine.

And, by the way, welcome to The Cat Site. We love cats here and love helping you with any cat problems.Pleas come back and let us know how your cat is doing.

Oh gosh, thanks everyone! He's totally fine from that incident.

Man, it's been a rough 3 weeks. He sprained his paw, front right we think. Took x-rays, all clear. He'll be fine, then start limping again. They sent us home with an anti-inflammatory and pain meds. We gave the anti-inflammatory twice, we think it made him sick to his stomach, wouldn't eat for a day. We stopped and then he started limping again, so we gave him bupronorphine on this past Sunday and Monday. He started eating again, but then started limping again! We since stopped all meds because it was messing with his eating so much. Finally today his limping was gone, but then he was in and out of litter box 5 times in an hour with little, runny poops. The vet told us he may have GI upset from the pain meds, possibly constipation.
Finally tonight he used litter and had a good pee clump and a decent sized poop.
To top things off, every time Cashew gets a vaccination or has to be on meds, he goes off his food. They gave us a stimulant (they always do), but we held off because of the litter issues. He later started eating normally, so we aren't going to give to him.

You guys, I'm exhausted from worrying about this guy.

 

[jen]

I am sure he is fine. I think you have to be wary of aspiration pneumonia with large amounts of liquid. I have never really put it in the cheek pouch, I just shoot the liquid meds in as directly as possible so it goes down and they don't spit it out. If you were force feeding food or water in large quantities that is when you really need to worry.