I'm going to be pet-sitting a super difficult cat (9 y/o Siamese mix female) next week. She has to be given keppra (regular, not XR) three times daily. However, she does not like to be touched, pet, held, etc. This is mostly because her owner's ex-wife would not let the cat (Zoey) get her medicine from anyone else except her or her current owner, so she is not socialized at all.
I've been going over to the owner's house for the past week to practice giving her a pill and have only been successful once (out of five times..). You can't hold her down or scruff her. You have to entice her with food, then come at her from her feet and push her chin up and open her mouth and pop the pill in her mouth and hope she doesn't spit it out. She will hiss or pat at you, but you have to ignore it (she's also declawed :/ so it doesn't harm you).
She's allergic to literally everything, so you can't hide it in treats or human food. If you put it in her food she leaves the little half pill in the plate. She's a smart and sassy feline with an obviously tortured past and I understand her temperament, but I'm scared because the owner is leaving on July 4th and I still have not been successful (I've been caring for cats/giving medicine to cats for years)...
Time is cutting close and he is scared he will have to board her and I do not want him to have to do that. She just doesn't trust me, and I know she can feel my nervous energy, or she has learned that every time I'm there she is about to get a pill (which she's been getting it three times a day for six years, but she still puts up a fight).
Oh & also the longer you take and the more tries it takes to give her the pill, the less likely you are to be successful. If you don't get it within the a certain time frame of getting her food / trying / giving her food / repeat...she gets incredibly upset and will NOT take a pill.
I want to blend the pill in my ninja into a fine powder and mix it into a small spoon of wet food (literally the only type of wet food she can have) to see if she will eat it. This is pretty much a last resort. I really want to be able to give it to her orally so the owner can be stress-free on his vacation. The last time he had a cat-sitter, it was a vet technician and even though he told him specifically not to scruff or hold her down he did and Zoey was sick and stressed two weeks after he came back.
I'm trying to look online but am not getting any straight answers. Is it okay to crush a regular keppra up for a cat? Anyone have any tips on how to just give Zoey the damn pill without having to hold her by the neck or body or show her I'm nervous?
TL;DR: I need to give this damn cat a pill three times a day for a week help
I've been going over to the owner's house for the past week to practice giving her a pill and have only been successful once (out of five times..). You can't hold her down or scruff her. You have to entice her with food, then come at her from her feet and push her chin up and open her mouth and pop the pill in her mouth and hope she doesn't spit it out. She will hiss or pat at you, but you have to ignore it (she's also declawed :/ so it doesn't harm you).
She's allergic to literally everything, so you can't hide it in treats or human food. If you put it in her food she leaves the little half pill in the plate. She's a smart and sassy feline with an obviously tortured past and I understand her temperament, but I'm scared because the owner is leaving on July 4th and I still have not been successful (I've been caring for cats/giving medicine to cats for years)...
Time is cutting close and he is scared he will have to board her and I do not want him to have to do that. She just doesn't trust me, and I know she can feel my nervous energy, or she has learned that every time I'm there she is about to get a pill (which she's been getting it three times a day for six years, but she still puts up a fight).
Oh & also the longer you take and the more tries it takes to give her the pill, the less likely you are to be successful. If you don't get it within the a certain time frame of getting her food / trying / giving her food / repeat...she gets incredibly upset and will NOT take a pill.
I want to blend the pill in my ninja into a fine powder and mix it into a small spoon of wet food (literally the only type of wet food she can have) to see if she will eat it. This is pretty much a last resort. I really want to be able to give it to her orally so the owner can be stress-free on his vacation. The last time he had a cat-sitter, it was a vet technician and even though he told him specifically not to scruff or hold her down he did and Zoey was sick and stressed two weeks after he came back.
I'm trying to look online but am not getting any straight answers. Is it okay to crush a regular keppra up for a cat? Anyone have any tips on how to just give Zoey the damn pill without having to hold her by the neck or body or show her I'm nervous?
TL;DR: I need to give this damn cat a pill three times a day for a week help