Help! I Need To Give World's Most Difficult Cat Medicine 3 Times A Day!

[londonword]

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

 

[Furballsmom]

Can you ask your own vet about how to give the keppra?
Can a pharmacy compound it into a liquid? ...ummm, Is that even possible...?

 

[LTS3]

Have you tried Pill Pockets or other similar pill dough? Or coating the pill in butter?

Since you are pet sitting, ask the cat's owner if he / she can get the medicine compounded before he / she leaves for vacation. Wedgewood Pharmacy has keppra available as capsules, oral suspension, and oil suspension. No chew treats or transdermal gel is available for this particular medicine. A local compounding pharmacy should be able to do the same. Boarding will have to be an option if it is critical that the cat must get the medicine daily and you can't get the medicine in.

 

[londonword]

Can you ask your own vet about how to give the keppra?
Can a pharmacy compound it into a liquid? ...ummm, Is that even possible...?

I'm not sure if a local pharmacy could compound it, but Zoey's owner leaves on Wednesday so I don't think there would even be time to attempt an effort into it because he would have to make sure with her vet that it would not cause any allergic reaction and also see if she would even take it...

As for asking a vet, the method he gives it to her is the only one that works with her, so it is a matter of Zoey allowing me to give her the medicine.

As I write all of this I realize options and advice are pretty low, but I figured I would post just for any advice or support. Out of all my years in cat care, I can't believe I am potentially facing one I may not be able to care for. It's driving me crazy!

 

[londonword]

Have you tried Pill Pockets or other similar pill dough? Or coating the pill in butter?

Since you are pet sitting, ask the cat's owner if he / she can get the medicine compounded before he / she leaves for vacation. Wedgewood Pharmacy has keppra available as capsules, oral suspension, and oil suspension. No chew treats or transdermal gel is available for this particular medicine. A local compounding pharmacy should be able to do the same. Boarding will have to be an option if it is critical that the cat must get the medicine daily and you can't get the medicine in.

She unfortunately out-smarts the pill pockets and butter. I'm asking him now about compounding, if it can be an option I hope she will at least take it....ugh! the anxiety!

 

[silkenpaw]

Wow, three times a day, what a nightmare for both you and the cat!

I don’t see any reason not to crush a regular Keppra and give it in a bit of food. Of course, I have no idea what the stuff tastes like. What about a pill gun? Has that been tried?

I have a cat who doesn’t even like to be picked up; I call her my indoor feral. When she had to take steroids for eosinophilic plaque, she would back into a corner next to the couch and that’s where we would nab her and stick the pill into her mouth when she opened it to hiss, LOL. But that was just once a day.

By the way, be careful. Just because she doesn’t have claws doesn’t mean she can’t bite you. And even the most mild-mannered cat will bite if frightened. In terms of consequences, I’d much rather get a good clawing than a bite. Cat bites are deep and are frequently infected with pasteurella, a bacterium that causes rapid redness and swelling and that many doctors don’t know about. The bite needs to be thoroughly cleaned (incised and flushed, flushed, flushed if deep) and treated with an appropriate antibiotic. Clavamox (amoxicillin/ clavulanic acid) is the drug of choice unless you are allergic. You can easily do serious damage to your hand if you let the infection go.

 

[Daisy6]

I would never recommend crushing up pills that are not made in chewable form. If a chewable form of Keppra was available, I am sure the owner would know about it. I read the taste is very bitter and totally understand why a cat would not want to eat it in wet food or a treat.

 

[SDerailed]

Have you considered a pill popper? I found it really helped my guy, although it does depend on the size of the pill. If they are really small you'd have to put them into another gel cap, and that can be harder to get him to swallow. You can get them at most pet stores.