I take a hammer to it when I crush it :lol3:
-
Too many ads? Join our community of cat lovers now to reduce ads by 90%! Click here to join for free!
How do I get my cat to take a pill?
- Thread starter ghiblithecat
- Start Date
I've heard stories of cats that will gorge themselves on Marmite but Casper will only take two or three licks of it before he's had enough.
I suspect he likes the taste but doesn't like the saltiness. I like Marmite but I get put off by the saltiness, too. I only have two or three "licks" of Marmite at a time. Usually with butter on bread or with a slice of pungent cheese like Gruyère or Dubliner. I guess Casper and I have a similar taste for Marmite, "Yummy but, oh! So SALTY!"
Casper doesn't seem to be one for people food, either. Humans are required to present food for inspection but he almost never eats. He just sniffs and MAYBE a lick.
The only people food he seems to like are chicken gyoza and maybe a nibble of teriyaki flavored beef jerkey. Even then, just a nibble or two. Otherwise, it's just a sniff, maybe a lick and then he turns up his nose.
He LOVES his "Temptations" cat cookies! We have to keep them sealed in a Tupperware container or else he'll sneak in at night and shred the bag!
If you shake the Tupperware full of kitty cookies, he'll hear it from a mile away. He seems to appear out of thin air!
So... If pill pockets are like "Temptations" kitty cookies, they'll work on Casper. But Casper is done taking pills, now. We'll have to wait till next time but, hopefully, that will be a long way off... If there IS a next time.
The only other thing that Casper really likes is catnip! OMG! Casper is a major catnip fiend! If you open a container of catnip anywhere in the house he'll smell it and come a-running! That's another thing we have to keep locked up in Tupperware or else we'll find it all over the floor when we come downstairs in the morning!
Maybe you put too much marmite on. The bread or toast. Lots of butter and a smidgen of marmite mixed with the butter.
My lotto never ate human food but his sister, gentle, did, long may they rest in piece. Any case one day I made myself a nice salad with houmous in the middle. I left it on the coffee table to get a drink and when I got back lotto was standing over my plate tucking into my houmous.
My vet said she'd never heard of a cat eating houmous. It didn't get wasted. I still ate it.
How do you give them the catnip. Blighty loves to cuddle and lick a toy for 5 minutes and that's that. They don't like their toys. Oh blighty loves his little soft balls which he usually plays with on my bed when I'm asleep. I get woken up either by him leaping in the air and landing on me, or a ball in my face or him searching under my bedclothes looking for it. He's such a naughty boy. Whisky just sits and watches him doing his thing.
They're so different. I got whisky after he'd been abandoned. He was about 8 months old. Blighty came about two months later about 6 weeks old. Black and white street cat.
They fight and ten we find them cuddling and asleep. They love each other. Always washing each other.
Fighting, washing, sleeping together.
Oh at night they share wet food from the same plate. On the draining board and each have their own side to stand. It's hilarious to see them cross each other if they're on the wrong side.
Any case. Have a good weekend.
My lotto never ate human food but his sister, gentle, did, long may they rest in piece. Any case one day I made myself a nice salad with houmous in the middle. I left it on the coffee table to get a drink and when I got back lotto was standing over my plate tucking into my houmous.
My vet said she'd never heard of a cat eating houmous. It didn't get wasted. I still ate it.
How do you give them the catnip. Blighty loves to cuddle and lick a toy for 5 minutes and that's that. They don't like their toys. Oh blighty loves his little soft balls which he usually plays with on my bed when I'm asleep. I get woken up either by him leaping in the air and landing on me, or a ball in my face or him searching under my bedclothes looking for it. He's such a naughty boy. Whisky just sits and watches him doing his thing.
They're so different. I got whisky after he'd been abandoned. He was about 8 months old. Blighty came about two months later about 6 weeks old. Black and white street cat.
They fight and ten we find them cuddling and asleep. They love each other. Always washing each other.
Fighting, washing, sleeping together.
Oh at night they share wet food from the same plate. On the draining board and each have their own side to stand. It's hilarious to see them cross each other if they're on the wrong side.
Any case. Have a good weekend.
Casper has tried Marmite on bread with butter but I usually just put the spoon on the floor after I've made my toast. He reacts the same way no matter how I give it to him. He takes a couple-three licks then he licks his chops and he's done. I know he likes something when he licks his chops afterward. Otherwise, he uses his paw to clean up. Licking his chops means, "Yum!" Wiping with his paw means, "Yuck!" A lot like a three year old kid. Eh?
Casper almost never takes food out of hand. You have to hold it for him to sniff until he decides if he wants it. He'll either turn up his nose and walk away or he'll lick it. If he licks it, you have to put it on the floor for him to eat. He won't even eat kitty cookies out of hand. Always on the floor.
Casper will take catnip any way he can get it!
He would put his head right into the jar and eat it if I let him! Catnip is the only thing Casper will take out of hand.
Usually, it's a pinch or two on the carpet where he plays. He will lick it and roll in it for fifteen or twenty minutes until sensory overload sets in.
He has a catnip pillow that he likes. That's what you saw him playing with at the beginning of his "Say Hello to Casper" video from YouTube. ()
Otherwise, I just put one or two of his toy mice and steep them in a Tupperware container full of catnip for a day or two. I just recycle them. One will be steeping and another will be out for Casper to play with.
I've got to keep the catnip under wraps with Casper. I know it isn't harmful but, if he gets too much his nose will become saturated and it won't work anymore.
If I want Casper to stay happy playing with catnip, it needs to be doled out in small doses.
Casper almost never takes food out of hand. You have to hold it for him to sniff until he decides if he wants it. He'll either turn up his nose and walk away or he'll lick it. If he licks it, you have to put it on the floor for him to eat. He won't even eat kitty cookies out of hand. Always on the floor.
Casper will take catnip any way he can get it!
He would put his head right into the jar and eat it if I let him! Catnip is the only thing Casper will take out of hand.
Usually, it's a pinch or two on the carpet where he plays. He will lick it and roll in it for fifteen or twenty minutes until sensory overload sets in.
He has a catnip pillow that he likes. That's what you saw him playing with at the beginning of his "Say Hello to Casper" video from YouTube. ()
Otherwise, I just put one or two of his toy mice and steep them in a Tupperware container full of catnip for a day or two. I just recycle them. One will be steeping and another will be out for Casper to play with.
I've got to keep the catnip under wraps with Casper. I know it isn't harmful but, if he gets too much his nose will become saturated and it won't work anymore.
If I want Casper to stay happy playing with catnip, it needs to be doled out in small doses.
Has anyone tried this pill masker?
I just tried it with Chessy and his Pepcid pills, and it's so much better than Pill Pockets! It's easier to wrap a pill because it won't fall apart, and he goes crazy for the taste of them. You only need a very small amount to cover the pill. I'm so glad I found this.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006HO8URI/?tag=&tag=thecatsite
I just tried it with Chessy and his Pepcid pills, and it's so much better than Pill Pockets! It's easier to wrap a pill because it won't fall apart, and he goes crazy for the taste of them. You only need a very small amount to cover the pill. I'm so glad I found this.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006HO8URI/?tag=&tag=thecatsite
That's what I was going to suggest. I know my vets office sells them and they'd also be sold in pet stores as well.
@GhibliTheCat, know I'm responding a bit late after you had asked with agreeing with @LTS3, but here's also a video from the vets office where I take my cat Frannie. I had issues previously with her and my other cat and I still had a time trying to do what they did in the video, but know if would have to do it more often, I could get it. I've tried many of the suggestions listed and would still have issues trying to give them pills, even the liquid (even if I mixed the liquid into their food). Even would have Welactin or the gel caps that help with their skin and coats and neither would eat much of their most food. I even tried the pill gun/pusher one (which I still have).
Here's the video:
I don't remember who told me this, or when, or what thread (it was awhile ago, but within the last few months for sure), but THANK YOU to whoever suggested rolling pill pockets in crushed-up Temptations. I don't care if they are kitty crack, if it means Sara takes her pill without massive amounts of coaxing to the point of almost crying (or worse, missing doses of her meds like last night), then so be it. She just completely gobbled them up. I was even able to get the Pepcid after giving her the methimazole and it was no problem at all.
Now will this last more than a day or two, who knows. More importantly, who cares, lol. It's one night of not dreading having to get her to take her pill. I'm trying at all costs to avoid forcing the pill into her, the cry she makes just cuts into me like a knife.
Now will this last more than a day or two, who knows. More importantly, who cares, lol. It's one night of not dreading having to get her to take her pill. I'm trying at all costs to avoid forcing the pill into her, the cry she makes just cuts into me like a knife.
We use cheese in my house. All my kitties love cheese, so I take the pill and roll it in a small piece of American cheese. I work it with my hands and it'll become softer as it warms up. I don't even think they chew it! LOL
- Joined
- Feb 6, 2016
- Messages
- 1
- Purraise
- 1
Stick your thumb and middle finder at the corners of their mouth.
And then slowly and gently push both of them in, your cat should open their mouth. And you will be able to pop in a pill.
I always coat pills (ones with a casing and powder inside) with a tiny amount of oil. I find it helps slide down better.
If pushing in your thumb and middle finger, try pulling the corners.
PS. Follow their lips, and where their lips end at each side, those are the corners. Sorry, kinda hard to demonstrate without images.
And then slowly and gently push both of them in, your cat should open their mouth. And you will be able to pop in a pill.
I always coat pills (ones with a casing and powder inside) with a tiny amount of oil. I find it helps slide down better.
If pushing in your thumb and middle finger, try pulling the corners.
PS. Follow their lips, and where their lips end at each side, those are the corners. Sorry, kinda hard to demonstrate without images.
Sara's become quite picky these days. At one time she wasn't nearly as picky. This last thing that I mentioned is the first thing in about a month that has gotten her to take the pill easily for more than two doses. There's that constant fear of her deciding she won't like it of course - I'm almost paranoid about it :lol3: Trying to pill her with a pill gun isn't something that is done easily with this one, plus I think her teeth hurt (and she can't have a dental because of the oodles of health problems). So forcing something into her mouth definitely doesn't help make her feel better :/
But for now... we've found something that works.
Your post is interesting as I have heard this before. I however have had success with the food solution. I recently rescued three aged cats and one of them has had a lot of health problems. He currently has a very painful bacterial ear infection which requires ear drops and pills!!. Well, it started out badly with me trying to use conventional methods as I have done with many cats over the years. I do not have anyone in the house who can assist me with holding the cat or helping in any other way. I have separated the cat from the others, taken away all food except for about a teaspoon of wet food with the pill in it. I keep him away from the other cats on another floor. If took 24 hours but he ate the food and the pill during the evening. Repeated the process in the morning and when he ate the food I then give him more food and let him loose for the rest of the day. Same routine in the evening. Back in an area by himself with about a teaspoon of food with the pill in it. So far so good, I am on day four.
Some of my 6 cats had proved difficult to dose, until my vet suggested putting the pill in a small amount of liver pate. It worked a treat. Also, mashed up sardines work for those cats who don't get on with the pate. Hope this helps.
