Need advice on heart medications

[JMZab]

Hello everyone,

This week, my beautiful Ramona was diagnosed with heart failure and hyperthyroidism. Among her medications to treat her heart are furosemide and clopidogrel. Both were compounded by the pharmacy into liquid and flavored with fish. I have had some success getting her to take the medications in her food, but it is a bit of a challenge. Does anyone have advice on successfully delivering these meds with food so I don’t have to stress her out with syringing into her mouth?

Has anyone found any cat food brands to be better at masking the taste of the medication?

Has anyone had more success with one medication flavor over another?

Has anyone found a pill or treat form of the meds to be more palatable to their cat?

We could really use the help - thank you!

 

[Jem]

The Friskies brand tends to be cat crack for many kitties. As to masking meds, fish flavors tend to stink the most, but if you're kitty is not into fish as much, you'll have to just find one that she gets excited about.
I also find that not all fish are equal. One of my cats likes tuna but could care less about salmon.
Sardines are pretty good as masking meds. You could also try sprinkling Forti-Flora on her wet food serving. Many cats love the smell and taste of it, it is often used to entice cats to eat.
I have heard of some who use deli meat (turkey or chicken - no spices) to wrap a pill in. The only problem about using a treat to hide a pill in is if they catch on and eat the treat and spit out the pill!
Sometimes I find it's just easier to pill them, THEN give them a "good boy/girl" treat after the fact. My one cat with CHF was on 7 different medications, and did not consistently eat, so pilling was the only option, but I compounded them myself, by crushing all the doses and putting all the powdered doses into one easy to swallow and tasteless gel cap. I dipped the filled gel cap in water to make it all slippery then finished by giving him a couple of treats.

Hope some of this helps!

 

[JMZab]

The Friskies brand tends to be cat crack for many kitties. As to masking meds, fish flavors tend to stink the most, but if you're kitty is not into fish as much, you'll have to just find one that she gets excited about.
I also find that not all fish are equal. One of my cats likes tuna but could care less about salmon.
Sardines are pretty good as masking meds. You could also try sprinkling Forti-Flora on her wet food serving. Many cats love the smell and taste of it, it is often used to entice cats to eat.
I have heard of some who use deli meat (turkey or chicken - no spices) to wrap a pill in. The only problem about using a treat to hide a pill in is if they catch on and eat the treat and spit out the pill!
Sometimes I find it's just easier to pill them, THEN give them a "good boy/girl" treat after the fact. My one cat with CHF was on 7 different medications, and did not consistently eat, so pilling was the only option, but I compounded them myself, by crushing all the doses and putting all the powdered doses into one easy to swallow and tasteless gel cap. I dipped the filled gel cap in water to make it all slippery then finished by giving him a couple of treats.

Hope some of this helps!

Thank you very much, Jem, for your advice. I will definitely experiment with them.

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

Here is a thread that has tips on pilling a cat, to go along with what Jem suggested. Pilling A Uncooperative Cat

 

[1 bruce 1]

The Friskies brand tends to be cat crack for many kitties. As to masking meds, fish flavors tend to stink the most, but if you're kitty is not into fish as much, you'll have to just find one that she gets excited about.
I also find that not all fish are equal. One of my cats likes tuna but could care less about salmon.
Sardines are pretty good as masking meds. You could also try sprinkling Forti-Flora on her wet food serving. Many cats love the smell and taste of it, it is often used to entice cats to eat.
I have heard of some who use deli meat (turkey or chicken - no spices) to wrap a pill in. The only problem about using a treat to hide a pill in is if they catch on and eat the treat and spit out the pill!
Sometimes I find it's just easier to pill them, THEN give them a "good boy/girl" treat after the fact. My one cat with CHF was on 7 different medications, and did not consistently eat, so pilling was the only option, but I compounded them myself, by crushing all the doses and putting all the powdered doses into one easy to swallow and tasteless gel cap. I dipped the filled gel cap in water to make it all slippery then finished by giving him a couple of treats.

Hope some of this helps!

One of our cats went crazy for bologna and would take his pills in that and that only. We'd push the pill into the little slice of meat, and hand it to him. He was greedy, so when he had that pilled meat in his mouth we'd give him another. He'd see the other piece, hurry to swallow what he had so he could get to the other.
@JMZab what types of food does she like, canned pate type, shreds, chunks? With liquid medicine, we've found chunking the pate up and "injecting" one of the small chunks with a shot of the medicine works. Unless your vet told you otherwise, I'd consider not free feeding dry (if you are) and replacing it with several small meals to just make sure she's always looking forward to mealtimes. When they're ready to eat, pill time is so much easier!
We had one live for many years with heart problems. It sounds scary but veterinary medicine has come a long long way and is always making breakthroughs

 

[85hoagland]

Hello everyone,

This week, my beautiful Ramona was diagnosed with heart failure and hyperthyroidism. Among her medications to treat her heart are furosemide and clopidogrel. Both were compounded by the pharmacy into liquid and flavored with fish. I have had some success getting her to take the medications in her food, but it is a bit of a challenge. Does anyone have advice on successfully delivering these meds with food so I don’t have to stress her out with syringing into her mouth?

Has anyone found any cat food brands to be better at masking the taste of the medication?

Has anyone had more success with one medication flavor over another?

Has anyone found a pill or treat form of the meds to be more palatable to their cat?

We could really use the help - thank you!

 

[85hoagland]

Clopidogrel causes cats to foam at the mouth, if it touches their tongue. Compounding into a liquid with fish flavor doesn’t work. If you can’t purchase your cat meds coated or if you need to give pill pieces….then coat the pills yourself. Buy coconut oil and dip the pills in the oil. Keep in the freezer until you are ready to medicate. If you have multiple tiny pieces of pills, create a tiny coconut snowball with all the pills. First, coconut oil must be in a firm, soft, pliable state….not rock hard. Scrape enough coconut oil to hide all the pills and shape into a snowball. Don’t make too big that your cat can’t swallow it. Create these pill snowballs ahead of time and keep in the freezer prior to use. Open cat’s mouth and stick down his throat. I found this method to be less trauma for the cat and me.