Proper way to give pills to a cat...

[newtocats]

For those of your who have not read my other posts, I am adopting a 3 year old male tiger buff cat tomorrow evening. Unfortunatly, he has developed a mouth infection and the animal adoption agency took him to the vet. The vet said it was a simple, common infection and gave them 2 weeks worth of antibiotics. I could assume that the cat will take the pills with wet food or baby food, but in the instance that it refuses it, what is the correct way to administer the pill?

Thank you in advance for any advice,
Kara

 

[foxscullytoo]

It is usually not easy to give any cat pills. I find it works best to hold my cat on my lap, put my hand over the top of his head and carefully and gently open his mouth and hold his mouth up and open and drop the pill back as far as I can get it. Then gently hold cat's mouth closed and rub his throat in a downward motion. No matter how you do it, they are cranky about the whole process. Good luck!

 

[sandie]

If a cat is difficult to pill, I have always found a "pill popper" to work best. Most vets or pet supply stores carry them

 

[momofmany]

I use a pill gun (get from your vet). Sit on the floor on your knees with your ankles crossed and hold the cat between your knees, butt side towards your ankles. If they wiggle back they shouldn't get thru your legs. Pill them as described above. I just went thru pilling the 3 fosters and the vet suggested keeping a syringe with a little water in it to squirt in once the pill is in - give them a little bit of water and it will help force them to swallow.

Good luck!

 

[mamakat]

I just recently finished my first pilling with a cat

It was interesting, thats for sure. My first time I was a wreck!

I did learn that using the position Momofmany described worked very well. However my cat is so skinny that he could slip between my legs somehow anyway, so I had to gently but firmly wrap him in a towel first and that really prevented him from going anywhere.

I wish I had had a piller at the time, but my vet was out of them. I will get one if I ever have to pill my other cats who arent as tolerant. It looks like a dream, since any teeth will not reach your fingers that way

Good luck