So I need to give my cat two antibiotics (metronidazole/Flagyl and clarithromycin) twice a day and Pepcid once a day for 15 days. I first tried crushing them and mixing them with canned cat food and he barely touched it. Tried it again last night but this time in Churu. He got a couple of licks in and refused to return to it. This cat would normally murder anyone between him and Churu, so obviously at least one of these must have a strong taste. Tried again tonight putting each crushed pill separately in a good amount of Churu… and he refused to eat any of it.
So, now that I’ve wasted three doses (thanks cat, really appreciate you racking up the vet bills here), anyone have any suggestions? I’ve never had to give a cat a pill that they wouldn’t eat crushed up in some stinky food.
My dad flunked out of vet school, but not before he learned to pill a cat, a lesson he shared with his family. You’re not going to like this, because it takes a little practice and isn’t especially fun for cat or human. But I am able to pill my cats pretty successfully as needed using this method:
Immobilize cat, more or less. With two people, one holds the cat while the other administers the pill, but one person can do it if you get down on the floor with the cat, hold them close to your tummy and kind of wrap your legs around them.
Gently press the back of the cat’s jaw on both sides - they will involuntarily open their mouth.
Quickly shove pill as far back as you can in their throat, then shut the cat’s mouth.
Stroke the cat’s chin, down their throat and to their chest with long, firm strokes several times. This will cause the cat to swallow.
I know, it sounds awfully involved, and if you’ve never done it, or seen someone do it smoothly, it probably seems difficult. But it’s actually not so bad. You can also give them a treat afterward.
The trouble you are likely to have is that your cats will wise up well before the 15 days are up, and run away when they see you coming at them with that “I’m gonna medicate you!” gleam in your eye (maybe a treat will help but maybe not.)
Not so sure what the solution to that is, although they are fed at a regular time and place, you may be able to grab them each day before feeding starts.
I always got Caelan to take his meds by emptying the capsule into a bit of cat food gravy, then smearing it all over the back of his front paws. He got every bit of it trying to clean himself.
Cats eat mice and lick their own assholes - I don’t think the taste would be much of an issue.
I’m with @RealityChuck . I’ve never once been able to get a cat to willingly eat any medication except a tuna-flavored liquid antibiotic I was able to get from a compounding pharmacy. The best way to get the full dose of medication in is to immobilize the cat and get the pill as far back on the tongue as possible. If you’re not practiced in the technique, it’s a good idea to wrap the kitty up in a towel and get a helper to hold him.
Your vet can give you a kind of claw arm that can grip the pill and let you deposit it far back in kitty’s throat. That plus the “jaw squeeze” maneuver makes it a snap.
Our cat gave us a cat pill popper. (it will save your fingers!)
Using several of the suggestion above I’m on my knees sitting the floor, the cat between my leg. That way he or she cannot back up or move. One hand has the cat’s throat , tilting the head back that partially opens the mouth. A bit of polite pressure on either side of the jaws opens the mouth a bit more. With the cat pill popper in the other hand I pop it deep into the mouth and massage the throat so they swallow it. I follow up immediately with a treat: the small aluminum foil tube of semi-liquid cat treats. (Delectables.)
All of this is an art. It’s not perfect and expect anything from your feline overlords.
I have one of those somewhere. It couldn’t hold on to the pills, or it would refuse to drop them.
Now I use tweezers. They work fine, for any size of pill, even little slippery ones, if you’ve got good tweezers. And they do indeed save your fingers.
Get behind the cat. Sit on cat if necessary, as @Duckster describes; it might not be necessary. In extreme cases only, wrap paws in a towel or something to reduce clawing. Tip the cat’s head back a bit and squeeze on both sides of mouth to open mouth. Have the pill in tweezers in the other hand; deposit pill in back of cat’s mouth; hold the mouth shut till the cat swallows. Some cats get really good at not swallowing, or even at producing a visible swallow but not swallowing the pill, instead spitting it out later behind the couch. For those cats: have an eyedropper full of plain water handy; squirt the water into the mouth after the pill goes in.
It takes a bit of practice. Most cats actually get easier to pill over time.
Before crushing any pill, by the way, check with the vet (or doctor.) Some medications aren’t supposed to be crushed or even cut.
I have been able to hide treats in churu bites. You push the pill into the middle of the bite, and then smear the opening with the goo that got pushed out.
I had to give my cat pills and my wife and I tried seemingly everything. Nothing worked. Damn ornery cat completely foiled two adult humans. The cat was having no part of it and fought us at every turn.
We finally gave up. Turns out the cat was too ornery to die and recovered fine without the medicine and lived to a ripe old-age.
This has worked for me for dozens of cats (fostered and owned).
Hold cat in lap sort of like halfway between how you’d cradle a baby and the cat sitting upright. I’m right-handed, so the cat’s back is by my left arm and the pill in in my right hand. Gently lean the cat back a bit while skritching it around the eyebrows and under the chin so that it’s letting you rip it’s head back gently. Then with the left hand, gently grab around its upper jaw and lean/pull it up and back so that you’re opening up the mouth wide and the cat’s head is facing straight up. You can see the throat. Drop the pill right at and down the throat, and keep the cat in that position until it manages to swallow it down. Then give a more skritches and let it go before you get bit.
I have to pill my senior boy twice a day.
I set him on a kitchen counter on a dish towel cause the counter is cold. It’s the only time he’s allowed up on the counter so it’s special right? First I gentle talk to him, while I take out a pill. He’s usually sitting up or sometimes in a toaster position it doesn’t matter. Then I slowly tilt his head back, pinch the jaws open and drop the pill towards the back of his throat. Them massage cheeks and throat if he’s trying to eject it. More praise than he gets a treat. Sometimes it takes a couple tries.
Results vary greatly from one cat to the other. I have one who will sit there dry heaving until he eventually barfs the pill back up after I struggled to get it down him. I have another who will happily snarf down pills as long as I wrap it in a ball of soft cheese.
In real life, the one cat I had to pill often loved cheddar cheese, and would swallow absolutely anything if wrapped in cheddar cheese.
Damn cat could be upstairs sleeping. I’d open the refrigerator and open the tupperware container that we kept huge 3 lb blocks of sharp cheddar. I’d start cutting off a segment to nosh on and I’d hear ka-plop, trummel, trummel, ka-donk ka-donk ka-donk (coming rapidly down the stairs) plop! trummel, trummel, trummel, MIAOW?!? …and if I didn’t offer some cheddar I’d have a cat ascending my leg. …and if I did, he’d jump off the ground and snag it from my hand in mid-air. Gulp gulp MIAOWWW?!? (that was nice; do it AGAIN!)
I’ve had other cats that would eat cheese, and other cats that had a hankering for unusual food, but never another cat that reacted to cheddar cheese like it was nirvana. And could hear you opening the cheese box, yeesh.
