My vet gave me (well, sold I think, for two bucks or something) one of those pill guns. Eddles is very cooperative and loves to cuddle, but only on his terms. So you go up to him, scruff him a bit (you want him sitting with his front feet juuuust off the floor, so you have control over him) and stick that pill gun thing in the side of his mouth and pop the pill out. Sometimes he spits it out, but we always get it in him eventually. It doesn’t even make him mad.
Amen. Especially the catching. With two people working together, if one can catch, the other can swaddle with bath towel and be relatively safe from claws. One really dexterous person can learn to do this solo, even. But I haven’t got a clue on the catching part. 
Depending on the meds, a pharmacy might be able to compound them into a liquid, which might be easier to syringe into his mouth. Or, as The Chao said, get it compounded into a transdermal cream. This method has been an Oscar winner for a lot of people I know with un-pillable cats.
I’m so sorry about Squirt. She was a super-beautiful cat.
I had to pill my cat with Prednisone and Flagyl and he simply refused to take them, using all sorts of Oscar-worthy pity meows in his arsenal so I had to resort to this:
In a mortar and pestle, crush a dose of the medicine, then add a small amount of vegetable oil until the drug dissolves. Then add a small amount of anchovy paste (maybe a quarter inch from the tube) and incorporate the oil/medicine mixture into the anchovy paste. Paint your cat’s front paws with the mixture and watch him lick it off.
Keep cat away from your bed and anything that might catch the smell of anchovy.
This worked for my cat’s 30 day antibiotic treatment. Good luck.
I’ve had plenty of experience in the last few months with sick cats, sadly.
Miss Minx had a viral fever. Fortunately her med was (banana flavored!) liquid so I could just grab her, sit on her, tip her head up, pry her mouth open, and stick the dropper in, and squirt. Just had to make sure she didn’t let it run out the other side of her mouth. :rolleyes:
Daniel, OTOH, had a case of FLUTD. Yeesh. He got pills and liquid in premeasured syringes. The pills were a pain in the butt. Same method of restraining him. He wouldn’t deal with a pill gun, so I went back to using a finger to stuff it down his throat, and then hit him with the liquid to make darn sure he’d swallowed.
Fortunately he didn’t claw me on purpose, just tried to get away, so I got a minimum of scars.
I tried this using tuna, and watched the Ninja Princess *flick *it all off, while crying piteously at the torture…
Yeah tuna doesn’t work because it’s easily flickable. Try any pasty thing the cats like - Gerber’s chicken flavored baby food works too.
I dealt with a hyperthyroid cat and ended up springing for radioiodine, I hated pilling him so much. Pill Pockets worked for a little bit, but he caught onto them, and if Jack isn’t eating he might refuse them.
These things work great for me. I break it in half, put the pill in, mash it back together, and she eats it. Even when the pill falls out, it smells like the treat, so she eats it.
For her hyperthyroid, though, it’s been tougher. We had trouble finding the right dosage so I now give her a gel (it looks and has the consistency of white hand lotion). I put a dab on my finger and rub it in her ear. It’s worked wonders.
Unfortunately, just today I found out that the mast in her chest is a sarcoma and that I have to have a surgical consult to see if it’s even worth trying to remove a tumor from a 14 year old hyperthyroid cat with heart murmurs.
It might be nearing time to say goodbye. 
Interface, I clicked on Picture One and thought, “What a terrible picture! Why would he post that - we can’t see her face!” Then it all computed.
I’m sorry to hear your sad news. I hope the best for both of you.
Interface I’m so sorry. And a cat who reads the Dope too.
I keep walking by the place Squirt’s pen was and getting depressed (we had to pen her in a 5’ by 3’ enclosure because she kept getting lost). Jack’s had me worried, but he seems to be feeling better today.
Thanks for all the suggestions–this is all great stuff. Last night I got his pill into him by lulling him into a false sense of security–I petted him until he was purring and floppy and then I just shoved it in and held his mouth closed and stroked his throat until he swallowed. Then I petted him some more. He took it well.
Today he was quite anxious to eat, so I crushed it up and put it in his food–and he actually ate it! I’m psyched. I am going to ask the vet about the transdermal cream though–it sounds better.
Thanks to everyone for the great suggestions.
CeeJaytee— Good luck with your pilling. My kitty also just got diagnosed with hyperthyroidism. I’ve been pilling her with little trouble for the past month. Well, little trouble once I catch her! I’m using the “toss the pill down the back of the throat” method.
Interface2x– My heart cracked a little looking at your sweety. My 3 are getting older and it’s so hard when they get sick. I wish the best for your furred one.
Pretty much every tip has been mentioned, but I’ll add a few thoughts. Esophageal erosion due to dry swallowed pills is being seen more and more, so giving a few drops of water via syringe is now being suggested, although Methimazole is a very small tablet so it is probably overkill to give water.
Chao and others mentioned compounding pharmacists making a trans dermal or liquid formulation. This is good, but an added expense. If money is not a barrier, alternatives to medication should be explored. Thyroidectomy is what I do to the vast majority of my feline hyperthyroid patients.
The absolute gold standard, though, is radioactive iodine therapy. Safe, effective, but pricey.
vetbridge: my vet mentioned both thyroidectomy and radioactive iodine, but suggested started meds first, and then see. I don’t know if I can afford the gold standard (the ironic thing is that I may have to have a thyroidectomy and radioactive iodine for my own thyroid), but I may have his thyroid removed at some point.
Thanks so much.
hehe. Just finished doing a thyroidectomy. Getting the cat euthyroid prior to anything further is pretty much standard. The cat I just finished was on methimazole for two weeks pre-op so that she was as good a surgical risk as possible. Good luck with the pilling! Some cats are very easy, some are a bitch. For me, tilting the cats head back as far as possible (nose pointing to the sky) is the easiest way to start.
The last time I saw that list, it was paired with a contrasting list for dogs:[spoiler]1) Wrap pill in a slice of american cheese.
- Feed pill to dog.[/spoiler]
