Scruff right behind the head with your non dominant hand, tilt the head back a bit, and lift the front feet just off the ground. If you’re in the right spot and have the right tilt, the mouth will open. Use dominant hand to stuff the pill into the back of the mouth. Quickly close mouth with dominant hand. Lower cat & ease up on the scruff & tilt until cat swallows.
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Thank you. I will try it. 
I do it the way @Simkie describes–scruff and lift with the non-dominant hand and administer the medicine with the dominant hand. I insert the syringe from the side at the back of the lips and squirt. I only do liquids this way. For pills, I tilt the cat’s head back with thumb and fingers on either side of the jaw. When the mouth opens, I pop the pill in as far back as I can. To make the cat swallow, I blow on the cat’s nose while holding the mouth shut.
I can give pills and liquids to most cats, but I have encountered cats that defeat me. For these, I give injections if the med comes in that form. I actually find it easier to give an injection than force feed a pill or liquid. I can inject them and be done before they know what happened.
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I am glad to learn about the blowing on the cat’s nose. I will try that. I do know about stroking their throat to get them to swallow (not always successful!).
I am also interested in what you posted about giving injections. The vet prescribed Adequan subcutaneous injections, which sounded like too much for my elderly cat and me to deal with – but maybe they would not be, if I could get the hang of it. Right now we are doing Meloxidyl as needed.
Totally agree!
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I hadn’t known you could get cats’ liquid meds flavored. I must look into that for my girl. Good to know!
When I give my kitty Meloxidyl I give it in just a little bit of tuna water from people tuna. .2ml of Meloxidyl with maybe 1/4 tsp tuna water. Unfortunately this does not work for us with Gabapentin.
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Here’s a trick a vet showed me for giving injections to a cat–Put the cat on a counter or table with a helper in front of the cat and you behind or beside the cat. Ask the helper to grab the scruff and gently move the cat’s neck and shoulders side to side while you inject the medicine. The movement should distract the cat long enough to give the shot. I’ve also used this method with no helper if I give the shot in or near the scruff.
I once had a diabetic cat that was on insulin. Once I got the hang of it, I could inject him while he slept and never wake him up. @Rackonteur once you get used to giving injections, I think you’ll find it’s easier for both you and your cat. Ask your vet to show you how, and practice on something like an orange to get the feel of it.
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subQ’s are easy - they take a little practice, is all. Ask your vet to show you.
ETA - I hate needles - I am super-afraid of them - but subQ’s were easy after some practice. You’ll get so good at it that the cat doesn’t even notice, especially if you get a fine-gauge needle. If I had the option of pills/liquids or subQ treatment for a cat, I’d choose that one almost every time now.
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I first get the band aids out and the rubbing alcohol pads to clean the scratch marks (real alcohol might not be a bad idea too) then my husband scruffs the cat. I approach wearing my long sleeved rose gloves and try to give medicine to the cat. My husband and I take care of our wounds while the cat runs and hides trying to spit out the medicine.
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Haha sounds like me. I had a sweet boy that was wicket with the hind claws. I tried to warn the cat expert vet about him when she needed to draw blood in the other room and she scoffed at me, but came back with claw rake marks down both forearms-she had to pretend it did not hurt. They finally put the warnings in his vet notes.
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Update: giving the pills vs the liquid is so much better. She hasn’t had any ‘episodes’ and has been more interactive and I have been able to cut down the albuterol which I hadn’t accomplished as I had to keep giving her rescue doses. I just don’t know how much of the liquid she was getting plus the tab bumped up the dose a bit. Tomorrow, I will get her Fluticasone inhaler and I hope I can taper down the oral steroid after that.
I am also entertaining inquiring about acupuncture. She has had a lot of stress from the asthma attacks, the hospitalization and wrestling her to get meds down her. I thought that might help her chill and maybe decrease her respiratory rate a bit. I figure this is in the realm of it can’t hurt?
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@Rackonteur - sub q injections are super easy. You can give them any where on a cat where there is loose skin. My diabetic kitty doesn’t even care and never did. My dreadful little crank of a patient did not even mind when I had to give her subq antibiotics. In fact she put up with that better than a pill or liquid the little fink.
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Thank you.
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That is about right. Luckily, Emmy (cat the post is about) is very good with a piller. She just found that particular liquid (prednisolone) nasty. I had no problem with the liquid antibiotic.
UPDATE: Still hanging in there. Still tachypneic but I haven’t witnessed an acute attack since Saturday night…that one was quite brief and I didn’t have to give her any albuterol. She has been on the Fluticasone inhaler almost a week. The next week I am going to start tapering her off the oral prednisolone (hopefully). She is eating well, conversant, and interactive so we keep going. She has a follow-up visit with her regular vet in a couple weeks so I will see what she says. Still trying to figure out any triggers.
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I love your video! So true!
