When the stuff is positivelly vile, even Tuna does not mask the taste…
The pill is quiet big
The cat does not go for treats
There is another cat in the house (actually 2) One that eats the wet food, the other that only touches dry, so leaving food out is not an option
Besides disolving the pill in water and trying to get it in his mouth without losing a pint of blood in the process…
(Astma meds…)
Strange dogs I struggle with, but I am a MASTER at giving cats pills :lol:
Kneel with the cat between your legs, ankles crossed to stop the cat from slithering out backwards. Don’t squash the cat, but don’t give it any extra room. If the cat is a scratcher, cross you left arm across its legschest to lock in the claws and use your left hand to squeeze its mouth open. Use your right hand to shove pills way down its throat, then quickly close its move and hold it closed ad tilted upwards. Stroke its throat untill you feel several swallows before releasing the cat.
What drug? Just curious as I have an asthma kitty too.
He is good about it and I pry his mouth open and throw the pill in and he swallows. Some days I can just put it on his tongue.
My mom’s cat is the devil, but small so I use to take her and put her on her back on my lap open mouth and pop pill in. I am not sure why but that worked for her.:lol:
[QUOTE=Big_Grey_hunter;5646491]
Strange dogs I struggle with, but I am a MASTER at giving cats pills :lol:
Kneel with the cat between your legs, ankles crossed to stop the cat from slithering out backwards. Don’t squash the cat, but don’t give it any extra room. If the cat is a scratcher, cross you left arm across its legschest to lock in the claws and use your left hand to squeeze its mouth open. Use your right hand to shove pills way down its throat, then quickly close its move and hold it closed ad tilted upwards. Stroke its throat untill you feel several swallows before releasing the cat.[/QUOTE]
Ah yes I have used this technique as well.:lol:
Wrap the cat in a towel to prevent (your) evisceration, grasp the nape of the cat’s neck firmly like a mother cat would do - 9times out of 10 they get a dazed look and their mouth drops open a little.
Before you start put a little Laxatone or other slippery goo on the end of the capsule or pill to help it slide down, and then poke it on down into the back of their throat. Stroke the throat to encourage them to swallow.
My vet also sold me a little rubber plunger with a holder for the pill on the end - it’s about 8 inches long and keeps your fingers out of their mouth.
We used to put Mom’s (very mean) cat in a cloth bag, like a laundry duffel, that had a drawstring top, and tighten the string just enough to keep him from escaping.
With most cats this would probably only work a time or two before the cat wises up and gets gone as soon as it sees the bag. However, Mom’s cat was, in addition to being mean, also exceptionally short on gray matter. Often we could just leave the bag open and he’d go in by himself.
Poor old Willie. He’s actually quite missed, despite his temperamental shortcomings.
[QUOTE=MizzouMom;5646531]
Wrap the cat in a towel to prevent (your) evisceration, grasp the nape of the cat’s neck firmly like a mother cat would do - 9times out of 10 they get a dazed look and their mouth drops open a little.
Before you start put a little Laxatone or other slippery goo on the end of the capsule or pill to help it slide down, and then poke it on down into the back of their throat. Stroke the throat to encourage them to swallow.
My vet also sold me a little rubber plunger with a holder for the pill on the end - it’s about 8 inches long and keeps your fingers out of their mouth.[/QUOTE]
That little pill plunger thing is a godsend. I would definitely suggest one of those for a difficult to pill cat!
[QUOTE=Mara;5646542]
We used to put Mom’s (very mean) cat in a cloth bag, like a laundry duffel, that had a drawstring top, and tighten the string just enough to keep him from escaping.
With most cats this would probably only work a time or two before the cat wises up and gets gone as soon as it sees the bag. However, Mom’s cat was, in addition to being mean, also exceptionally short on gray matter. Often we could just leave the bag open and he’d go in by himself.
Poor old Willie. He’s actually quite missed, despite his temperamental shortcomings.[/QUOTE]
:lol::lol::lol::lol:
rofl on Willy! :lol:
Kitty gets ‘Theophyllial’
man that stuff is BITTER!!! :dead:
I’ll try the pill thing again, the desolving thing is clearly not working…
My current cat is the most laid-back EVER at taking pills, but my previous ones used to leave me bleeding. I’ve mastered a little “flicking” pill action where I manage to get the pill far enough back on the tongue, and then flick it far enough in so the beast has no choice but to swallow.
[QUOTE=Alagirl;5646586]
rofl on Willy! :lol:
Kitty gets ‘Theophyllial’
man that stuff is BITTER!!! :dead:
I’ll try the pill thing again, the desolving thing is clearly not working…[/QUOTE]
Hmm gonna ask my vet about that. Sounds like exactly what my kitty needs!:yes:
Who posted that super funny topic a while back, I think on an OT day about giving a cat a pill? It went on for a while, and was like: “Bandage hand. Catch cat again”, etc. etc. Would love to see it again! 
Ditto Big Grey Hunter on the sit-on-kitty method. The angle gives you better leverage than making a kitty burrito and it’s a little easier than wrapping up a mad cat. You can get pill shooters at pet stores as well and they are very handy! Spraying the pill with a little oil-based cooking spray might help mask the taste and smooth it out. Stroke kitty’s throat or blow gently on his/her nose to encourage swallowing.
[QUOTE=Big_Grey_hunter;5646491]
Strange dogs I struggle with, but I am a MASTER at giving cats pills :lol:
Kneel with the cat between your legs, ankles crossed to stop the cat from slithering out backwards. Don’t squash the cat, but don’t give it any extra room. If the cat is a scratcher, cross you left arm across its legschest to lock in the claws and use your left hand to squeeze its mouth open. Use your right hand to shove pills way down its throat, then quickly close its move and hold it closed ad tilted upwards. Stroke its throat untill you feel several swallows before releasing the cat.[/QUOTE]
this is how I do it. I do it this way with little dogs and stand behind big dogs.
blowing a shot of air down their nose also encourages swallowing.
Have you tried Pill Pockets? I thankfully have not had occasion to try them with cats, but whatever they put into the dog version is crack for dogs - to the point that my previously non-pill dog now runs when she hears a prescription bottle open. Worth a shot, at least! It makes life SO much easier if you they will eat something in a treat (I know you said the cat doesn’t go for treats, but I’ve never had a pet in my life who wasn’t a total treathound eventually, so it seems worth trying one more kind :))
trial and error
We’ve gone through a few different methods with our cat who has congestive heart failure and gets 4 different pills.
We did not have success with the pill popper (tried 2 different ones from the vet). The vet techs at both the emergency clinic and our regular vet had a really hard time pilling our cat, so I know it isn’t just us. She bit me pretty good once when we were pilling her, I didn’t mind and it was no big deal, but it did get infected. I was at work 4 hours later and my hand turned red and swelled up like crazy. I think ours is an unusual case, most people don’t have nearly as much trouble.
I had somewhat better success going to a compounding pharmacy and having the medicines made into solutions I could just shoot in her mouth with a syringe. I wrapper her in a towel to keep her quiet. She hated being forced to take the meds. I didn’t see this as a viable option for a 4 yr old cat to do twice a day for the rest of her life, so we looked to another method.
We then tried hiding the pills in all sorts of other good stuff. This didn’t get us far, but for a while she’d take them if I stuffed them in the only brand of crunchy treats that she’d eat. I had to bore out the stuff inside and delicately put the pills in.
And then eventually she decided that she did in fact like pill pockets so that is what we use now (chicken flavor only). The cat pill pockets are a little large, so I break them in half and give her a number of those each feeding. I make sure I pill her right before I feed her so she is hungry. She still loves those little cruncy treats, so I cut those into quarters to use to whet her appetite, and then as chasers to each pill pocket.
It is a pain in the butt, but the only way we’ve been able to safely get the pills into her.
tried them…the cat is not a treat fan.
Biggest treat is tuna, and that did not work
DH tried a scallop…delicately removed scallop from offending pill…:no:
I wish it was a dog: Hot Dogs and no problems!
If you rub the pill with butter it makes them slippery. Would probably help mask the taste, too.
hmm butter!
:taking notes:
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