best way to administer tablets

[meatloaf]

I need to give me cat a worming tablet next week, it will be my first ever.

She's not into food so won't be able to hide it in anything. What way do you administer yours? Just looked on YouTube and they show 1 person holding and another opening the mouth and putting the tablet in - I am on my own and don't have another adult to help.

Help!

[chickensaladagain]

Swaddle the cat in a towel and tuck it under your arm then open its mouth and drop the tablet in

Alternatively get some of that stuff you put on the back of their necks

Far easier

[LackaDAISYcal]

Valuable advice here

[cozietoesie]

Naughty LackaDAISYcal.

Fluffy posted a link to an implement for the purpose the other day. I'll see if I can find it.

[cozietoesie]

Apologies - it wasn't Fluffy it was Sparkling. \link{http://www.hyperdrug.co.uk/images/buster_pill_giver.gif\Here} it is. I think she got hers from the vet.

I'll confess here to having a cat for whom all pills are the work of the devil. I go for liquid everything.

[AlisonL1981]

I use the stuff that goes on the back of the neck now. When I did give her pills i just pushed the pill into her mouth and she swallowed! I watched the vet do it. It was easier than I thought but aye my cat just didnt put up a fight!

[cozietoesie]

It's something about vets - and it's not just experience in handling, either.

They seem to have 'eye'. (Like a good sheepdog - just quell insurrection with one look.)

[thecatneuterer]

I also do the swaddle with a towel method if all else fails. You need to make sure you push the tablet right down the throat, or at least to the very back of the mouth. I have used those pill popper things, but I find it just as easy to do with my hand, unless it's a very bitey and aggressive cat.

It's an important skill to master. The chances are your cat will have to have tablets at some point in it's life. I find that those that are on regular tablets get used to it and stop putting up much of fight eventually.

[MumnGran]

OK - this sounds awful, but is painless and very quick, so causes far less upset to the cat than a "kind" but highly stressful prolonged battle wrapped in towels etc ....
with your left hand, take firm hold of the loose skin at the base of the head (the "scruff" iof the neck), fairly high up towards the ears.
Tilt the head backwards. As the head tilts, the mouth opens.
Holding the cat firmly in this position ( if you have it right, they don't wriggle ) drop the tablet into the open mouth, to the back of the throat.
If it doesn't go right down ....use a finger to push further in.
Allow the head to come forward, while closing mouth with right hand.
Stroke the throat until you are sure the cat has swallowed.

Worked beautifully on umpteen rescues who had zero intention of allowing pill-pushing!!

but I recommend taking the scruff, not the soft grip, on cats known to be anti !!

[cozietoesie]

Hah! Neither of you have ever had to deal with Seniorboy!

He doesn't bite but like most Siamese he could wriggle for Britain.

[meatloaf]

Thanks. Like the scruff of the neck approach. If that doesn't work will try the towel.

I bought 6 months (x2) tablets from the rescue and since then found out worming comes in liquid form too.

[Sparklingbrook]

We have one of these. It works well for us. it jettisons the tablet down the back of their throat before they have realised. Got mine from the Vets.

[Sparklingbrook]

Sorry Cozie-missed that you had already linked.

[MumnGran]

lol Cozie ... no, but I have three here who could probably give him a run for his money!
Nail clipping is something I approach with terror, with MissHissyFit !!

[Tigerblue]

I'd get a spot on treatment for worms instead! Also, when they have their annual check up and any other vets visits, you can get them to pill them. Our vet loves us as she has to get the nurse in to help with our boy as he's a nightmare! We really struggled with ours and on one occasion my husband had his t-shirt shredded, so couldn't face that each time.

[cozietoesie]

As I said above, Seniorboy won't bite - but he still managed to get down the vet nurse's back somehow last time he was having bloods taken. From a cat with four legs he suddenly turns into a cat with 8!

(We now use liquids or nothing at all - and luckily, these days, everything he's needed so far comes in liquid form.)

Interestingly, MumnGran, I've trained him to claw clipping at home. It's not his most favourite thing but he'll let me do it.

[DramaAlpaca]

I second MumnGran's approach.

[Grandmaw]

My cat has to have a tablet every other day and I was dreading having to dose him but I have found a solution.
I buy packets of Webbox Tasty Sticks. Cut about an inch length off one and slit it (but not right through). Put the tablet in the slit and mould the tasty stick around it. I call 'treat' and my cat comes running and eats the tasty stick with the tablet - no problem!

[sashh]

When Charlie needed pills it stated with scruffing him, wrapping him in a towel, opening his mouth and putting the pill as far back as possible. Then holding him stroking under his neck until he swallowed.

The retrieving the pill from the floor and repeating.

By the end of the week I could just open his mouth while he was asleep, pop the pill at the back of his mouth and stroke him, he would give me 'the eye' then go back to sleep.

[deliasmithy]

This worked for me:

Piece of favourite treat in one hand, pill 'syringe' with pill in place in the other.

Don't act suspiciously.

Suddenly swoop in on cat from behind and squat over cat, using thighs and knees gently to prevent bolting.
Quickly use treat hand to pincer cat head on either side of jaw. Have pill hand at the ready. The second the cat opens the jaw, shove pill in on back of tongue and release. The quicker the better.

Stroke cat chin and ram treat in. Cat will eat treat and pill.

Job done. Add a chalk point to the humans scoreboard.

[SoupDragon]

Try crushing it into cream cheese.

[SoupDragon]

Dogs are far easier. With SoupDoggyDogg, I just hold it in my hand, say "Who's a good boy" Good boy! Who's a very good boy!" and give it to him. He assumes the pill is a treat, bless him.

With the the late, lamented SmallCat, it involved a towel and several attempts at chucking it down her throat until I discovered the cream cheese. With FatCat he gets wormed at the vets!

[thecatneuterer]

We always use fish paste. The sort you buy in little jars (is Shipman's a brand? - just checked - currently using Princes Salmon Paste). All cats seem to love it and it's sticky enough to hide the pill in and it won't fall out.

[fluffydressinggown]

We spend ages trying to get our cat to eat it, stroking here throat, swaddling her etc. Then we put some treats and the tablet on the floor in a little pile and she ate it, so maybe try to see if you cat is a greedy bugger like mine, she might just eat it up.

[meatloaf]

managed to do it tonight. I couldn't do the scruff of neck and ended up wrapping her in a blanket. But I obviously wasn't throwing the tablet far back enough as she kept spitting it out.

She got in a strop with me afterwards (despite giving her a load of Dreamies), and sat in the garden for ages with her back to me.

[allmycats]

Just use the liquid rub on you can get from the vet.