Won't take her £6 pill!

[ClaudiaNaughton]

Got a milbemax worming pill from vet today. Always managed to tie it in before with injection and the vet nurse sorts her out. Tried 4 Dreamies then pill and it was spat out. Then wrapped her in towel, got it in but when I put her down it got spat out again. My previous cats have all been less vicious of a gentler type. Any ideas? All food gets sniffed suspiciously and she has Royal Canin BS hard stuff. She hates me now

[cozietoesie]

I use spot on flea and wormer potions, Seniorboy regarding pills as the work of the devil. She'll get over the hate but I'd consider cutting your losses on the pill.

[Missymum6]

Wrap it in a bit of ham, double wrap if she is smart x

[chockbic]

Will she not eat wet food at all? Or cheese maybe.

[Tipsykisses]

Try coating it in pate , that normally works with ours .

[RubbishMantra]

After you put the pill in her mouth, hold it shut and gently stroke her throat until she licks her nose. That means she's swallowed the pill. Usually.

[cozietoesie]

Part of the problem is that by the time you get anything down (that would be Never for Seniorboy) the pill is often a shadow of its former self. You've got foam on your hand or foam and bits on the floor and you may not have got enough medication down from the remaining bit of pill to do the job intended.

[Petallic]

Cube of spam - hide tablet fragments in the middle of cubes. Works for most of my cats, although I had one that would just suck meat off and store tablet in his cheek until he thought you weren't watching!

[shaska]

Thanks cozie, for bringing back memories of previous cat and self, cat, bedroom all covered in pill fragments, pate, tuna juice, cheese, blood, dribble, towel fluff, cat fluff and human tears. Oh and the NOISE.

My advise is what Rubbishmantra said - including the 'usually'. Also top tip - remaining as calm as possible, as difficult as that may be, really does help.

She'll forgive you. Eventually.

[Qwebec]

I third Rubbermantra's tip, and check that the pill has gone down before letting her go.

If it's any encouragement, mine learned to hide the bits of pill in her teeth and in the end we cound not give her anything, she would drool and drool until the whole pill was disolved on the table in a white puddle.

But don't worry she won't be angry for long.

here for being so brave, pill giving is hell

[ClaudiaNaughton]

Well I think it has gone down. Chockbic's tip with the cheese was where I started. I had some new delicious soft goat's cheese in the fridge so I rolled some into small balls with ball no 3 having the pill inside. Result! Thank you all for the tips. I remembered shooting down a pill with a syringe thing but think that may have been a dog.

[JanetWeb2812]

When you're giving pills to a cat the secret is to be decisive. If you fanny around your your pet has time to prepare.

Bring the head back and the mouth will open automatically. Pop the pill in and jab it to the back of the throat with your finger. Hold the mouth shut and massage the throat to induce the swallow reflex.

The whole process should be over in under a couple of seconds.

40 years of cat-owning experience.

[slippermaiden]

We use milbemax. I wrap it in Parma ham and it goes down a treat. The meat is a bit sticky, whereas Turkey slices it just falls out.

[DramaAlpaca]

I was coming on to say exactly what Janet just said, and agree that you have to take the feline by surprise. Quick & decisive, and the less fuss the better.

[sparkysparkysparky]

Janet has the only realistic solution. However, you could try Greenies Pill Pockets which you can get from Amazon. Our recently departed old girl surprised me by accepting them. And then didnâ??t surprise me by changing her mind. I went Janet ' s route in the end. It's a mind game as much as anything.

[cozietoesie]

Worth a try, I suppose - although I'm afraid that Seniorboy requires only a nano-second of warning when it comes to pills - even when roused from deepest sleep. Even his vet now says (sadly) ' No pills of course'.

[shaska]

I always thought I was excellent at giving cats pills - very much of the Janet and Drama school of thought. I distinctly remember saying to DH, when we were at the vet with previous cat and he was prescribing pills 'don't worry, I am a pill-giving master. It's all about being calm, quick and firm, and it's over in seconds'.

My post further up the page tells what happened next. It was a learning experience.

[DramaAlpaca]

Seniorboy and shaska's cat are clearly wily old chaps who take absolutely no nonsense from anybody

[SoupDragon]

SoupKitten used to take tablets crumbled into cream cheese.
FatCat has to go to the vet.
SoupDoggyDog eats all tablets bare and with gusto if you say "Who wants a treat? Who wants a treat?!" in an excited voice. He isn't very bright.

[SoupDragon]

FatCat bolts if he so much as glimpses the little tube of Advocate flea treatment so spot on stuff is not much better than a pill :)

[DramaAlpaca]

That's the difference with dogs, isn't it? They are so eager to please they'll swallow anything thrown in their direction.

DramaDog1 is on heart pills twice a day and the only problem I have with getting them down her is stopping her younger, fitter companion from leaping in and stealing them from under her nose.

[SoupDragon]

Yep :)

There is that classic email joke that went round about How to Give a Cat a Pill v How to Give a Dog a Pill. IIRC, the instructions for dog were to wrap in in bacon when the reality is you don't even need to to that :) The cat ones were pretty much as Shaska describes.

[cozietoesie]

Here is said joke, SoupDragon.

How to give a cat a pill

[SoupDragon]

It is so true :)

Apart from the need to wrap the dog's pill in bacon...

[SoupDragon]

The thing is, when the vet gives a cat a pill it is just like instruction 1 on the list!

[cozietoesie]

Not with Seniorboy it's not! (She doesn't even attempt it these days and she's a very experienced vet.) And I'm not exactly lacking in willpower.

It's just that in this one matter (well - one of two or three) Seniorboy has drawn a line in the sand.