Help needed to get medicine into sick cat

[Dollartuckedinsidemyshoe]

Our normally resilient totally unfazed car has become really stressed recently for a few reasons. Two vet visits and £600 later they think it’s caused an ongoing UTI.

We’ve got 3 different meds to get into her twice a day and we just can’t. We were putting it on her food or dreamies but she’s stopped eating, we tried syringing it directly into her mouth but she was so stressed it was impossible. She’s hidden panting under furniture ever since.

Any ideas how we can get the meds down her so she starts to get better?

What are the meds?

Antibiotic liquid
Anti inflammatory liquid and a cystitis tablet I think

Unfortunately if you can't find a way to do it. You'll have to take her to the vets twice a day to get them to do it.

I have to pill my cat 3 times a day and had to switch from the liquid to cutting up the pill version very small to get her to both eat her food because the liquid stank something awful and no doubt messed up her taste buds and for it to go down easily. I give her a massive fuss before and after i give her her medicine and she doesn't make a fuss anymore. I also pop it directly in her mouth no food involved.

Buy some of the cheap chicken or beef sandwich spread that come in little jars (like Shiphams used to make, may still do?) You can usually find supermarket own brands cheap. Then use just enough to put the tablet into a small ball and try feeding from thr palm of your hand. I did this everyday with my cat who had to take a daily heart tablet. Don't forget to refrigerate the jar and check for how long it lasts when opened though. Don't know about the liquid other than wrapping your cat tightly in a towel and getting someone to hold their jaw open (the cats! 😂) while you use the syringe. Good luck. Not easy I know.

Try easy pill for the pill. It's a kind of paste you wrap around the pill. The liquids need to go directly into the mouth. Having two people but I tend to find it easier having the cat held down on a bed or sofa so easy to move around them, getting the cats head tilted back and the going on a dispensing the liquid as quickly as possible. Good luck

Ring the vets in the morning, explain the problem and see if you can compromise/prioritise. Eg ditch the Cystease in the short term and try to reinstate it when she's eating better, swap the Synulox drops for a jag of Convenia as long as they haven't cultured bacteria resistant to cefovecin (not my first choice for UTIs, I prefer amox-clav , but all of the 2nd or 3rd best thing is better than none of the best thing) , which leaves you with the metacam. They really do need to be eating to have NSAIDs though, not good for their gut lining otherwise. Maybe just a couple of drops stirred into slightly warmed paté or gravy?
Some clients swear by the hideously named Licky Licks... Lik - e- lix ? Something like that. Never seen them but I've had more than one feline patient where that's the only thing that worked.

Do you think I should leave it for tonight as she’s so stressed now or try again with the syringe this evening? It’s just so sad looking at her.

My cat was impossible to get antibiotics down, so vet gave him a long acting jab. I'd ring in morning and explain the situation and see what they say. There are all sorts of tricks to get meds into them but if she's miserable and hiding it's heartbreaking. I hope vet can help

Grind the tablet into a powder and mix it with butter. Once you get the butter ball into the cats mouth it will melt and not be spit out.
As suggested above, a towel to wrap the cat and keep the claws away is best.
Good luck, hope your cat feels better soon.

I wonder if holding her by the scruff might help with syringing it into her mouth? It sometimes seems to provoke a kitten ish reflex to stop struggling. I think it would still be a two person job though, the other person to hold the cat firmly under their arm and by the scruff with their other hand, and then you hold their face and syringe medicine in.

If you have no luck you will have to get the vet to do it, you might be able to see how they do it and copy what they do.

I would leave it. Especially since you're potentially playing the long game, you don't want to make her dread you/the food/the sight of a med bottle.

We have had success with mixing in with lick e lix (chicken liver flavour) - this works of there isn't too sour / bitter a taste. Or I grab my cat, back to me, drop pill into back of throat, close her mouth and wipe lick e lix on her mouth so she licks it off, and then I give her the rest to lick up which she's delighted by. For pills I've found it best to be quick and efficient and then less drama. Syringing in is similar - but I squirt in the side of the mouth, if diluting down with lick e lix doesn't work. Our cats go mad for it, so it usually does the trick, but only chicken liver flavour.

My cat has daily tablets and also atm metacam anti imflammatory liquid. The metacam is mixed into tuna and the tablets squished into webbox yum-e-yums treats. The webbox treats were a game changer.

Sorry . Was there not a thread a while ago suggesting using a jumper sleeve , drop cat head first into the sleeve ? . But if you manage tell us ( awkward lab ) .

One tip for feeding cats liquid medicine with a syringe: you have to make sure that the syringe is placed deep in their mouth, before dispensing. I learnt this the hard way when I thought my cat was getting enough painkiller, but the syringe was only in the middle of her mouth - she wasn’t swallowing it, much of it was pooling in her mouth and eventually seeping out. The mouth should bot be full of liquid medicine after using the syringe, otherwise you are doing it wrong.
It is really emotionally hard to give them medicine with a syringe, force-feeding them, but essential. Close the door, hold them by the scruff of their neck, angle their head gently upwards (pp mentioned above) and dispense syringe contents bit by bit, letting the swallow in between, moving the syringe out to let them swallow.
There are tablet dispensers available too, little claws, if hiding tablets in food doesn’t work.
It gets easier after a few days, give them a little treat each time. Try again tonight please, let us know how you get on. It is painful to us as cat-parents, but even more painful later on knowing that you weren’t strong enough to do so, or failed to do so properly. The hardest part really is holding them and getting the medicine in. But it doesn’t hurt them, it is just unpleasant. Not getting the medicine will hurt them.

I have had antibiotics in syringes as it is easier to inject my cat than get her to take oral meds.

There are some good videos on YouTube if you do a search, OP. I found them helpful for obvious-once-you-know-how tips for getting worming tablets down a reluctant cat.
What I didn't find was how to cope with a miserable, drooling, panting cat who was so upset at needing daily liquid that he just hid from us all the time.

I’ve just tried again and got about half a syringe into her. She’s now having what seems like a full on panic attack and panting horrendously under the sideboard. This is heartbreaking, I honestly don’t know what to do. I know she has to have it to get better but this feels like it’s making her worse

Just leave her alone for now and call the vets in the morning to tell them.

Have you tried putting the tablets in treats? Things that go down well here are licky lix and softer smoked cheese (the one in the brown wrap). Mine has UTI flare ups and I do her cheap frozen fish poached and add the metacalm into this with a bit of the poaching liquor. Then she gets extra water in her too. We also open her cystease (sp?) tablets and mix then into strong smelling cat foods - applaws fish ones are good.

Just stop for now
@powershowerforanhour is spot on
Vets can give a two week acting antibiotic so that cuts out the antibiotic liquid which is not that palatable and a large volume.
The anti inflammatory is a small volume and tasty so usually easily disguised. Lik e lix are honestly magic. Little sachets of thick creamy liquid that cats love. Put iron there and I’m sure it will go.
The cystease capsules can wait till cat is less stressed .
The really important thing is to avoid stress, use a feliway diffuser
Avoid dry food unless specific urinary diet, for now
Increase fluid intake , wet food will do this but a water fountain should help, or when eating better add a little warm water to the food.

I’m still waiting for the vet to call me back.

I bought lik e liks and she won’t touch them without any meds hidden in them.

I’ve not tried again to get meds in her and she’s now not eating at all. Just sitting staring very forlornly, it’s breaking my heart, she’s just so unhappy

How is she @Dollartuckedinsidemyshoe ?