giving a cat tablets

[hollinhurst84]

Ollie is showing his teenage side
He has cat flu, and will need antibiotics possibly every few months
Previously he was eating them
Now he's refusing all food because I "might" have put meds in it. Paste/ pate doesn't work, he sucks off the paste and spits the tablet out
I can't throw them down his throat as I don't have enough hands and he legs it when I try to get hold of him (stress not good for me, or cat flu!)
I got it down him eventually today by splitting a 5mg tablet into quarters and mashing it into a liver treat but it's not guaranteed
Any stress free tips?!

[TamzinGrey]

Yay! Pill pockets rock

[hollinhurst84]

We are solved for now!
My friend is posting me some pill pockets and back at vets tomorrow as he's still snotty :(

[TamzinGrey]

Please try these - they are bloody amazing. Soft jelly like treats with a hole in the middle that you can tuck a tablet in. They've been available in the USA for ages but have only just come here. You can get them in two flavours and our old girl adores them. Our tablet traumas are finally over www.amazon.co.uk/Greenies-Feline-Pill-Pockets-Salmon/dp/B000JOE224?tag=mumsnet&ascsubtag=mnforum-21

[bertsdinner]

My old cat was a sod with this. She would not take pills and became deeply suspicious when I ground it into her food. She had an iron jaw, to match her iron will, and just clamped her mouth shut. I once managed to prise it open and pop the pill in. I held her mouth shut for ages, when I let loose, she spat it out. I ended up blending it into some prawns and mixing the paste with her food.
Even then, she was deeply suspicious. The long lasting injection is the best invention since sliced bread, in my humble opinion.

[pigsDOfly]

I used to have a cat that needed long term medication. Even the vet had difficulty getting pills into her: she didn't fight, she was just very stubborn, had very strong jaw muscles and could spit a pill 500 yards without pausing for breath; either that or she'd hold them in her mouth for ages and then you'd find them all over the house.

I found the popper thing was the only way I could ever get pills into her, and because it gets the pill right to the back of the throat she couldn't get it into her cheek and spit it out later.

It took me a while to get the hang of it but once I became an expert at it and could do it really quickly she just seem to accept it, and giving her tablet became easy and fast.

[iklboo]

This

[sashh]

I had to give one of mine pills.

I retrieved the first pill I don't know how many times, but by the third pill I think he knew the pill was going down whether he liked it or not.

By pill 5 - he just let me put the pill in and take proffered treat.

[MrsBertMacklin]

Ignore the towel BS and cat must be drugged, but this shows the jaw prising technique and hand placement. <a class="break-all" href="https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=m.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DaWlpsTh6ddk&ved=0CBsQtwIwAGoVChMI2YCIhK_7yAIVRX4aCh1VtggS&usg=AFQjCNHgvlVFPshNVl5rS0DSdQiJ-9k1Yg" rel="nofollow noindex" target="_blank">www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=m.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DaWlpsTh6ddk&ved=0CBsQtwIwAGoVChMI2YCIhK_7yAIVRX4aCh1VtggS&usg=AFQjCNHgvlVFPshNVl5rS0DSdQiJ-9k1Yg

[TheoriginalLEM]

Ok this will sound harsh, but it works - hold cat TIGHTLY by scruff of the neck so that the legs splay out in all directions. Shove pill in, clamp mouth shut and rub neck. done.

Most cats when scruffed just don't move, i say most - some will spin round and rip your face off but most just go all rigid. You don't have to pick cat up, just make sure front legs off the floor/table.

[MrsBertMacklin]

Love that posy crabby

My routine is
Coax into arms to be cuddled like a baby
Dreamies
Force jaws open, using forearms to stop wriggling escape, throw pill in, shut mouth and gently stroke throat
More Dreamies and praise

There's a weak point on the side of their mouths that you can crowbar open, will try to find YT link.

[chemenger]

Pill pouches (I think that's what they are called) are like Dreamies but with a hole in the middle that you slip the pill in. You can get them on eBay. They do work for a while, in the end they get wise to all tricks in my experience. I now just ask for the long lasting injection, both my cats are acknowledged by the vets to be hard to pill. That's why the old one had radio iodine treatment for her thyroid - fewer pills!

[hollinhurst84]

Thank god for dreamies
I broke some up and he kept picking them off the floor. Shame 4 of them had 1/4 of a tablet in

[hollinhurst84]

He won't touch liver. Of any kind
Helpful for a raw diet

[Fluffycloudland77]

Chicken livers from the frozen cabinet, poached in the oven etc.

Most cats go nuts for them. Not mine obviously because that would be too easy.

[Ruhrpott]

As far as I know the long acting injection lasts 10 days. Mine usually have them for abscesses.

[Ruhrpott]

I get the vet to give mine a long acting antibiotic injection. Costs a bit more but definitely worth it.
Otherwise I kneel on the floor put cat between my legs, hold him tight with my thighs and then prose his mouth open, put it down his throat and the rub his throat with head held upwards. Then he runs off and throws it up!

[hollinhurst84]

Crushed is currently a no go as he's on hunger strike. Although worked nicely with the last ones
I'll have to see if he's eaten when I get in
My other plan was to "abandon" some scrambled eggs for him to steal with the tablets crushed in them

[Pipestheghost]

I have crushed tablets and mixed them with tinned tuna, that works with my cats, but not all tablets can be crushed so I check with vet.

[hollinhurst84]

If I give him caviar and he eats it, you're paying

[KittiesInsane]

See, he's definitely a cat with an eye for the finer things in life.

I think you need to try that caviar.

[hollinhurst84]

Handmade by a woman on etsy - I fell in love with the fabric (Riley Blake I wanna be a cowboy) and she made me a patchwork quilt

[KittiesInsane]

Nice quilt!

eltsihT, I had to double check which 'he' was which in your post.

[hollinhurst84]

He was eating them like sweets
Now he's on different ones which are apparently flavoured, he won't touch them. Or any food. Or come near me
Cat logic

[eltsihT]

I have 2 cats one eats them like they are sweeties

The other one, is a two man job, dh wraps in towel with front paws well wrapped. He then sort of sits on the cat, I prize his jaw open throw tablet in and hold his mouth shut till he swallows. If he is ever proscribed daily drugs I think I will cry on the vet.

[hollinhurst84]

Possibly now he won't eat anything full stop in case it has the dreaded meds in