Ancient cat hates taking pills

[AdelindSchade]

19 year old cat has been diagnosed with hyperthyroidism. She hates taking pills and it is too distressing to do this every day. She won't eat food with pills crushed on.

I know it will kill her if I don't do the Meds but she's perfectly content at the moment, if a bit skinny, but given her age I don't want to be upsetting her on daily basis. What's the best to do? I have insurance

Are the pills tiny? Could you push them whole or halves into some cat crack (cat sticks)?

If puss likes prawns you could defrost one each time and shove a pill in it, the smell of the prawn would probably mask any smell of the pill. You would have to watch her like a hawk though to make sure she takes it.

I'm sure you can get a pill popper to administer through the side of her mouth. Then give her a prawn or some lick-e-lix as a sweetner.

I believe the thyroid pills can't be crushed. Try a pill giver. You can't not give the medication. Give it for now and then see your vet to discuss alternatives. (Mine soon got used to the pills)

We do waterboarding to get our 20 yr old to take her thyroid meds. Dh holds her as if cradling a baby. I syringe a bit of water into the side of her gob and she opens her mouth. Pop pill in, then syringe a bit more water so she swallows. It's the easiest way we found - ours also refused food with pills in.

She looks so much better for taking the tabs and is now pretty much resigned to the operation - we feed her straight after so she's got something to look forward to after the torture!

my cats the same age and has the same condition-you can get an ear gel instead of pills but the manufacturers hiked the price up a few months ago so I went back to the pills-I crush them up in Licky Lix or mackerel to disguise the taste. Or you can get a thing that drops the pill direct into their throats but my cat gets upset at this and will just sick it up again!

I've read that they're not very palatable and I decided to stop giving my elderly cat the pills as it was just distressing him.
Obviously, he got thinner and still pottered about a bit but then he got a tumour in his nose with a constant discharge and we eventually asked the vet to put him to sleep.
He lasted about 6 months after we stopped giving the pills.

My oldgit (RIP) had to take regular pills and hated it. He was a spitter, little sod. 21yo, skinny and stubborn. We had to wrap him in a towel (like a swaddle to keep the flailing claws and limbs in) and it was a two man job (well me & DH). I had to hold him down and DH prized his mouth open and shot the pill in with a pill giver. It probably looked like we were water boarding ET, if you were to look through the window as a passer by, but it was the only way we could get the stuff into him. He was wise to all the other easy & foolproof methods.

He very often spat out the pill giver pills too. He'd hold them in and wait until he'd left the room, then do a big, spitty hack and cough it up on the rug . Good job we loved the bones of the old goat.

Said oldgit had the thyroid issue, we had two treatment options. Pills for the rest of his life (he was diagnosed at 18 and lived to be almost 22) or a thyroidectomy. We opted for the surgery. I was worried about the effects of GA on such an old body but they reassured me that this is 'old cat' surgery. It tends to only be done on elderly and frail cats and generally has a good outcome.

The easiest way to give pills is to use Shiphams fish sandwich paste or similar, or Gourmet Gold pate. Cats love both and both (particularly if you keep the pate in the fridge) are sticky. A pill can be hidden inside a little ball of the food, won't fall out, and the cat will just swallow it whole without noticing.

the cat will just swallow it whole without noticing

[hollow laugh]

My 19 year old takes her thyroid pills squashed into a small piece of cheese. If she really won't take pills I think there is a special diet from the vet for hyperthyroidism, but the cat would have to eat only that food and nothing else.

I sit my cat down, open his mouth and pop the little pink pill (felimazole), in, twice a day. Sorted. I couldn't be doing with crushing or stuffing them in food for years to come. All of my cats get the same method of pill popping, when required.

Yy I do what TCN does. Some sort of meat paste which is a treat or a tiny pinch of something like a raw beef burger and form a ball around the tablet.

Don a pair of thick gloves. Wrap cat in towel, enclosing limbs. Wrap arm in another towel. Prize jaws open and hurl pill to back of throat. Clamp jaws shut with one hand and stroke throat with other hand until swallow is felt. Hold position for 20-30 minutes, minimum.

This worries me as Harry won't eat anything other than cat food and there's no way I could force his jaw open as it's so fragile I'd be worried about breaking it again

My old boy is very fragile as well, and I am very gentle when I sit him down and open his jaw, but he's got used to it now. Give it a try. Maybe have a look on YouTube to see if there are any clever people to help you.

Its very stressful when you first start, but you'll manage it.

You need Lick e Lix- tempt him with a bit to get him hooked then dip the pill in it and shove it in his mouth then let him have the rest.

I bought the new " cream and yogurt" flavour yesterday. Rejected. Added to RSPCA donation heap....

Radioactive iodine therapy is something to consider if she is insured as it is curative for hyperthyroidism. Another option would be to try the hills y/d which is a low iodine diet, but to work it must be the only thing your cat eats.

We used something called Easipill when ours needed antibiotics.
Feels very much like playdoh, and you push the pill inside - we had more luck with that than lick-e-lix, possibly because of the solid texture?
We also had 50-50 success with a liver-pate type cat treat. (Comes in a toothpaste tube, can't remember the name).

I did radioactive iodine with my old cat about ten years ago. She had an allergic reaction to the medication and I didn't want to put her under for surgery. Into the vet on a Monday, out that Thursday. Sorted! Expensive, though.

Er, not to say she's survived the last ten years--I wish! Just that it was done ten years ago. Or maybe fifteen. She lived a couple more years and eventually died of kidney failure. One downside of treating the hyperthyroidism was that it sort of unmasked some of the other problems she was having.

Before she was treated, the hyperthyroidism had been making her metabolism operate on overdrive, which meant it was putting urine through her kidneys at a faster pace. Once her metabolism went back to normal, it became clear that the only reason she hadn't been having kidney problems was because the urine was getting pushed through her so fast.

As well as the transdermal gel and diet options, and radioactive iodine treatment as a long term option, there is a new liquid medication available now called Thyronorm, a lot of my colleagues aren't aware of it - they don't seem to have done a great job of advertising it to the profession. I've used it with around 5 cases now including one of my own cats and it is working just as well as the pills, and all of the cats so far take it easily in food or from the syringe. My own old boy actively enjoyed it, I could call him for his medicine and he would happily lick it straight from the syringe and ask for more.

Crush up the pill, add a small amount of cat milk, stir it up, give to cat. But my cat would do a headstand for cat milk

That's good to know Jasmine. My cat will do anything for Hills AD and even took the full course of antibiotics my vet thought we'd never get down him! We can't syringe anything into his mouth, but put it in the Hills and it's gone in minutes.