Cat won't take worming tablets

[RamsayBoltonsConscience]

Hi catwhispers
My two are cunning little shits darlings and, at the grand age of 12, absolutely refuse to take worming tablets in any form. Up to this year I've managed to get them down them one way or another but this month I've completely failed and need to worm them (I'm pretty sure they don't have worms but am not taking any risks!)
Does anyone know of another way of doing this? I've Googled and the Bob Martin spot on comes up but is it any good? Help!

Don't go near Bob Martin. Get Stronghold spot on or similar from your vet. It's much better than supermarket products?

I don't know about cats, but with my dogs I crush the tablets and mix into butter.

Have you tried pill pockets? Mine love the taste (they occasionally get them as treats without pills in, especially if the packet is going out of date...), and by the time they realise that there is a crunchy middle it's too late to spit them out

We use Panacur powders and mix with tuna.

We use panacur worming paste and syringe it into her mouth

We have a pill refuser too - now we always use a spit-on from the vet (for heaven's sake don't use Bob Martin!). The one we have is Profender, has always worked and no side effects.

Dann autocorrect- should be spot-on, not spit-on. Not sure I'd want to spit that stuff on a cat!

Brilliant, I will try the powders, I've not seen those before. I know the Bob Martin stuff has a terrible reputation which is why I came to the fount of all knowledge 😁. I'll try the powders and tuna, they don't get it very often and always go mad for it so, hopefully, even if they do realise they won't care!

Go up to the cat as he is sitting or sleeping peacefully. Put your left arm around him and use your left hand to force open his mouth. You should already have the pill kind of slightly stuck on the tip of your first finger of your right hand. Quickly use your thumb and middle finger of your right hand to help keep the cat's mouth open and jam the pill very quickly right down the cat's throat with your first finger.

This technique always works in my experience, and if you work quickly and confidently, the cat doesn't ever really notice. The trick is not to pick up the cat and let him know something is about to happen, but just to do the whole thing really smoothly and quickly. The other trick is to put the pill right through the mouth and down the throat, past the gag reflex spot...

Wrap the cat in a towel so only head out. Put the tablet in a tiny bit of meat paste, which you can get from the vets, at the back of the cat's throat in the centre. Hold the jaws shut and stroke the chin.

I medicate DCat twice a day like this. He likes the paste so forgives me the indignity

I had a particularly difficult cat to pill some years ago. Could get a pill in her mouth but then cat would spit the pill out.

A wise old cat person suggested I try blowing on the nose of the cat once pill is in mouth (and mouth clamped shut with hand...) It usually works (a sharp puff of air) because the cat is so surprised it swallows.
Even it is doesn't work the offended look on the cat's face afterwards makes it well worth trying.

Crush it up and put it in lik e lix. Mine went to a different vet who gave them Milbemax. The tablets are much smaller than drontal and they took them much better. Good luck.

Mine rejects the powders - so I use Spot-On - I think it's a Drontal one.

Profender spot on from the vet is good and easy,you apply every 3 months.

DH's cats used to love marmite, and would eat pills coated in it. You could also try crushing pills into it - the taste is strong enough, it masks the medication.

I get Broadline spot on treatment for our cat monthly when I remember from the vet. It's a combined flea and worm treatment and seems to have worked for the past year for us!

I think all vet meds can be crushed into food. Gourmet is always a good bet.

I put my cat's pills in the middle of a piece of Webbox. It's meaty so she gulps it down without really chewing - I don't know if she knows the pill is there

Ha Good luck

My mum used to swear by an old anorak with elasticated cuffs.

The cat was happily stupid enough to crawl down the sleeve if she laid it out & wiggled her fingers in from the wrist end. As soon as its head popped out Mum would scoop it up & pill it whilst it was trussed!

I've always just popped them down the throat & then followed up with something tasty to eat. All my cats have seemed able to detect & refuse tablets ground into food.

My cats are not stupid, unlike their, I hesitate to say owner !!

I grind it up in a little pestle and mortar and mix it in with food. Cat doesn't appear to notice.

I tried the Panacur granules for my kitty, mixed into tuna.......it made the food go all grainy, turned it a funny colour and my lad would not go anywhere near it! Plus it only treats one kind of worm, so would still need to use another treatment. He isn't keen on spot on treatments, he is a stress-head and gets worked up over the smallest thing, so try to keep spot on treatments to a minimum! So, I still stick with Drontal tablets, as they cover all the main worms in cats - why they can't invent them with an appealing flavoured coating or something though! I've used pill pockets, but sometimes my lad doesn't want to eat the pockets - pill or no pill in them, so had to try another method. I break Drontal into halves, as not the smallest of tablets for picky kitties, plus my lad needs a tablet and a half for his weight, so three bits need to get down him! The last worming dose, he ate one half a tablet in his wet food, ate rest of food and picked out the other bits of tablet with his tongue - he is a real horror for doing this! So had two more halves to get down him during the evening, it took two Webbox Lick-E-Lix yoghurt treats mixed with Dreamie treats, but got it all down him! Thank goodness for Lick-E-Lix, worth a try for getting tablets down your kitty! My lad has just started a course of steroids for an allergy, and that tiny tablet goes in his wet food, and he doesn't bat an eyelid! It's 'Dreaded Drontal' that causes problems!