Getting painkiller into cross cat

[MaudesMum]

So, I took my cross cat to the vet as she is dragging one leg when going upstairs. Vet couldn’t examine cat as she was too aggressive but gave me some liquid painkiller and suggested we tried this. If it has no effect then the next step is to sedate the cat in order to examine her properly.. Trouble is, cross cat seems to be going off the wet cat food I’m hiding the painkiller in each morning- possibly the taste of the painkiller or possibly just her being irritating. She eats some but is definitely not getting full dose of painkiller each day, so it’s impossible to tell if it’s working...Has anyone had any luck with very tasty strong cat food I could try or any other ideas?? And, no, trying to feed her the painkiller directly is not possible- she’s a big cat who gets aggressive when scared and I live by myself - even getting her into the cat basket is a challenge!

Well, you could ring the vet, and ask if it's possible for her to have an injection, or you could take her in, and let one of the nurses administer it. A big angry cat is a nightmare ! 😸

I mixed in the liquid painkiller dose into a little bit of lickelix (maybe 1/4 pack) made sure the cat ate that, then gave him the rest of the lickelix pack.

I put it in lickelix. Mine is on daily painkillers for life now and that seems to work best.

Does cross cat have a favourite treat food? I’ve always found mixing meds in with tuna works. Also the suggestion above of only a small amount of food with the pain killer then feed the rest after the first bit has been eaten.

Cats are cunning and she will be able to smell it! The dog is easy we just put peanut butter on any meds and they get eaten very quickly. We had to administer pain relief directly to our cat for several days, I still have the scars, although a very large blanket or bath towel was very helpful to wrap them up in.

Good luck and I hope she feels better very soon.

Cats are sooo fussy I have rarely been able to sneak medicine in food unless they are the extremely greedy type (had 40+ cats over the years as a foster carer. I ve had to force it down usually. Sorry not to helpful!

Ooh, lickelix looks worth a go!! Will find some and try. I got her as an adult and she’s never been interested in treat type food such as chicken or tuna. I’m now regretting that as it would make life easier!

You can cut open a dreamie with a very sharp knife and put a pill inside.

Hope it worked, a wee tip might help instead of blanket or large towel, take an old jumper of yours or even better a long sleeved tee shirt that you have done with and have sweated into unwashed.

Scruff cat, place cat onto tee shirt body as its laid out on your knees, lower cat in, pull fabric around, you now have a sling restricing the back paws from tearing you to bits, quick too and fro with the arms to tie / tuck tightly behind cat which is now in your left arm in a nook like a baby, in their straight jacket growling at you and planning their revenge when they get free

hold onto the tucks tightly by pushing them into your body but behind the cat, make sure cat back paws are still encased, ease the syringe with the amount of painkiller in the as needed and very slowly put between fangs and back teeth, a tiny drip at a time, as you do this, press the cat hard to your body and it will be over in a couple of seconds,

have treats to hand as soon as its done and loads of verbal praise, if its something like meloxicam ive had to give it to several cats over time, (friends bring me their cats to do the nasty), most of them lick their lips when its done.

Also just before doing it maybe a tiny bit of buttery spread between the teeth as well, is mostly acceptable and lickable and takes away some of the insult and assault thats about to happen - have the syringe drawn up and out of cats line of sight, its a lot easier for "surprises" forewarned is not better forearmed in this case or pawed.

The cat is sitting upright against your body btw so no risk of choking

Thanks smurfy - although it would be great to stop her scratching me, I'm not sure how it stops her biting...

I'm now doing a small amount of wet cat food mixed up with painkiller (as suggested by several) and am also mixing in dreamies, which has worked for the last few days. And have some lickelix for if/when this fails to work! Not entirely sure whether she's much better as it seems almost impossible to catch her walking upstairs, but she does seem a bit happier in herself - she leapt onto me yesterday when I was lieing on the sofa and was requesting affection - she hasn't done this for ages.

lik-y-lix +metacam works for my grumpy puss.
(who i am currently engaged in a strategic battle with to get a urine sample .....)

@MaudesMum to lessen the biting and resisting, holding cat in the straight jacket made from jumper with a towel over it with cats head poking out the top and hopefully no paws,

the cat is in the crook of your left arm like a baby and the syringe with the liquid metacam is ready drawn up hand up and hold cats head firmly,

have a sock ready a clean one, manoeuvre the sock so it covers ears and esp eyes so pref use a dark coloured sock, not being able to see disorientates the cat while you do this,

use the syringe to gently wriggle between teeth you only have this in your right hand now as cats head has a sock covering eyes and ears, and a jumper and towel covering paws,

once you feel the syringe is between the gaps in teeth, push the plunger, its done. the nasty medicine is given,

sock comes off, positive praise. treats at the ready. unwrap cat. be prepared for some sulking and looks.

The sock is less than 1 min at most and never covers the nose / mouth just the ears and eyes by tucking across the ears and down the back of head means can secure across the eyes. Wont do the cat any damage apart from possible sulks.

Im prepared to be flamed for this but it works. I have given a cat a sponge bath like this before and it was one of the wildest cats ive seen but it was chilled out as eyes remained covered (i used my hand the whole time as i had assistance) it went beserk when i removed my hand and it realised he was wet, he started squealing as if i had murdered him,

he had been asleep / dehyrated in a cow pat and he was washed sitting outside on the bin with buckets of hot water and disposable faceclothes - thankfully il already put him in crate before he knew what hit him.

it was a hot summers day and before i did that, i gave him water and some food but he was too floppy and tired to eat/drink, he was fine when i was done as after getting clean, he ate a full dish of dry food and drank loads so i was happy,

Point being socky type / hand trick worked, it was for a few mins but survivable but when ive been on my own ive had to use socks and bar the following hours of expecting sulking all has been ok