Struggling to give cat medicine

[cardicoat]

My 10 year old female cat has been diagnosed with a bacterial throat infection today. The vet thinks it's secondary to an initial viral infection so has prescribed antibiotics in liquid form.

She does not like being handled at all and is a big, strong girl. Me and dh have tried wrapping her in a large bath towel which she kicked her way out of so we tried a blanket, but it was too soft and she got out of this too. She doesn't fully escape, but ends up only partially wrapped.

She's also very quickly flicking her face from side to side so I can't get the syringe into her actual mouth. The medicine has been ending up on her face and in her eye, as well as on the blanket. She has swallowed most of the dose.

I don't like distressing her, but she won't take the medicine in food, treat or off a spoon, I have to make her take it. Does anyone have any techniques for stopping her from moving her face? I've tried holding her scruff, but this failed as well. She is unbelievably strong and determined. I've got two bottles of this stuff to get into her over the next two weeks 🫣

To get a worming tablet in we used to have the cat on a kitchen chair, stand behind her, open mouth and get tablet as far back in throat as possible, then syringe a little water in, then close her mouth, hold her head tilting upwards and give her throat a gentle rub to encourage swallowing. Usually a 2 person job.

Aww I'm currently doing the same. I made the rookie mistake of just halving the tablet for mine. She's eaten half and looks 🤢 I don't think I'll ever get the rest down her. I mixed in wet food and tix e lix. First time with this cat so I feel your pain! I am going to enlist mu 10yo to help tomorrow I think

Aww! I’ve spent the past three weeks battling with my cat to get medicine down twice a day. First it involves herding cat into a room with no places to hide so he can be picked up. Husband picks cat up and holds him tightly against his chest and I keep one hand on the back of cat’s head to reduce the amount of thrashing he does and use the other to wedge the syringe into the corner of his mouth. Thing is that once the meds are in, he is then happy to be held like this for a few minutes so long as he gets tickles. The meds he is on have to be taken 15 minutes before food so it’s now also a battle to make him eat at the right time as he will just go into a big sulk. So my only advice is that if you can see teeth, that’s ok for jetting the liquid through as there aren’t enough hands to prise the jaws open!

I agree with the posters saying kneel on the floor with back end of cat wedged into your legs. I get liquid medicine down my cat this way which she HATES. Agree they can taste it in food once they know what it tastes like so it doesn’t work.

We use Easy Pill (pill putty) which is amazing for tablets. Not sure about liquid medication though.

There's always this method...

You go back to the vet, ask if there is a reason they want to torture you and if not please could you have the two week acting injection instead
( disclaimer, might not be right antibiotic)
Otherwise put on table, wrap in towel , firm but fair and get it over with quickly.

One of ours has just had surgery and needs three different types of drugs multiple times a day. 😬

Lick-e-Lix works with some drugs but we've also discovered these strong smelling liver treats she loves. They are like stinky little bits of pepperami for cats. We put the medicine on those and she will take it. I think they are so strongly flavoured she doesn't notice. There's only one local shop that sells them so I am off to buy their entire stock tomorrow.

The only thing that works for our little hellion cat is to hide it well in the smelliest cat food you can find. Or mackerel, she likes that. We’ve had daily meds for several years now, and none of the tried and tested methods work. She goes berserk if you approach her with a towel, and damn near turns herself inside out if we try to hold and syringe into the back of her mouth - I have the scar to prove it! Even the vet has to take a multiple staff member approach while I retreat to the waiting room!

Oh I forgot to add any pill style medication is crushed and then mixed into the lick e lix.
Also if you have to restrain the cat regularly motorbike gloves are brilliant. Go down over your wrists and are resistant to bites and scratches!

Very cute and plainly wants to kill you 😼

My kitten was semi feral and he is a nightmare with medication - it's a two man job.

Prepare the medication in advance.

Then, one person will wrap him in a massive towel and pin him between their legs, holding his arms and legs down with their arms. The other then gets the medication, forces open his mouth, puts it in and holds it shut - rubbing his throat to get him to swallow.

He then yowls like he's being abused and tears away down the hall.

My other two just sit there and let me do it b

Okay, she seems to be having us on somewhat 🤔

Managed to catch her pretty easily this morning. Dh wrapped her up in a bigger towel and I managed to squirt it in first time. Lots of frothing and foaming at the mouth as she made a big deal out of having it in there 🙄 DH said to squirt it further back. I told him to be grateful it's in the mouth region as opposed to the eye. He said she didn't seem to be struggling as much.

When we let her go she scuttled off, but soon returned looking for breakfast non the worse for her experience. I think she may be being a bit over dramatic, which she is known for.

The vet wants her to have a longer course of oral antibiotics for local throat absorption as that's where the infection is.

She sounds like a typical cat to me!

Our middle one has to have daily medication for urinary issues - 99% I give it to him but I was away recently so asked DH to do it. He text me saying the cat growled and spat at him and tried to bite.

I got home the next day, the cat sat down next to me and waited while I gave him his tablets as normal

They know when they can get away with it, IME.

Call the vet, tell them it's impossible and get them to give her an antibiotic, longlasting injection. It might not be optimal but it's significantly better than nothing.

I am currently having to squirt medicine into my cat's mouth daily, and what's worse is we're going away for a month. She'll make tuna pate of the poor boy moving in to look after her.

Won't take it even in her favourite food as she just KNOWS it's in there. Then our other cat laps it up.. honestly it's making my life a misery.