Suggestions for giving tablets

[Foggyfroggy]

My cat needs a sedative two hours before having blood taken. The vet said to put it in food but when I’ve tried that recently with antibiotics she susses it straight away. Trying to put it in her mouth stresses her too much; she’s 19 and I don’t want to upset her. Does anyone have any suggestions for food I can use that she wouldn’t be able to notice the crushed up tablet in please? Thanks.

Webbox Lick-e-Lix might work?
Is it Gabapentin? If so, you could ask the vet for a liquid version.

There are meaty flavored products that are putty like that you put the pill in. They taste delicious. I have to give our cat tablets twice a day and now he comes running when I rattle the pill jar. I ordered one called Easypill Giver Cat from Amazon.

If it’s gabapentin my boys are a nightmare for taking the tablet and yakking it back up elsewhere.

Instead we pay a fortune for a liquid version but they take it easily mixed into to Lik-e-Lix and they think they’re having a treat. It’s much more subtle than antibiotics!

Lick-e-lix is the only thing that we can do pills in, crushed and mixed in to the chicken flavour ones. She has sussed things in the fishy flavour before, chicken seems most effective and is slightly runnier so easier to mix

Our cat won’t eat any of the easy pill type things and doesn’t like lick e lix type things , if a tablet is crushable we sometimes get lucky hiding it in tuna mayo out of a sandwich.

See if you can get it as a liquid or paste?

Are they tablets that can be crushed? I found that crushing the tablet and mixing it with the contents of one of those (stinky) liquid treat tubes worked well.

Mine will only take tablets hidden in cheese spread, specifically the Seriously Spreadable cheese spread

Thank you so much for all the replies - I’ve ordered Lick-e-lix and Easypill giver so fingers crossed!

We used to have a cat who needed daily thyroid medication, we hid it in cream cheese, that worked.

After seeing it on here, I plan to try the pill pockets. I've also just seen there's cat grass 'hairball support' dreamies style treats available. I'm also going to try some of those as we've got an old cat who's had all her teeth removed and a few times we've seen her struggling to eat grass. I did cut some up for her but she wasn't interested.

Our cat is a nightmare to get any type of pill into. We’ve spent a fortune on various things that, supposedly ’your cat will love and devour the medication’ to no avail. Very occasionally we’ve had success with hiding it in a piece of cheese or chicken breast. A few nights ago I made a tiny slit in a piece of of chicken breast pushed the pill in and put it into his dish with several other pieces,( he seems to eat more during the night); in the morning his dish was completely empty, apart from a tiny pill!🤬

@lovecheesymash I took mine into the vet nurse to get her flea pill last week , took about 10 minutes and wrapping her like a burrito to get it in , was walking back to the car and noticed the pill in the bottom of her basket so had to go back in . Unfortunately she’s allergic to spot on treatments , which according to the vet nurse is quite common with pedigree cats .

I managed to get small pills into a soft stick treat. I cut the treat very carefully put the treat in and try to stick it together again. I then put it back in the packet! I give her 2 small pieces without a pill and then the third piece with the pill and she barely even chews it!

My cat has the small pill form Gabapentin and I crush it up in her wet food at bedtime. She usually has kibble so this is her treat food. I use about a sixth of those small wet food in round tins and she eats it up in about an hour, though some nights it's quicker and some slower.

It is Gabapentin in capsule form - does anyone know if I can break the capsule and sprinkle the power out, or if she has to take the whole thing, please?

I have done that when our vets couldn't get hold of the pills and filled capsules with the dose needed

I crush the flea tablet to quite a fine powder and mix with lic a lix on a spoon and he licks it off, sometimes I have to add another small squirt of top just to hide it a bit more.

May not work for all cats but I’ve had success using Encore pouches, especially the fish ones. My cat loves them and will eat anything if it’s mixed well in there (crushed - a whole pill would get eaten around)

It's easier to give cats pills from the side of their mouth. When you take a pill anywhere near a normal cat they will start clenching their jaws. Just pull the gum a bit back on either side, and pop the pill through (they don't have many teeth so there's a handy gap). Then keep their mouth closed a little moment and gently rub the throat so that they swallow it. Only thing that works with my cat - she won't eat it mixed into any food or hidden inside treats 🙄