Anyone know ways to get a cat to eat a pill?

One of our cats recently developed a thyroid problem that requires daily medication through pills. Unfortunately, we've had difficulty figuring out how to get the cat to eat them. We've tried putting it in butter, but she just licked the butter off and spit the pill out. We also tried grinding it up and putting it in milk, but she took one sniff and walked away. So, how to y'all go about giving a cat medicine?

pom, we open his mouth, and put it down his throat manually...but, we also used the "hide it in food trick", and "crush it up, and let it disolve in water, and let the dog drink it" trick, and he snubbed the food/water, so we had to do it the hard way......

I sit on the floor and have the cat facing away from me. (Don't put the cat on your lap if you want to survive the scratching.) Hold it's head up, pry open it's mouth, shove the pill in and hold the jaw closed. It will force them to swallow. Rubbing under the throat can also force a swallow.

Also, the you can get a pill "syringe" from the vet. It shoots the pill way back in the cat's throat. Trick is to hold their mouth shut and live to tell about it.

Good luck!

thats what we have to do to our pom...little bastard...;)

I had a sheltie who would eat anything, as long as he could catch it in the air. :)

had sheltie's, when I was a young lad...one we couldnt shut up, to save our lives, and our other one, was so docile...soemtimes, we had to shake her, to make sure she was alive...

Females seem to very nosy and loud. Sometimes so annoying! My male was so laid back, except when it came to food.

:)

down before your cat even knows what's happening. I've been pilling cats for 30 years and use the same basic technique as described above, except I usually don't try to reposition the cat. I just sneak up on him, tip his head back, slip my fingers into either side of his teeth to pry his jaw open, then pop the pill in and (gently) hold his mouth closed with one hand while stroking his throat with the other. Speak soothingly to him and tell him what a good boy he is. Just try not to frighten the poor cat and don't make such a big production that he/she runs from you every time you approach.

can reduce the chance of scrapeing your pets gums/roof of mouth as usually happens with the plastic tip. I think getting a liquid compound of the pill is the way to go... not alwaysw available and may cost a bit more.

...like within the last week or so. Anybody have a link? I'll see if I can find it...

I was going to bookmark this last time to forward to others for just this type of occasion, but when I checked I forgot to bookmark it. But I will this time.

Thank you!


:hi:

It was already in the archives. :hi:

I cut it in half and give it to her twice a day before wet food when she is hungry inside shredded cheddar cheese. Most times she eats it...sometimes I have to hold her mouth open...drop it down her throat and hold her mouth shut til she swallows

There's no other way to give her meds.

My late Tiffany ate it like that for years.

Then she got wise and I started just giving her the pill with one of those pill shooter thingys (not a lot of fun, but it gets the job done).

from what a friend of mine told me, it's like a syringe...you just stick in in their mouth and "inject" the pill...it shoots air, or something...I don't know. It sounded like a good idea until I tried to recreate the description! :crazy:

Edited for poor spelling.

Some pills are coated to begin dissolving further down the digestive track, and crushing them negates their usefullness.

The only way I could get Minnie to take her pills was by grabbing her, pulling her as gently as one can pull a fifteen pound cat out of whatever she was hiding in, sitting crosslegged on the floor and grasping her head so that she could not jerk away, then cramming it down her throat with a finger, quickly yanking the finger out of the mouth, and clamping it shut until she swallowed. That worked a little over half the time, which was more than any other method. The only other thing I got to work was crushing up pills (checking with my vet first), mixing them in a gloop I had to prepare anyway (I had to force feed her), and using a syringe to shove it down her throat. About a third of the time she vomited it back up, though.

I found the forced method to be kinder than all the others, because it decreased the drama. She also got to where she would swallow as soon as I clamped her mouth, knowing that resistance was futile. And the long run was after three months of this she was fully cured, and bears me no ill will. And the scars on my finger have almost healed.