Giving tablet to a cat - getting desperate!!!

Mrs_Z

Thanks again all for your ideas. I have tried crushing the tablet and mixing it with her food without much success, one sniff and she walks off but will try that with few crushed biscuits mixed in too. It could well be very bitter - so I will also try the yogurt.

Whilst searching high and low - I've just noticed that Hills Prescription diet is about to launch a low iodine Y/D catfood for hyperthyroid cats that should do away the tablets! I will enquire from our vet if he has any more info, but according to viovet.co.uk it should be available around April 2012.

But in the meantime we'll have to try everything else.

paddypaws101

I really do not think that the food alone will adequately treat HT and think it is most remiss of Hills to suggest that it will.
OP, if she will not co-operate then I would seriously consider the op, but you need to get the Ht under control before they would operate

spike7451

rising_from_the_ashes wrote: »

Totally agree but, although OK for short periods of medication, it's unfortunately not advisable for longer term - mainly as Mrs Z says, the cat ends up hating you and soon gets wise to this too.:(

Mrs Z have you tried crushing the tablets and mixing with her food?

My old cat was on medication for 8 years and I ran into similar problems as you have after a while - he wouldn't come near me as he thought I was going to shove something down his throat everytime I tried to get close - and tbh it was awful ..... we did have to change his medication a couple of times, but eventually found one that he would eat crushed in a wee bit of his wet food (he would get the rest once that was eaten) and had many more happy years together. HTH

That's how we give Cinders her Fortekor at the ASSISI.

golfergirl28

Try Webbox cat sticks. They're soft. You can break bits off and try to conceal the pill.
You could also try putting it in a lump of butter and popping it in the freezer.

orlao

I had a hyperthroid cat on tablets for about 4 years.

I found that the only thing that worked reliably with tableting was doing it manually (straight down the throat by hand) and setting up a calm routine. It's in your favour that hyperthroid cats are hungry - it's one of the symptoms - so if you calmly pick up the cat before feeding, sit them on a hard surface, use your left hand to open the mouth by gently squeezing half way up the jaw from underneath (sorry, I can't think of a better way to put it! Ask your vet nurse to show you, they ARE the experts) then use your right hand to lob the tablet to the back of the mouth, shut mouth and stroke the cats neck until she swallows. Her reward is a gentle fuss and dinner. Like anything else, practice makes perfect.

Speaking from bitter experience, where it goes wrong is when the owner is tense about tableting, the pet picks up those vibes then battle commences - and the cat usually wins. Unlike dogs, cats will normally see through attempts to disguise meds so IME there is no point even trying that when it's going to be a long term issue. Also, remember that HT cats can be very flighty/silly when their T4? levels are too high so sometimes you've just got to ignore the hysterical cat and get the tablets down them in the short term until they stabilise.

FWIW, i *think* that felimazole are one of the tablets that shouldn't be crushed and have to be fed whole - check with your vet.

fran2491

i agree with orlao above hun the best way is to part the jaw and put the tablet as far back in the throat as poss and hold the jaw shut until the cat swollows. after giving my girl tablets for 6 years this is all thats worked for me iv tried everything :-( you need to be firm with how you handle the cat and make it as fast as poss, my girl knows now,and still doesnt like it she has her moments but has never not got her meds on time, i find the best way to hold mine is under your armpit. cats are so diff to dogs, dogs are easy to trick lol! :rotfl:

nicter

We have to give our cat 3 tablets a day and have no trouble at all hiding them inside these http://www.whiskas.co.uk/our-products-snacks-and-treats-whiskas-sticks

kidcat

Our eldest cat had to have tablets for several months last year for the same thing, we found that wrapping her in a towel/blanket that she liked, then opening her month dropping in tablet and then a very small amount of water from a baby syringe made it all go ok. Having been feral she didnt like being handled but it was all done very quickly and quietly, no fuss and she tolerated it. We were advised not to crush the tablet and that we should use only 2 or 3 ml of water. The water forces the cat to swallow and stops the keeping the tablet under the tongue until you leave the room then spitting it behind the sofa ( one of our old cats always did this).

I looked on it that like a child she did not understand what was happening or that it was necessary and treated her the same as the kids with loads of praise and rewards afterwards - she got to expect the rewards and would wait by the fridge ready for the treat.

DebiT

A bit fiddly, but when I had to give my cat antibiotics I prised one of his whiskas temptations treats in half scraped out the filling inserted the tablet and then wet the edges to "seal" it back together, I then slipped it (carefully in case it fell apart), amongst a couple of normal ones, and because they are hard anyway, and he wolfs them down like lightning he never even noticed.
You have to be tricky with these cats.:)

meritaten

I used to use the 'wrap the cat in a towel and use a syringe shaped gadget to pop the pill back into the throat area'. Its the only way if the cat has sussed that 'treats' are likely to contain pills and you dont want to get maimed! the best way is to ask your vet to show you how its done - mine did and it takes less than a minute! at first it took two of us - but I quickly learned to have the pill ready and the towel and the faster it got - the quicker the cat forgave me! There is a knack to getting the cats mouth open wide - this, the vet can show you! also, over time the cat realised that it didnt hurt and had to be done and didnt struggle. made life so much easier.