Giving Medicine to a cat

MichelleUK

My cat recently had what appeared to be a couple of fits and now has heart and seizure medication. Blood tests were normal but the Xray discovered an enlarged heart chamber, but no reason for the fits.

I was originally given the medicine in liquid form, but when he tried to eat, he tasted it and had a really bad salivating episode that scared him for the rest of the day, hiding from me. He will not attempt any other mixtures that I have tried since.

We are now trying tablets and he needs a quarter of a tablet. For the first 4 days, I hid the tablet in a treat and he ate it. Now he always knows which one has the tablet and avoids that treat. He is a big cat, who is not a cuddly boy and hates being manhandled. I cannot physically hold him, open his mouth and pop in a tablet on my own.

I am feeling dreadful that I cannot seem to get him to take the medicine that he needs. I have a feeling of constant dread and he does not seem too happy either. 

Has anyone ever got to the point where they have not been able to give medicine and have had to leave their pet unmedicated? Any tips would be appreciated as I am feeling such a failure, as I want to give him everything that he needs!

KxMx

The easiest way I found of medicating my cat was to get a mini mortar and pestle off Amazon, grind down the tablet and stir well into wet food, ideally all out of her sight.
You could make the meal smaller than normal as well to ensure it's all eaten, although my philosophy was it was better for her to intake some of the medication rather than none. 

I couldn't pill her either and the few days we spent on the liquid medication (3x a day 😬) were very unhappy days for us both!

Do check with your Vet practice that the tablet is suitable for grinding down if you want to try that method, although as it sounds like you are already cutting it I shouldn't think it'd be a problem. 

Savvy_Sue

MichelleUK said:

Has anyone ever got to the point where they have not been able to give medicine and have had to leave their pet unmedicated? Any tips would be appreciated as I am feeling such a failure, as I want to give him everything that he needs!

Please do not feel a failure. Cats know their own minds, and not always what's best for them! 

marcia_

 My cat hurt his paw just before Christmas, we thought it was broken but not. I was given liquid painkillers and a tiny syringe and no matter what I try I can't get it in him. Hes still limping just hope he's not in pain. 

 So not just you. Cats are stubborn and wont do something they don't want to. 

TBagpuss

What treats have you been using? I had a senior cat who developed thyroid trouble and needed daily pills, and it was a situation where if I hadn't been able to get them into him it would have meant having to have him PTS, as the alternative options were not viable given his age and general health, and it would have been cruel to leave him unmedicated,  so it was  pretty high stakes! 

I tried various things and found what worked was sardines

I'd break a sardine into three, give him the first bit, put the tablet in the second bit, (and have the third bit as back up if the pill was detected or dropped) .

I'd put the pill inside the bit of sardine a few minutes before giving them to him whch meant a bit of fish oil soaked into the pill, which seemed to disguise the taste. 

I also had some success with cod liver oil as again, the cat liked the  fishy taste and it was strong enough that  it hid the flavour of the pill. I was taking cod liver oil capsules at the time and found cuting one in half, soeaking the pill in the oil for a couple of minutes then hifing it infood worked (differnt cat and I didn't have any sardines handy) 

 You'd need to check with your vet. With the sardines, mine said it wouldn't be their recommended diet,  but it wouldn't do him any harm  and was much better than the alternative of being unmedicated, which was pretty much what I had thought.

if your catdoesn't like fish, you might be able to do something similar with strong cheese, if he likes cheese - maybe slightly melted so the cheesyness soaks the pill a little? 

MalMonroe

marcia_ said:

 My cat hurt his paw just before Christmas, we thought it was broken but not. I was given liquid painkillers and a tiny syringe and no matter what I try I can't get it in him. Hes still limping just hope he's not in pain. 

 So not just you. Cats are stubborn and wont do something they don't want to. 

Hi, just wondering if your vet could inject some painkiller into your cat? I'd want to take him back to the vet anyway for a check up visit, although I'm aware that it's not at all cheap. 

MalMonroe

We have never had any compliant cats. One of ours developed thyroid and heart problems and was prescribed two lots of medication to be taken daily. We had to resort to the crushing and feeding small portions until the snack had gone - although that wasn't always successful. With cats you just have to do the very best you can. And please do not feel like a failure because you're dealing with a cat.  

We had a lovely cat once who needed daily meds for a month and I felt very clever as I seemed able to push them in the side of his mouth while we were having a cuddle and then rub his throat until he swallowed, success! But then a couple of weeks after he'd supposedly finished the meds, I found a small stash under the sofa. He was okay, thankfully but I really felt betrayed! I was really impressed though, how clever was he?!

TBagpuss' trick with sardines or cod liver oil is a good idea - as long as your cat likes fish, which our last cat, strangely, didn't. 

Sometimes vets can give pets injections instead - not always a cheap option but worth asking about. Certainly with antibiotics and painkillers, in my experience with cats - I've owned quite a few.

We're now trying to persuade a regular visiting stray cat to try sleeping in the special little cat 'house' we bought for him but he still prefers to hide under a couple of small trees in our front garden. We feed him and would love to adopt him but although he's quite friendly towards us, he obviously has major trust issues. We'll persist and hope we can encourage him to come live with us. But, well, you know cats, most of them just don't know what's good for them. 

Moneycat

We have also had 2 cats in the past who needed daily or twice daily tablet for thyroid medication. With cat 1 it was a constant game.  She did not like the taste of the tablet and was a master at detecting it when hidden in food.  I could not put the tablet in her mouth by myself either, it was a 2 people job - wrapping her in a towel and holding whilst one person put the tablet in her mouth. Neither cat nor us were happy.
With foods, a little pea size amount of philadelphia soft cheese wrapped around the tablet worked for a while, messy but hey, if it does the trick it's worth it.  You could also try cheddar cheese, ours did not like it.  I think there are now some meat flavour pastes/purees for this purpose on the market that you could also try.
However, no 1 most successful trick treat was raw tuna. It was bit of an operation (not to mention expensive!).  We used to buy a fresh tuna steak from the supermarket (usually in a pack of 2 steaks), then cut them in little 1cm cubes, then individually wrap each cube into cling film and freeze them.  Then every evening take 3 cubes out to fridge to thaw. Then give the first piece without a tablet, second with tablet plus have one spare or sometimes even put the tablet in the first one.  I used to try and give the second cube really quickly to her if the tablet was in the first one, so that she'd have it before thinking the taste of the first one. 
Second cat also had the thryoid issue but was much easier with the tablets, the tuna cubes worked really well with her too. By then it was our tried and tested method.
Wish you the best of luck.

fly-catchers

I have always felt bad about my inability to give cat’s medicine successfully. Living alone without any one I can reliably call upon does not help! My last cat had liver disease and apart from injections the vet gave him failed miserably to give him his tablets. I had some success with crushed pill in food but you could never guarantee he would eat it. Or leave the bit with most of the pill in it! Now I have lost him I am very unsure whether to get another cat. Though I love them and have had cats most of my life..But as you get older you lose confidence…

MichelleUK

Thank you everyone for your tips and comments. I have quite a list of different methods to try now! I am really comforted that I am not the only one that has trouble, the vets make it seem so easy but the reality can be quite different. They are clever little blighters and soon suss things out!

I managed to get him to take his tablet this morning. He loves those long salmon and trout sticks and I had been rolling a chunk around the tablet, so it looked different to the other pieces and was smooth. This morning, I tried to handle it as little as possible; I poked a hole down the centre with a long pair of tweezers, pushed the tablet in with the tweezers and then squeezed it closed, The hope was that I did not transfer any of the tablet smell to make it seem different to the other bits. So, it has worked today….tomorrow, who knows!

tizerbelle

No one has mentioned cheese - I use cheddar cheese to hide tablets in - basically small amount of cheese, warm/knead it in your hands so it is soft and paste-like, then mould round the tablets into little balls.  I usually split the tablets into 2 (get yourself a pill splitter just a few quid from chemist/pharmacy) and make up 4 little balls, give them one at a time, pill loaded ones first to make sure they are swallowed before you give the no-pill ones.