A better way to pill?

[catnapper]

Ok folks, I'm in some serious pain here. I have to pill 6 cats three times a day, all of whom have decided "ENOUGH with the pilling, no more!" Yesterday Pouncer got me BAD on the forearm. I immediately put him down, cleaned and bandaged it. Then I got Allen to pill him, and he slashed me... right on top of where Pouncer just slashed me... cut clear throuh the bandaid! I shudder to think what the cut would have been WITHOUT the bandaid!!!

Soooo.... what can I do to make pilling easier for the cats and me? They run and hide. Then htey thrash their heads. The only ones halfway decent are Abby and Harry... and thats because they are too full of treats to move fast enough! (I have to make sure they eat BEFORE the pill or they vomit EVERYWHERE - yuck)

Allen gets the liquid form because sneaky brat would swallow, then spit it out (after I swore he swallowed wholly). Angel and Flutter also get liquid. But the other three get pills.... and these are some LARGE pills.

HELP!

[catmandu]

I USE LIQUID ALL THE TIME,AND MY VET,FINDS,THE NERAEST THING,TO THE MED,IN LIQUID FORM,AS I CAN WIPE,IT ON THIER NOSES,AND THEY HAVE,TO INGEST THE MEDS,THEN.

[catnapper]

Gary, I would if I could, this medicine is a LOT of medicine. I'd have to cover their whole FACE. I usually have to do it it two vials for Allen, so that he doesn't drown on the amount of liquid going in.

[furrykidsmother]

It is never an easy thing to do, but I have found the best way (for me), is to kneel on the floor with knees spread, grab cat and back them into the V. Left arm around cat and grabbing mouth, quickly coax mouth open using thumb and index finger with head slightly tilted back, toss pill in, shut mouth and massage throat and if necessary blow on nose if they haven't swallowed. Sometimes they trick me and I have to retrieve the slimy pill and try again, but this usually works pretty good. I prefer liquids too, but Rusty somehow manages to hold it in his mouth than spit it back at me.

[Tubby & Peanut's Mom]

I know a little of what you're going through, Kim, because CJ is the hardest cat I've ever had to pill! Not that I've had to pill that many.....

With T & P, I used a method like furrykidsmother describes, immediately followed by a treat - which is a reward for letting me shove a pill down their throat, but also forces them to swallow if they haven't already.

However, with CJ, it's a whole other story. He is getting better, but he still fights like the dickens and this method only works 50% of the time, and then he hates me for hours afterwards. Soooo.....onto the more creative ways. He only gets 1/2 a prednisolone, so the pill is small enough to be squished into a squishy treat. Lately I've been using the Aquari-yums and for some reason he just gobbles them down and doesn't realize the pill is in there....for awhile anyway. Then he starts realizing it and manages to eat the entire treat and spit the pill out. So then I find a different squishy treat, or maybe use some cheese to wrap the pill in. The trick is to find something they like enough to gobble down before they realize the pill is there.

I also tried smashing the pill and mixing it in with his wet food. No go, and even little piggy Peanut would not clean his plate up like she normally does when she's done with hers.

The only other suggestion I have is to try the "sweatshirt" method. I believe SAS was one of the first to describe this method? Anyway, put the cat in the arm of an old sweatshirt so only their head pokes out the end of the sleeve. This immobilizes them somewhat, and at the very least it renders their knives useless, which should help eliminate you from having to buy stock in Band-aids.

I can't imagine having to pill 6 cats 3 times a day and I bet by the time this course of medicine is complete, you'll be the expert on pilling a cat. Good luck!

Oh, and others have had success with the pill popper thingy so you might want to try that also.

[catnapper]

I have pills nailed down. I am ok with pills for the most part - open, toss, close. Its the liquid I HATE. and so do the cats. I begged the vet for the pills - they thoght I was nuts preferring to give pills over liquid. Unfortunately, Allen got REALLY sick on these particular pills and learned to spit them out.

I tried to give him the medicine this morning similar to what you just described. I basically ended up pinning him down. And ended up with pink syrup on my carpet (Oh Jeeeeennnn, I need your carpet cleaner again! )

Sigh. At least no bleeding today.

[catnapper]

oops, just saw T&P's suggestion... Mr. Brat does not LIKE treats. I found he was liking dried Fancy Feast so I would give him that before the pill (like I said he has to have food in him before the pill or upset tummies happen) so he'd eat the Fancy Feast and be happy. Then he realized Fancy Feast was immediately folled by gooey medicine. So now he refuses to eat the Fancy Feast. He even refused Temptations, which was the ONLY treat on the planet that he'd eat.

I tried mixing this stuff in wet food (Allen won't eat that but the kittens DIE for it) and they refused to eat it. Apparently, this stuff is incredibly bitter and nasty tastting. The vet warned me about it.

I am SUPPOSED to get it in them 3 times a day. With Allen, its only been twice because I simply can't catch him and get it in him! So I just increase the dosage a bit and extend the number of days. I don't know what else to do!

[christa]

I know tuna isn't good for cats, but it seems to overpower the taste & smell of ANYTHING!!!

Josie has caught onto us putting her preds in turkey, so I started putting them in about a tsp of white tuna and she eats it up every time.

Might be worth a try! If your cats like that sort of thing.

[jazzcat]

Jazz is the only one I've had to give liquid meds to and the only way I can do it is to have Richard hold her wrapped in a towel while I fight her head to get it in. Even with that a good portion of the liquid ended up on Richard's shoulder or down the front of me.

Luckily I've only had to give Ripley pills for any amount of time and I can fool him with treats. When that stops I can strong arm him into a headlock and pop it down easily. I don't think that would work with my others.

Since I don't have any great advice I'll just offer my sympathies.