How to get tablets down a cat.

[Sandstone1]

Any ideas how to get tablets down a very difficult cat, putting in food or using a pill popper does not work. Cat needs regular medication.

 

[Caramac71]

Are you trying to get the tablets in whole, in food? My cat is on 1/8th tablet which I can just push into a bit of cheese and feed it that way - could you cut your tablet up smaller and hide in food? Or can you crush it and sprinkle on food?

Sorry, not much help other than that - maybe your vet has some ideas (if you haven't asked already?).

 

[Sandstone1]

Tablets are broken up in to small bits. Food is no good as just won't eat it. Even if managed to get tablets down cat vomits them back up.
It's a friend's cat but don't think vet has been much help.

 

[Zero00000]

My cat was a nightmare to get tablets down, I had no other choice but to hold him, mouth wide open and put to the back of his mouth, even then he would occasionally get them back up, but that was the only thing that worked.

 

[tiga71]

My cat is quite difficult but will take them crushed very, very finely and then put in a paste. You can buy tubes of runny paste in chicken and salmon. Basically junk food for cats. They sell them in boxes of 5 for a pound from most of the supermarkets.

 

[4fatponies]

My cat was a nightmare to get tablets down, I had no other choice but to hold him, mouth wide open and put to the back of his mouth, even then he would occasionally get them back up, but that was the only thing that worked.

this and after u drop tablet in close mouth and gently stroke throat

 

[npage123]

My cat was a nightmare to get tablets down, I had no other choice but to hold him, mouth wide open and put to the back of his mouth, even then he would occasionally get them back up, but that was the only thing that worked.

This. Place the tablet as far back as possible in his mouth and close his mouth once you've put the tablet in there.

Also it's much easier with mine if I put them e.g. the one corner on the windowsill and block them in with my body, as they're less likely to then try and squirm or jump away.

http://www.wikihow.com/Open-a-Cat's-Mouth

 

[Sarah_K]

My cat is on tablets for the rest of her life. At one point she was on four a day, but now we're down to just one. She's terrible to pill and because of how ill she was at the start was becoming more and more stressed by it. Tried all the usual hiding it in cat food, doing the nonchalant dropping a piece of cheese/meat containing the pill on the floor, wrapping her up like a burrito and forcing. Nothing worked. Now I use a food gel- this one- http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mark-And-Ch...&qid=1432279182&sr=8-1&keywords=nurish'um+cat

Put a dab on your finger, put the pill in the gel, put another dab on top. Sneak up on cat while they are snoozing and wipe on a front leg. Cat hates gunk on fur, licks off gel containing pill. Been doing it this way for 3 months and just finished the first tube of gel and had only 2 failures to get the pill in the cat. I know it's expensive, but it was getting to the point where poor puss was getting so stressed by the pills that every time we tried she'd be sick even if the pill hadn't got past her mouth.

I honestly think I'd rather worm a herd of feral horses than try to get pills in one cat!

 

[ecb89]

We wrap pills up in a little bit of cheese and she doesn't notice but she is such a good orientated cat and always on the scavenge.
Our neighbour's cat has to have pills for her thyroid and she uses a paste from the vet which is for fur balls, Pepsi loves it and always licks the spoon clean

 

[hackneylass2]

Pill just before feeding if possible (and medication allows that). If cat is impossible, wrap him or her in a thick towel and follow Zero's advice....speaking soothngly to the cat .... If cat refuses to swallow after throat stroking put a finger gently over the nose for a couple of seconds, cat will usually inhale and swallow after that. Immediately afterwards, fuss and feed. Used this on method on semi-ferals.

 

[Spreebok]

I've previously had to straddle the sisters cat and use a pill popper to get his antibiotics in. I grab firmly (but gently!) over the back of the neck and in front of the shoulders, then kneel over the cat with my knees about and my feet together, so the cat is mostly under me, can't back out or go up, only way is forwards but the hand in place is preventing that. Then free hand goes around the chest and up under the jaw to hold the head up and in place and my thumb and middle or fore finger is used to pry the jaw open. The other hand holding the neck comes in with the pill popper and quickly goes in as far back as it can, releases the pill and withdraws and the hand under the jaw holds the mouth shut and the pill popper hand massages the throat. And we stay like that until he swallows and then it's a gamble to see if it's gone down or not, usually it has.

It sounds more horrific than it is, but is truly the only way to medicate this cat without him shooting off for cover or ripping your face off. He's too smart for it in his food (and it's hard to hide pills in ham, the only thing he will eat besides biscuits and dishwater) and he can sense your intent from a mile off. Much easier to medicate now he's only on a liquid medication, but I still have to employ the above tactics!