Cat refusing medication.
Discussion
The cat in question has now learned to use any tablets it is given as a projectile weapon. Usual sequence of events:
Capture cat – wrap cat in towel – use towel to soak up blood on hands from wounds inflicted by cat during capture – open cats mouth – use towel to mop up blood on hands from cat bites – drop pill into cats mouth – wait a few seconds – remove pill from eye where cat has expertly just spat it. :banghead:
Any suggestions please?
Capture cat – wrap cat in towel – use towel to soak up blood on hands from wounds inflicted by cat during capture – open cats mouth – use towel to mop up blood on hands from cat bites – drop pill into cats mouth – wait a few seconds – remove pill from eye where cat has expertly just spat it. :banghead:
Any suggestions please?
Our pin cushions are exactly the same, the 2 best ways we've found of administering tablets are either to crush it up and mix it in with their food (just a little food to ensure it's all eaten) or the vets sell a pipet type thing that you ram (gently) down their throat and fire the tablet doen it. This works wekk but does result in more scratches than the crushing method.
Absolute class! Check if it can be given in water, that is crush with two spoons, drop it in a glass with a little water, suck up with a syringe and use that. Works a treat.
The other method is to wedge the spitting ball of teeth and caws between your legs, clamp them down and pull head back and slip in, shot of water through the syringe straight after to make them swallow.
I have 3 that needs daily medication for the rest of their lives. Fun.
Edited to add
no needle on the syringe. The vet should be able to supply.
>> Edited by jmorgan on Tuesday 19th July 12:44
The other method is to wedge the spitting ball of teeth and caws between your legs, clamp them down and pull head back and slip in, shot of water through the syringe straight after to make them swallow.
I have 3 that needs daily medication for the rest of their lives. Fun.
Edited to add
no needle on the syringe. The vet should be able to supply.
>> Edited by jmorgan on Tuesday 19th July 12:44
jmorgan said:
Check if it can be given in water, that is crush with two spoons, drop it in a glass with a little water, suck up with a syringe and use that. Works a treat.
The other method is to wedge the spitting ball of teeth and caws between your legs, clamp them down and pull head back and slip in, shot of water through the syringe straight after to make them swallow.
I have 3 that needs daily medication for the rest of their lives. Fun.
Mate, I feel for you
this little bugger has even got wise to us getting the pills from the packet. As soon as he hears the packaging on the pills rattling, he is off. His latest hiding place is on top of the cooker hood / extractor fan. 
Keep the ideas coming, people.
I've never solved this one either, yet the vet can do it perfectly... they seem to know when they're beaten.
One idea from 'How to live with a calculating cat' is to put the pill in a (clean) pepper mill and grind it directly onto the cat's fur. Cat licks fur clean, gets medicine.
Good luck!
NB All my cats liked Marmite. How about dipping it in that?
>> Edited by simpo two on Tuesday 19th July 12:28
One idea from 'How to live with a calculating cat' is to put the pill in a (clean) pepper mill and grind it directly onto the cat's fur. Cat licks fur clean, gets medicine.
Good luck!
NB All my cats liked Marmite. How about dipping it in that?
>> Edited by simpo two on Tuesday 19th July 12:28
Little Red said:
The cat in question has now learned to use any tablets it is given as a projectile weapon. Usual sequence of events:
Capture cat – wrap cat in towel – use towel to soak up blood on hands from wounds inflicted by cat during capture – open cats mouth – use towel to mop up blood on hands from cat bites – drop pill into cats mouth – wait a few seconds – remove pill from eye where cat has expertly just spat it.
Any suggestions please?
Our cats hate their worming pills as well.
Trick is to get it done the first time before the pill goes soggy.
Tilt the head back and open the mouth, drop the pill in so it goes right to the back of the mouth. Once you have the pill in the cats mouth, hold it shut and keep the head back. As your doing this gently stroke the throat to get it to swallow. Maintain this position until you are absolutely sure the pill has gone down.
This may require firm but gentle pressure
They don't think much of the anti flea drops on the back of the neck either !
Anyone want to buy 2 cats
c c said:
We had a problem with the dog. In the end we simply wrap the pill in a smal ball of margarine, pop in his mouth and the dog thought it was a treat, job done.
Cats however!!Best of luck.
Cats arn't that stupid
Even tried it in a bowl of Tuna. They polished the lot off but left the bit with the crushed tablet in. Wraped it in ham and they spat the tablet out but had a smug look over getting a free bit of ham.
Found the best way now is down right sneaky.
You can get a special device to help administer pills to animals, think we got ours in Petsmart IIRC. Its basically like a syringe without a needle but at the 'needle end' there are two tiny claws that grip the pill; the plunger has a slim rod that pushes the pill out from behind. You still need to hold the cat in a towel, but the big advantage is that your fingers don't need to get too close to the cats mouth, and so when you put the 'needle end' in the cats mouth (I've found smearing the end in something they like the taste of helps) you can put the pill in quite far back (without choking the cat obviously) and the pill is followed by a small squirt of water to make it swallow.
Don't know if I've described it very well, and its not a magic wand for this age old problem, but I found it certainly helped! Good luck!
Don't know if I've described it very well, and its not a magic wand for this age old problem, but I found it certainly helped! Good luck!
Tried the grinding it up and mixing it with cheese method, cat wasn't having any of it. 
ing thing scratched my arms to ribbons! Ended up pinning it down and sitting on it, mum holding its front paws, me opening its mouth, sticking the pill in, closing its mouth and sticking my thumb over its nose, it has to swallow the pill before it breathes!
Sounds cruel but the little bastard gave me some serious injuries!
ing thing scratched my arms to ribbons! Ended up pinning it down and sitting on it, mum holding its front paws, me opening its mouth, sticking the pill in, closing its mouth and sticking my thumb over its nose, it has to swallow the pill before it breathes! Sounds cruel but the little bastard gave me some serious injuries!
As I learnt from our vet, it's all down to technique - and the willingness to risk the loss of a finger or two. Get the technique right and no cat, no matter how sly or devious, will be able to resist. But, as I mentioned, you may get a nibble or two on your fingers.
Basically:
1) Grab cat from behind and immobilise as much as possible (you may want to wear thick clothes or have someone standing by to call the emergency services).
2) Using one hand, fingers on either side of the cat's mouth, prise open moggies jaws.
3) With other hand drop pill into mouth and push it as far back as possible.
4) Clamp moggies jaws shut and stroke throat vigorously. Cat will at this point be pissed off, but if you do it quickly enough it will be too suprised to do anything except swallow and give you resentful looks.
I've been using this method for a couple of years on all our cats and so far have retained use of all my limbs. The scars are, as the saying goes, only flesh wounds so don't count.
Basically:
1) Grab cat from behind and immobilise as much as possible (you may want to wear thick clothes or have someone standing by to call the emergency services).
2) Using one hand, fingers on either side of the cat's mouth, prise open moggies jaws.
3) With other hand drop pill into mouth and push it as far back as possible.
4) Clamp moggies jaws shut and stroke throat vigorously. Cat will at this point be pissed off, but if you do it quickly enough it will be too suprised to do anything except swallow and give you resentful looks.
I've been using this method for a couple of years on all our cats and so far have retained use of all my limbs. The scars are, as the saying goes, only flesh wounds so don't count.
judas said:
As I learnt from our vet, it's all down to technique - and the willingness to risk the loss of a finger or two. Get the technique right and no cat, no matter how sly or devious, will be able to resist. But, as I mentioned, you may get a nibble or two on your fingers.
Basically:
1) Grab cat from behind and immobilise as much as possible (you may want to wear thick clothes or have someone standing by to call the emergency services).
2) Using one hand, fingers on either side of the cat's mouth, prise open moggies jaws.
3) With other hand drop pill into mouth and push it as far back as possible.
4) Clamp moggies jaws shut and stroke throat vigorously. Cat will at this point be pissed off, but if you do it quickly enough it will be too suprised to do anything except swallow and give you resentful looks.
I've been using this method for a couple of years on all our cats and so far have retained use of all my limbs. The scars are, as the saying goes, only flesh wounds so don't count.
Text book! Our vet told us that and it worked with ours no probs.
judas said:
4) Clamp moggies jaws shut and stroke throat vigorously. Cat will at this point be pissed off, but if you do it quickly enough it will be too suprised to do anything except swallow and give you resentful looks.
I have always found this to work. Make sure you get moggie neck as straight as possible, ignore those sly looks from the cat who pretends to have swallowed the pill only for him to gob it at you before using your thighs as a launch pad to get out the cat flap..
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