Twice a day, I have to snatch up Jameson and stuff pills down his throat. I've been doing this for a long time, so it's no biggie for me, but I take regular phone calls at work from clients who don't know how to get medication into their cats.
Depending on the medication, you could try hiding it in food. If you do this, hide the medication in something smelly and soft, like tuna fish or canned food. There are a couple of downsides to this method. If your cat doesn't eat the entire meal, he or she hasn't gotten the complete dose. Also, cats tend to salivate--heavily--when they taste something bad. Years ago, Cupcake had to take allergy medication. She was a giant pain to pill, so I crushed the pill and hid it in her food. She came upstairs ten minutes later foaming at the mouth so badly that she looked like she had rabies.
You could also try soft treats known as Pill Pockets. The treat is hollow, so you insert the pill, squeeze the ends shut, and give it to your cat. The downside to this method is that some cats just cannot be fooled and won't eat the treat, or eat the treat and spit the pill out.
The best way to be absolutely sure that your cat has received his or her medication is to put it in their mouth yourself and make sure they swallow it. Here is a step by step guide on how to do this.
1. Assemble all your supplies before you catch the cat. You will need your medication, a large sturdy blanket or towel, and a flat surface to work on. A chest freezer works great, but the counter or a table will do fine as well.
2. Spread the blanket out on the surface and go find your cat.
3. Place your cat in the middle of the blanket. Holding your cat firmly, wrap the blanket tightly around your cat so that just the head shows. Make sure to wrap especially well around the hind feet, because you don't want to get kicked.
Jameson models the 'cat burrito.'
4. How you do the next step will depend on your dominant hand. I am right-handed, as are most people, so I'll give the directions that way. If you're left handed, do the same steps, just on the other side. Tuck your cat's body, wrapped in the blanket, under your left arm and use your left elbow to hold the cat against your body. With your left hand, grasp the cat's entire head in your hand so that your thumb is on one side of the jaw, your palm is on the top of the head and your fingers are on the other side of the jaw. Point the cat's nose straight up at the ceiling. You will see that the cat's mouth is slightly open.
5. Holding the pill in your right hand, between your thumb and first finger, use your middle finger to pull the cat's lower jaw down.
6. Drop the pill into the very back of the cat's throat, let go of the jaw with your right hand, and close the cat's mouth. Massage his or her throat to help them swallow.
7. If you didn't get the pill to the very back of the throat, the cat might spit it out. Next time, try to get the pill further back.
8. Once you are sure the cat has swallowed the pill, you can unwrap him.
Jameson is pretty easy to pill, but sometimes he puts up a fight, even when wrapped in a blanket. If your cat fights you, or you fear for your fingers, consider investing in a pill gun, which is a plastic thing that lets you "shoot" the pill into the cat's throat.
Depending on the medication, you could try hiding it in food. If you do this, hide the medication in something smelly and soft, like tuna fish or canned food. There are a couple of downsides to this method. If your cat doesn't eat the entire meal, he or she hasn't gotten the complete dose. Also, cats tend to salivate--heavily--when they taste something bad. Years ago, Cupcake had to take allergy medication. She was a giant pain to pill, so I crushed the pill and hid it in her food. She came upstairs ten minutes later foaming at the mouth so badly that she looked like she had rabies.
You could also try soft treats known as Pill Pockets. The treat is hollow, so you insert the pill, squeeze the ends shut, and give it to your cat. The downside to this method is that some cats just cannot be fooled and won't eat the treat, or eat the treat and spit the pill out.
The best way to be absolutely sure that your cat has received his or her medication is to put it in their mouth yourself and make sure they swallow it. Here is a step by step guide on how to do this.
1. Assemble all your supplies before you catch the cat. You will need your medication, a large sturdy blanket or towel, and a flat surface to work on. A chest freezer works great, but the counter or a table will do fine as well.
2. Spread the blanket out on the surface and go find your cat.
3. Place your cat in the middle of the blanket. Holding your cat firmly, wrap the blanket tightly around your cat so that just the head shows. Make sure to wrap especially well around the hind feet, because you don't want to get kicked.
Jameson models the 'cat burrito.'
4. How you do the next step will depend on your dominant hand. I am right-handed, as are most people, so I'll give the directions that way. If you're left handed, do the same steps, just on the other side. Tuck your cat's body, wrapped in the blanket, under your left arm and use your left elbow to hold the cat against your body. With your left hand, grasp the cat's entire head in your hand so that your thumb is on one side of the jaw, your palm is on the top of the head and your fingers are on the other side of the jaw. Point the cat's nose straight up at the ceiling. You will see that the cat's mouth is slightly open.
5. Holding the pill in your right hand, between your thumb and first finger, use your middle finger to pull the cat's lower jaw down.
6. Drop the pill into the very back of the cat's throat, let go of the jaw with your right hand, and close the cat's mouth. Massage his or her throat to help them swallow.
7. If you didn't get the pill to the very back of the throat, the cat might spit it out. Next time, try to get the pill further back.
8. Once you are sure the cat has swallowed the pill, you can unwrap him.
Jameson is pretty easy to pill, but sometimes he puts up a fight, even when wrapped in a blanket. If your cat fights you, or you fear for your fingers, consider investing in a pill gun, which is a plastic thing that lets you "shoot" the pill into the cat's throat.
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7 comments:
I dont even want to know what your arms looked like after taking the photos! Hurri is the BIGGEST pain to give medicine to. He will only eat 2 types of wet food and has been known to eat around pills. I've even had vets give up on trying to shove it down his throat and he's the only cat I know who can "spit" liquid medicine out. When we first got him, we had to keep him on valium (anxiety) so we crushed it into his food. It's the only thing that worked.
This is extremely informative...I did have to pill Flannel once and it wasn't too difficult, but she is declawed. (I know, I know so controversial, I'll never do it again-ever!) The other day though I was holding Flannel and she drooled, it was a little but it dripped out of her mouth and it cascaded down her furry paw...any idea why that happens? I've never seen it before.
Great step by step. My dog used to be able to eat around pills or just spit them out. It drove us nuts! You can get a kid to take medicine in almost the same way. Usually Collin is great about taking medicines but there are some that tast so bad that you have to hold him down and squirt it down the very back of his throat in order to get him to take it. At least he doesn't have claws!
Kiki--Sometimes cats just drool. She might have been grooming herself before you started petting her and had some extra saliva in her mouth. Worst case scenario could be a dental problem, but it's probably nothing. I had a cat who used to drool horribly when you petted him. As for declawing, my cat is declawed. We use a laser at work to do the procedure and it eliminates bleeding and cuts down on tissue trauma.
Ohhhh. I am so glad that you are this font of knowledge, especially since looking anything up on the internet can induce a fear of some rare disease that my indoor-only cat has somehow managed to catch. As for the declawing, I am glad to here that I am not to be made a pariah because of it, I feel guilty often for doing it since it did seem to pain my sweet kitty. She has forgiven me though and is curled up purring next to me. Thanks for the great info!!
It's funny you posted this as I had to dose 2 cats a couple weeks ago. One for tape & the other as a precautionary for tape. The stray outdoors was a piece of cake & I didn't even have to wrap him, just had him by his scruff. My indoor cat OTOH, I know her all too well. So I laid everything down on the floor, large towel included, wrapped her, dosed her then gave her treats (which were also laid out with the supplies).
I was actually just thinking about your pill gun comment & the movie Dennis the Menace came to mind! ROFL!
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