How to medicate a cat...

[Heidi n Q]

There are several methods to dose cats, here are a few of my favorites:

For cats who respond well to scruff-holds:
1. I will have the medicine handy and already dosed into the dropper. Lure or bring the cat close to where you have your medicine w/in reach, grasp them by the scruff of the neck and lower your knuckles to the floor. This imobilizes the cat and with your knuckles on the floor, it brings their shoulders down, head sideways (pointed towards you) and I don't care what their back end does; point up or lay down, just so they don't get to clawing. Put the medicine dropper into the corner of their mouth and administer it slowly. If you squirt too fast, it can drip out the other side of their mouth before they lick/swallow in reflex.

For cats who do not respond well to scruff-holds:
2. Have the medicine dosed and handy (dropper or pill-plunger). I grab the cat, usually with a scruff hold, just to get them where I want them. I will kneel over them on the floor and cross my ankles under my rump. This creates a 'cave' the cat cannot back out of. I will have the medicine dropper or pill in my right hand and with my left I pet them over their head and using my thumb and middle or pointer finger I will grasp their upper jaw, pressing those fingers lightly into their teeth between canines/molars and pull their head up and backwards, pointing their nose to the sky. Eventually when you get far enough back (pointing at sky) they will open their mouth and I pop the pill, pill-plunger or dropper far into the back and administer. Do this quickly before they coordinate their front feet into clawing your hand away. I like to hold them in that position with their mouth closed until I feel them swallow, but if you can do this quickly enough, it is low-stress and they shouldn't have to taste the meds at all.

3. On a bed or pillow with a bath towel, I will spread the towel over the cat and kneel on both sides, using the towel to 'trap' them down into the soft surface and I will sort of 'sit' on them with my thighs/rump to help hold them imobile until after I've administerd the meds. Be careful when settling your weight on them, you only want enough to hold them down, not crush them. This works well for the 'chainsaw' scratchers.

* after each dosing, pet the cat and/or ruffle their fur to remove the 'insult' of the scruff-hold before releasing. When you release the cat, YOU leave quickly and do not look at the cat as you move away from them. Act like it is no big deal. I do not like encouraging my cats to run from me so I prefer to move away from them after dosing and not hover or watch them until after I'm several steps away to give them room.

[Heidi n Q]

*bump*

May I request this 2nd post of mine be deleted and the original post be added to the Sticky Forum so this information is easy to locate?
Thanks, Heidi

[laurief]

Here are a few of my favorite and most successful tricks for pilling cats:

1) Buy a bag of each flavor of Pill Pockets (chicken and salmon). Many cats will eagerly eat Pill Pockets with meds hidden inside. Even if they won't eat them voluntarily and you have to stick the pill down the cat's throat. having it inside a Pill Pocket makes it a lot more likely that the cat will swallow it rather than trying to spit it out.

2) Buy some #3 and #4 empty gelcaps. Bitter tasting pills can be put into gelcaps to hide their taste so that the cat will swallow it more readily. Also if the cat is receiving multiple meds, they can be stuffed into a single gelcap (if and only if the meds are compatible - check with your vet) to make administration easier.

3) Buy a piller. Nothing has made pilling easier for me than my rubber-tipped piller.

4) Coat the pill with butter. It both helps mask the taste of the pill and makes it slide down the throat a lot easier.

5) Offer the cat a few licks of canned food soup (canned food mixed with warm water) or tuna juice immediately before and immediately after pill administration. This will wet the throat to make swallowing easier and make sure the pill gets swallowed all the way down. Alternatively, use a needleless syringe to squirt a couple drops of water into the side of the mouth (NEVER directly toward the back) immediately before and after pill administration. Water given immediately after a pill forces a gag reflex and automatic swallowing.

6) Many meds can be compounded into flavored chews, liquids, or even transdermal gels to make administration easier.

7) Never cut or crush pills without your vet's approval. Some meds are formulated to be given intact, and cutting or crushing may render the med ineffective by causing it to be processed in the wrong part of the digestive tract.

8) Always check with your vet to find out if meds should be given with food or on an empty stomach. Also if administering multiple meds, always check drug interactions and compatibilities.

9) Buy a copy of The Pill Book Guide to Medication for Your Dog and Cat. It is a very inexpensive paperback that provides essential information about most meds used in veterinary practice. It is a must for every animal caretaker's bookshelf, IMO. It's one drawback is that it hasn't been updated since 1998, so it doesn't include information on the new drugs of the last decade.

Hope this helps!

Laurie

[Heather102180]

Hi Heidi - It's a good idea. I'll discuss this being a sticky with the other mods.

[Stryker]

Three useful learning aids...

One, two and three.

[carolsclan]

I have a tricky one .... with the ex ferals .. Blue and Ugly tho friendly and lovable will tolerate being "held" at all .. I stand a very good chance of being shredded .. Spookie still wont let me touch her at all.

Ugly and Spookie however quite happily eat their meds with their food .... but Blue hahahah ..not a chance I have tried everything under the sun to disguise her pills and she wont touch it ... I have mixed them with butter and smeared it into her fur and she will simply rub that offending part of her body against something until its gone or one of the other cats have licked it off.

We dont get pill pockets here ..... now if someone has an idea ill welcome it. Thank God she is healthy BUT she does need to be dewormed.

[Stryker]

Originally Posted by carolsclan

...We dont get pill pockets here ..... now if someone has an idea ill welcome it...

I just read a post "elsewhere" describing how that cat scarfs down pills "buried" in small pieces of Velveeta cheese...

[laurief]

Carol, do you have compounding pharmacies in SA? I don't know if any of the US veterinary pharmacies ship internationally, but it might be worth looking into before your ex-feral girl needs any serious medicine. I have Billy's thyroid med compounded into a liver flavored chew that he usually finds irresistible, and Billy is VERY finicky about what he puts into his mouth.The pharmacy I use offers half a dozen or so different flavors, and they can compound a variety of drugs into liquids, chews, or transdermal gels that get rubbed into the ear. I don't know if they work with dewormers at all, though.

Laurie

[carolsclan]

mmmm .. im not sure , somehow I doubt it, our area is very "backward" I can try and fnd out tho.

The only option I havent tried yet is to confine her without food and get her good and hungry and then try something really yummy like peanut butter , trouble is she lets the entire country know she is confined

Is velveeta cheese like cheddar ??? or cottage cheese???

Its actualy funny ill grind her tablet into powder and mix it with something yummy and she delicately sniffs it, and turns her back on it.... giving me a look that could kill.

[Stryker]

Originally Posted by carolsclan

...Is velveeta cheese like cheddar ??? or cottage cheese???...

Velveeta is a processed cheese available in NA (I didn't realize your location). It comes in block form, but is very soft and malleable...and tasty!