I hate giving my cat pills

[motely36]

He gets one every night with dinner. He's not horrible about it, but he tries to clamp his mouth shut and I have to pry it open shove the pill in and then close his mouth until he swallows it. Oh well, I guess it could be worse :)

[ithacan]

1. try this

we do this with our cats:

grind the pill up into powder. Then mix it in with the cat's favorite wet food, or a bit of tuna fish. That seems to work every time, if it's a seafood with a strong taste it's better to hide the bitter pill taste.

This is MUCH easier than trying to get a pill down a cat's throat. By the way, if you do try the whole pill method, once it's in the cat's mouth you can stroke gently its throat to induce it to swallow...

But the ground up in cat food works much more easily.

[motely36]

5. I do do the stroke his throat trick.

I think the vet told us that. Unfortunately, he eats dry food, so I don't know if crushing it would do much good.

edited because I can't type tonight!

[ithacan]

10. even if he eats dry food use wet food for this

our cats also only get dry food. Except when it's pill time. Then we get some wet food, and they love it, so it works really well.

[Booster]

2. Mine had to have 4 a day; 2 in am and 2 in pm. I found crushing

them and mixing in her food worked a lot better than trying to cram them down her throat. She hated it and I hated it even more, so to keep my temper in check I went to crushing the pills rather than crushing the cat.

[kedrys]

3. The vet showed me this gadget

It basically looks like one of those little 4-pronged spring-loaded screw grabber thingies, except you load it with a pill. You can practically deposit the pill straight into the cat's stomach.

You go first, though. I'm not trying it on my 18 lbs cats. :)

[sadinred]

4. a trick

once you have the pill in your kitties mouth, gently hold his mouth closed and blow on his face (also gently). He will swallow it fast!

[goodboy]

6. not as much as he hates taking them I'll bet. ;)

[JPace]

7. I'd rather wrestle an alligator....

every time I try it I end up with a bloody finger and the pill is catapulted into the next dimension. Its hopeless.....
Good luck!

[CelticWinter]

8. This is what I have to do

I have a houseful of kitties so crushing the pill and putting it in food wont work here. I take kitty and open his mouth and put the pill as far back in his mouth as I can get. I talk to him while I keep his mouth closed and gently rub under his chin and down his neck til he swallows. It works good around here and it doesnt upset the cats. (although they still like giving me that "wait til your asleep look"
Blessings
~~Celtic

[Merlot]

9. Try not holding his mouth closed

I keep my cats nose pointed up, but let him keep his mouth open. Stroking his throat is nice, I'm not sure if it helps. I also follow up the pill very quickly with a tasty crunchy treat.

After a while we've built up a certain rhythm and it goes pretty well. I think 7 is about the maximum number of times he's spit the pill out, but that's rare. Usually it's the first or second try.

[sleepyhead]

11. If all else fails

Ask your vet to get the medication compounded for you as a liquid. Sometimes it's easier to squirt a dropperful of liquid in a cat's mouth than trying to toss a pill down its throat. You can get whatever flavor your cat might like: beef, liver, chicken, even sometimes salmon or shrimp. The liquid can either be given directly or mixed with food (might be more attractive to the cat than a ground-up pill).

If even this doesn't work and the medication is a long-term deal, ask about transdermal gels. Many meds can be compounded into a gel that you just rub on the inside of the cat's ear each time. This also has the advantage of avoiding the scenario of finding umpteen pills behind the couch the next time you clean (some cats are experts at that - I had one a few years ago!)

[biscotti]

12. Here is a trick a Vet taught me

Take hold of the skin and fur on the back of the head and neck area. Tilt head back firmly and the mouth automatically opens. Place pill toward the back of the throat(if necessary can be gently pushed toward the back of the tongue by the eraser end of a pencil). When you release the head the mouth closes and the pill goes down. Easy on the cat and you.