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#1
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Pilling Buster
I took Buster to TED for a checkup today, and I mentioned to the vet
that Buster sometimes coughs. At least, I think I've heard him cough - when he does it, it sounds much wheezier and cough-ier than hacking up a hairball. It sounds like Fritz the Brave in that Aerokat video Julie posted about a few years ago, except not nearly that bad - with Buster, it's more like he wants to clear his throat, rather than being in respiratory distress. The vet said that Buster's lungs sound fine, not like an asthmatic cat's. They took some x-rays, and said the results might be showing some slightly thick bronchioles, but that was about it. They sent out a blood sample to check for heartworm, and gave me some Theophylline pills, in case it's asthma. Buster was very meek at the vet's, and they say, very cute and well behaved. He buried his head in my armpit while I held him, and when in his carrier, he huddled quietly in the furthest corner. When I got him home and tried to pill him, we had a wrestling match in the middle of the living room. Buster emerged victorious. And unpilled. So next I tried sneaking bits of the pill in some wet food. This is hit or miss because Buster is a finicky nibbler, while Dot inhales wet food at least 3 times as fast as he does. I had to give Dot a huge plate of food relative to Buster's to keep her from stealing his doctored food. The pill must taste pretty bad, because every now and then when he'd come across a pill piece, he'd retch and spit it out. I kept putting the bits of pill back though, and I managed to at least get him to eat half of them. This certainly seems like it'll be challenging. How do the rest of you get your cats to take their medication? Buster's the first cat I've had that's mostly indifferent to treats, so I'm expecting that this won't go as easily as it's gone in the past with Betty or Dot. |
#2
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Pilling Buster
On Jul 10, 5:42*pm, Takayuki wrote:
I took Buster to TED for a checkup today, and I mentioned to the vet that Buster sometimes coughs. *At least, I think I've heard him cough - when he does it, it sounds much wheezier and cough-ier than hacking up a hairball. *It sounds like Fritz the Brave in that Aerokat video Julie posted about a few years ago, except not nearly that bad - with Buster, it's more like he wants to clear his throat, rather than being in respiratory distress. The vet said that Buster's lungs sound fine, not like an asthmatic cat's. *They took some x-rays, and said the results might be showing some slightly thick bronchioles, but that was about it. *They sent out a blood sample to check for heartworm, and gave me some Theophylline pills, in case it's asthma. Buster was very meek at the vet's, and they say, very cute and well behaved. *He buried his head in my armpit while I held him, and when in his carrier, he huddled quietly in the furthest corner. When I got him home and tried to pill him, we had a wrestling match in the middle of the living room. *Buster emerged victorious. *And unpilled. So next I tried sneaking bits of the pill in some wet food. *This is hit or miss because Buster is a finicky nibbler, while Dot inhales wet food at least 3 times as fast as he does. *I had to give Dot a huge plate of food relative to Buster's to keep her from stealing his doctored food. The pill must taste pretty bad, because every now and then when he'd come across a pill piece, he'd retch and spit it out. *I kept putting the bits of pill back though, and I managed to at least get him to eat half of them. This certainly seems like it'll be challenging. *How do the rest of you get your cats to take their medication? *Buster's the first cat I've had that's mostly indifferent to treats, so I'm expecting that this won't go as easily as it's gone in the past with Betty or Dot. I sympathize. Over the years, I tried practically everything to pill Rusty who needed. medication fairly often. I requested liquid medication when available and that went down easily. Pill pocket are good. But after 14 years of cat slavehood, I finally manage to pill him by forcing the pill down his throat. I wear the cat tooth brush thimble to protect my finger. Now I have to pill him at least once every day. The only struggle is to get hold of him. Rusty seems to know when it is pill time and lead me through a merry chase. Winnie |
#3
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Pilling Buster
"Takayuki" wrote in message news I took Buster to TED for a checkup today, and I mentioned to the vet that Buster sometimes coughs. At least, I think I've heard him cough - when he does it, it sounds much wheezier and cough-ier than hacking up a hairball. It sounds like Fritz the Brave in that Aerokat video Julie posted about a few years ago, except not nearly that bad - with Buster, it's more like he wants to clear his throat, rather than being in respiratory distress. The vet said that Buster's lungs sound fine, not like an asthmatic cat's. They took some x-rays, and said the results might be showing some slightly thick bronchioles, but that was about it. They sent out a blood sample to check for heartworm, and gave me some Theophylline pills, in case it's asthma. Buster was very meek at the vet's, and they say, very cute and well behaved. He buried his head in my armpit while I held him, and when in his carrier, he huddled quietly in the furthest corner. When I got him home and tried to pill him, we had a wrestling match in the middle of the living room. Buster emerged victorious. And unpilled. So next I tried sneaking bits of the pill in some wet food. This is hit or miss because Buster is a finicky nibbler, while Dot inhales wet food at least 3 times as fast as he does. I had to give Dot a huge plate of food relative to Buster's to keep her from stealing his doctored food. The pill must taste pretty bad, because every now and then when he'd come across a pill piece, he'd retch and spit it out. I kept putting the bits of pill back though, and I managed to at least get him to eat half of them. This certainly seems like it'll be challenging. How do the rest of you get your cats to take their medication? Buster's the first cat I've had that's mostly indifferent to treats, so I'm expecting that this won't go as easily as it's gone in the past with Betty or Dot. Bonnie also is one of those wheezy cats, but hers is seasonal so far and the vet said her lungs sound fine. But I know how scary it can sound. Try a pill popper gun thingie. It's worked for Patches the evil tortie when she had to be wormed. Read this, too, and I'll find a link for the pill shooter gun thingie: http://cats.about.com/cs/catmanageme...ht/pillcat.htm and this: http://www.felinecrf.org/medicating_your_cat.htm Pill gun link. Hard to tell from this pic, but you put the pill in the end of it, then when it's in the back of kitty's throat, push the plunger very fast. http://www.amazon.com/Mikki-Pill-Gun/dp/B00076HUB4 |
#4
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Pilling Buster
Takayuki wrote:
The vet said that Buster's lungs sound fine, not like an asthmatic cat's. They took some x-rays, and said the results might be showing some slightly thick bronchioles, but that was about it. They sent out a blood sample to check for heartworm, and gave me some Theophylline pills, in case it's asthma. I hope it's nothing serious! Fingers crossed and purrs sent. This certainly seems like it'll be challenging. How do the rest of you get your cats to take their medication? Buster's the first cat I've had that's mostly indifferent to treats, so I'm expecting that this won't go as easily as it's gone in the past with Betty or Dot. I give Roxy Lysine for her herpes. I crush and dissolve a pill into water until the solid grains of the pill are pretty small, and mix that into some food. Then I add some smelly dried salmon treats to the mix. I think the smell and taste of the treats does a decent job of hiding the lysine. Roxy's a delicate eater - she'll usually eat half of her food and then leave the rest for later. This doesn't work so well in a multi-cat household, but at least she gets some of it. (The salmon treats have no additives, BTW, it's just dried salmon bits.) With Smudge, I do pretty much the same thing with her aspirin, but I put the dissolved pill into a spoonful of Fancy Feast in a bowl and mix it all up. She devours it all because it's not much food and she loves Fancy Feast. It's not the healthiest food, but she only gets this once every 3 days. When one of my cats is getting medication in food, I feed that cat in a room by him/herself. I don't want anyone else getting Smudge's aspirin. And while Lysine isn't harmful to any of the other cats, I want Roxy to get as much of it as possible. If you're free-feeding your cats on dry food, you might want to take that up for the duration of Buster's treatment. A hungry cat is more likely to eat his medicine-laced food than one who's been noshing on kibble all day. Good luck! -- Joyce ^..^ To email me, remove the XXX from my user name. |
#5
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Pilling Buster
Winnie wrote:
I sympathize. Over the years, I tried practically everything to pill Rusty who needed. medication fairly often. I requested liquid medication when available and that went down easily. Pill pocket are good. But after 14 years of cat slavehood, I finally manage to pill him by forcing the pill down his throat. I wear the cat tooth brush thimble to protect my finger. Now I have to pill him at least once every day. The only struggle is to get hold of him. Rusty seems to know when it is pill time and lead me through a merry chase. If I can get to the point where I can force a pill down him every day, that would be a good learning experience. Ever since my first experience medicating Betty, which was relatively easy, I've been afraid that someday I would have a situation where I would have to force a cat to swallow a pill. I just have a hard time with the idea that I'd have to restrain a cat and force it to do something. When it's possible, I'd so much rather try to pursuade, or at least trick a cat into doing something. |
#6
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Pilling Buster
"Takayuki" wrote in message
news I took Buster to TED for a checkup today, and I mentioned to the vet that Buster sometimes coughs. At least, I think I've heard him cough - when he does it, it sounds much wheezier and cough-ier than hacking up a hairball. It sounds like Fritz the Brave in that Aerokat video Julie posted about a few years ago, except not nearly that bad - with Buster, it's more like he wants to clear his throat, rather than being in respiratory distress. The vet said that Buster's lungs sound fine, not like an asthmatic cat's. They took some x-rays, and said the results might be showing some slightly thick bronchioles, but that was about it. They sent out a blood sample to check for heartworm, and gave me some Theophylline pills, in case it's asthma. Buster was very meek at the vet's, and they say, very cute and well behaved. He buried his head in my armpit while I held him, and when in his carrier, he huddled quietly in the furthest corner. When I got him home and tried to pill him, we had a wrestling match in the middle of the living room. Buster emerged victorious. And unpilled. So next I tried sneaking bits of the pill in some wet food. This is hit or miss because Buster is a finicky nibbler, while Dot inhales wet food at least 3 times as fast as he does. I had to give Dot a huge plate of food relative to Buster's to keep her from stealing his doctored food. The pill must taste pretty bad, because every now and then when he'd come across a pill piece, he'd retch and spit it out. I kept putting the bits of pill back though, and I managed to at least get him to eat half of them. This certainly seems like it'll be challenging. How do the rest of you get your cats to take their medication? Buster's the first cat I've had that's mostly indifferent to treats, so I'm expecting that this won't go as easily as it's gone in the past with Betty or Dot. First thing: You've got to win the wrestling match! I've only had to pill Persia once and she fought me every step of the way. I had to tuck her under my arm (making sure all legs were trapped) then pry open her mouth with my left hand and pop the pill on the back of her tongue with my right hand. Then I clamped her jaw shut with my right hand and blew gently on her nose. This caused her to swallow reflexively... and down went the pill. I have an aunt who used to put her cats in a laundry bag (that must have been a chore in and of itself) until nothing but their head was sticking out before pilling them. She said it saved her lots of scratch marks. Good luck, Tak! Jill |
#7
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Pilling Buster
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#8
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Pilling Buster
"Cheryl" wrote:
Bonnie also is one of those wheezy cats, but hers is seasonal so far and the vet said her lungs sound fine. But I know how scary it can sound. Try a pill popper gun thingie. It's worked for Patches the evil tortie when she had to be wormed. Read this, too, and I'll find a link for the pill shooter gun thingie: http://cats.about.com/cs/catmanageme...ht/pillcat.htm and this: http://www.felinecrf.org/medicating_your_cat.htm Pill gun link. Hard to tell from this pic, but you put the pill in the end of it, then when it's in the back of kitty's throat, push the plunger very fast. http://www.amazon.com/Mikki-Pill-Gun/dp/B00076HUB4 Thanks! I looked at a couple of these links. A pill gun sounds like a good idea. Buster is strong young boycat, so I'd have to be careful not to injure his mouth as he struggles. I'll have to get one and see if that works out better for him. |
#9
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Pilling Buster
"jmcquown" wrote:
First thing: You've got to win the wrestling match! I've only had to pill Persia once and she fought me every step of the way. I had to tuck her under my arm (making sure all legs were trapped) then pry open her mouth with my left hand and pop the pill on the back of her tongue with my right hand. Then I clamped her jaw shut with my right hand and blew gently on her nose. This caused her to swallow reflexively... and down went the pill. I have an aunt who used to put her cats in a laundry bag (that must have been a chore in and of itself) until nothing but their head was sticking out before pilling them. She said it saved her lots of scratch marks. Good luck, Tak! I actually had Buster rolled up in a towel, and he managed to fight his way out of it! I wrapped him up again, tighter this time, and the remainder of the match was tongue wrestling. Buster's tongue turned out to be robust and formidable defense against any intrusion! Each time he spit out the pill, I would break out in a fit of giggles, because he had such a disgusted look each time he expelled the soggy pill, and he could do it so effortlessly. |
#10
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Pilling Buster
Takayuki wrote:
The vet said that Buster's lungs sound fine, not like an asthmatic cat's. They took some x-rays, and said the results might be showing some slightly thick bronchioles, but that was about it. They sent out a blood sample to check for heartworm, and gave me some Theophylline pills, in case it's asthma. I don't want to alarm you, but Theophylline is the drug that I'd just started giving Nikki when she had her seizure and eventually had to be put to sleep. I can't be sure there was any connection, and it seems that vets routinely ordinate it to asthmatic cats, so there can't be a very obvious connection with uncontrollable seizures. As to pilling cats daily, if he won't eat them in a treat, I find the best way is to crush the pill, mix it with a little water, and syringe it into the cat's mouth. I've done this with Frank, Nikki and Miranda. It doesn't work well with Caliban, but he's easy to fool with a treat. -- Marina, Miranda and Caliban. In loving memory of Frank and Nikki. |
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