How do you get a strong cat to take a tablet?

I have a male cat that has to have a tablet for the rest of hislife. I have
tried putting it in food, but he just knows! I can't hold him down, and
opening his jaws with those teeth it too scary!! Any ideas please?

In article ,
"Oenone Athanasakis" wrote:

I have a male cat that has to have a tablet for the rest of hislife. I have
tried putting it in food, but he just knows! I can't hold him down, and
opening his jaws with those teeth it too scary!! Any ideas please?

Try a pill-popper. You don't need to get their
jaws open far with one. Also, try wrapping him in a towel.
follow it with a treat so he associates it with something yummy.
and, of course, lots of kisses and strokes and belly rubs.

LT

in article , Linda
Terrell at wrote on 1/8/05 9:45AM:

In article ,
"Oenone Athanasakis" wrote:

I have a male cat that has to have a tablet for the rest of hislife. I have
tried putting it in food, but he just knows! I can't hold him down, and
opening his jaws with those teeth it too scary!! Any ideas please?

Try a pill-popper. You don't need to get their
jaws open far with one. Also, try wrapping him in a towel.
follow it with a treat so he associates it with something yummy.
and, of course, lots of kisses and strokes and belly rubs.

LT

http://www.lbah.com/ear_cleaning.htm#fr

What is the medication? If it's tapazole for the thyroid, you can get these
in flavoured chews. If it's an antibiotic, you may be able to get a liquid
form. Contact your vet and they will definitely be able to accomodate for
the fact that your cat is tough to pill.

Kelly

"Oenone Athanasakis" wrote in message
...
I have a male cat that has to have a tablet for the rest of hislife. I
have tried putting it in food, but he just knows! I can't hold him down,
and opening his jaws with those teeth it too scary!! Any ideas please?

On 2005-01-08 07:21:27 -0800, "Oenone Athanasakis"
said:

I have a male cat that has to have a tablet for the rest of hislife. I
have tried putting it in food, but he just knows! I can't hold him
down, and opening his jaws with those teeth it too scary!! Any ideas
please?

Here is what has always worked for my cats, without fail. Using a pill
cutter, I cut the pill into halves (and quarters, if necessary). I put
the pill bits inside empty gel caps that I order from the pharmacy
(they're very inexpensive). Then I coat the gel capsule with butter,
chicken grease, or a bit of wet cat food and pop it down my cat's
throat after letting her have a sniff of it. She thinks it's a treat
because all she tastes is butter; the gel cap prevents her from ever
tasting the bitterness of the pill. The butter or grease also
lubricates the pill so it doesn't get stuck on the way down.

The gel caps come in different sizes, so there's a bit of trial and
error to get the correct size. I use size 04 and it works for most
pills. Start with that size.

Good luck.
--
Bigbluejerk

On Sat, 8 Jan 2005 15:21:27 -0000, "Oenone Athanasakis"
wrote:

I have a male cat that has to have a tablet for the rest of hislife. I have
tried putting it in food, but he just knows! I can't hold him down, and
opening his jaws with those teeth it too scary!! Any ideas please?

I've just succeeded in getting my cat to take a pill, by grinding it up, mixing
it with a dab of butter, and smearing onto her front leg just above the paw.

She immediately licked it off - I think it must have tasted foul, cos she pulled
a funny face, but it all seemed to go down.

The butter was a bit difficult to mix, so today I'm going to try a bit of meat
paste.


If the pill isn't foul tasting, you might try mixing it with paste or butter or
thick cream- and offering it to him on your finger.


I think that for giving a pill daily over a long period you just have to find a
way which gives minimum stress to you and him.


What you learn from the advice you get here (and elsewhere) is that all cats are
different, and it seems to me, that some people with easy-going cats have no
idea what a not easy-going cat is like.

I'm sure bigbluejerk's advice on cutting up the pill into 4 and putting it in
gel caps, and popping all those bits buttered down his cats throat works fine
for him.

Here's what would happen if you tried it with my cat.

1) cat would sniff the capsule, whatever it was and say "what are you up to now?
" while backing away.

2) In order to "pop" the pill in her throat I'd have to pin her down in a towel,
and get someone else to open her mouth.

3) After the first capsule, she'd get progressively more upset,and use her
technique of head shaking - a bit like "The Exorcist").

4) On day two, as I started cutting up the pill, she would disappear at
relativistic velocity into the far distance, and not be seen for hours.

I have to say, though, that our tom-cat who like yours, has big scary teeth,
will let you open his mouth and stick stuff in there, sdoesn't phase him much at
all. A bit like this :-

http://www.marvistavet.com/html/pilling_a_cat.html

Good luck
Jim

It may be worth getting the vet to demonstrate and teach you the correct way
to do it. Although you end up finding your own method.

The trick is not to stress the cat in the first place. By making a fuss of
him before you give him the pill you will relax him. You can then gently
prise open his mouth and tilt his chin upwards as you do so and quickly pop
it onto the back of his tongue.

Well - that's the theory.

sarah.

On Sun, 09 Jan 2005 14:59:31 GMT, "sarah" wrote:

It may be worth getting the vet to demonstrate and teach you the correct way
to do it. Although you end up finding your own method.

The trick is not to stress the cat in the first place. By making a fuss of
him before you give him the pill you will relax him. You can then gently
prise open his mouth and tilt his chin upwards as you do so and quickly pop
it onto the back of his tongue.

Well - that's the theory.

Exactly :-) My vet is a pragmatist - I said "show me" - she said, You will
never get a pill into that cat on a regular basis.

When I "gently prise open" my tom-cat's mouth he lets me prise it open as you
describe. When I do the same (or try to) to the girl cat, she whips her head
back like a rocket and shakes it like terriers do when they're ratting.

Strangely, at the moment she's on a short course of Ovarid - she takes those off
my finger-end and chews them up purring like mad - someone got something right
there!! :-)

Jim

Best invention. I use a piller. Pops the pill instantly down there throat.
Just pop it in the mouth. Ask your vet for one.


"Oenone Athanasakis" wrote in message
...
I have a male cat that has to have a tablet for the rest of hislife. I
have
tried putting it in food, but he just knows! I can't hold him down, and
opening his jaws with those teeth it too scary!! Any ideas please?

Oenone Athanasakis wrote:
I have a male cat that has to have a tablet for the rest of hislife.
I have
tried putting it in food, but he just knows! I can't hold him down,
and
opening his jaws with those teeth it too scary!! Any ideas please?

Try rolling it in some cream cheese, and let him lick that off your
finger. It works for us when my cat has to take a pill from a pet
sitter. I just pop open his mouth and throw it back.