Pilling Buster

Takayuki wrote:

I think that probably my technique is all wrong - I wasn't trying to
shove the pill down, I was trying to coax it in, past the gums, past
the clenched teeth...

I have seen those impregnable clenched teeth many times. :-) Especially
cute when they are kitten-sized teeth.

Here's my technique, FWIW.

Sit back in a kneeling position on floor with cat and pill within easy
reach.
Wedge cat on floor in sitting position firmly between your knees *facing
outwards* (away from you), so when it tries to back away, it's only
backing further into you.
Tuck pill into the last 3 fingers of your right hand.
Assuming you are right-handed (if not, reverse instructions!), place
left hand over cat's head, hold cat's head in your left hand from above,
with forefinger and thumb placed either side of the mouth ready to open
it.
Gently and slowly tilt the cat's head with your left hand so it is
looking upwards, at the same time with the forefinger of your right hand
gently prise open the lower jaw.
When the jaw is open far enough to get your finger in, quickly push the
pill towards the back of the tongue (this is easier if you have a pill
popper device), close the mouth and hold it closed while stroking the
throat until you see the cat swallow. Release the mouth, but not the
cat, and make sure the pill isn't spat out again, or concealed down the
side of the cheek, or accidentally stuck to the outside of the face (his
or yours). :-)
If not, you may safely release the cat.

HTH and good luck

Deb.

--
http://www.scientific-art.com

"He looked a fierce and quarrelsome cat, but claw he never would;
He only bit the ones he loved, because they tasted good." S. Greenfield

On Fri, 10 Jul 2009 17:42:24 -0400, Takayuki
wrote:

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.

When I was a youngster I was medicated for asthma with a red liquid
medicine that tasted like nothing else on Earth. The taste was so bad
I felt like running as fast as I could to outrun the taste, like Tom
Sawyer's cat. I don't know what was in it, but I but I bet it could
have been theophylline.

Bud

"Takayuki" wrote in message
news
nik Simpson wrote:
The only way I've been able to pill Muddy is to grab him the
scruff of
the neck, force his mouth open and push the pill the down his
throat.
Unfortunately this requires three hands so it's not foolproof ;-)

Seriously, that's the best I can offer. Somebody once suggested
putting
him in a pillow case with just his head out the top, scratch
(quite
literally) one pillowcase.

I think that probably my technique is all wrong - I wasn't trying
to
shove the pill down, I was trying to coax it in, past the gums,
past
the clenched teeth...

Probably it's partially because the idea of shoving something into
Buster's mouth is unpalatable. I wonder why - I have no problem
holding him "against his will" when he's shoved a cold snout in my
ear
early in the morning, and I sleepily retaliate by nabbing him and
making him into my teddy-cat.

If love for a cat is measured by how firm you can be to them for
their
own good, then my love hasn't been as strong as it should have
been.

Holding a cat (or dog) firmly enough that it can't hurt itself or
you while it is receiving treatment is a learned skill. I'm quite
sure you will figure it out with a little practice.

I'm good at it but I've have a LOT of practice. I still have a bit
of a hard time pilling an unwilling cat all by myself. Its a lot
easier if I have another person to at least make sure the right end
of the cat is facing my way.

You can hold a cat a lot tighter than you might think without
hurting it. In fact both you and the cat are less likely to be hurt
if you have a good grip. For a one handed grip, I'll go with my
left forearm under the cats belly and its chest in the palm of my
hand, holding its head still between by index and middle fingers.
Hold its body tight against mine to keep flailing down to a minimum.

Jo

Jofirey wrote:

"Takayuki" wrote in message
news


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.

Having had the misfortune to get a theophyline pill stuck in my throat a
time or two, I can promise you it is so bitter you will never be able to
hide it in cat food.


Jo

When I had to give Baytril to my little monster Kotyo last year, I had a
lot of trouble hiding it in food because of its very bitter taste.
Usually I can hide pills in wet food or treats, but this was so bitter
that he'd eat the wet food and spit out the pill.

Finally what I ended up doing was to take a tiny bit of freshly baked
bread (the soft inner part, not the crust), mash it up with my fingers
and wrap it around the pill - a sort of home-made version of a pill
pocket. Then I would hide the pill in some pork liver pate (not a lot,
just a big enough lump to hide the pill - if there was too much he would
eat around the pill, but if there was only a little he would just gobble
the whole thing up in one bite). I then would put the pate on my palm
and offer it to him. He usually eats his treats right out of my hand so
he knew I was offering a treat, and the bread masked the bitterness of
the pill so he didn't spit it out.

The bread also keeps the pill from dissolving in the wet food, so even
if he spits it out it won't be half dissolved and it would be easier to
try again. Actually even if you have to force the pills down his throat
it might be a good idea to wrap them in some bread (and maybe some
butter too so the bread doesn't stick to his throat). Again the bread
will mask the bitter taste of the pill and he'd be less likely to spit
it out.

Good luck with the pilling.

Nadia (and Kotyo and Sweety)

--
Little Monster pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/nnakova/Kotyo
Sweety pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/nnakova/Sweety
Kotyo and Sweety together:
http://picasaweb.google.com/nnakova/KotyoAndSweety

hopitus wrote:
I have a gut feeling the Ragdoll comment was a joke but I plead
ignorance on that one as I hated dolls of any kind when a kid.... and my
offspring are male. So the only ragdolls I know anything about are cats, big,
friendly cats. And mine only goes limp when he goes bellyup for a tummyrub with his
Zoom Groom.

The Ragdoll breed got their name because they tend to go limp when you
hold them!

But I digress. I googled "Chuck Norris" and this is what I got

http://www.chucknorrisfacts.com/

I just looked at this site you found, and it's hilarious. I like
"Chuck Norris can kill two stones with one bird".

Wayne Mitchell wrote:
There very likely could have been a connection, Marina. Theophylline
does affect the central nervous system, and can cause seizures.

Tak, I'm not a fan of theophylline. Will took Theo-dur for a while,
back when we were trying to control his asthma with depo medrol shots.
As far as I could see, when a shot would wear off, the theophylline was
pretty useless to hold his symptoms in check. Of course, he was a more
severe case than Buster is yet.

These negative opinions certainly dampen my enthusiasm for pilling
Buster with these. I'll slip some more into his food today, but I'll
watch him carefully.

On Fri, 10 Jul 2009 17:42:24 -0400, 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.


As usual, I'm late to this thread, and I haven't read the other 28 posts
on it.

For giving Kenzie her 2x day Tapazole, I use a small blob of soft
margarine to bury the small pill on the end of a flat coffee stir stick.

I open her mouth, and 'wipe' the margarine and pill as far back on her
tongue as I can manage.

This works very well for me. Afterwards, I always give Kenzie a small
amount of sardine (sardines?) as a treat.

On a very few occasions, Kenzie has managed to spit out the pill, but
since I started sometime in March, I'd say less than 6 times.

Kenzie is a very well behaved kitty. She doesn't run when she see's me
with the 'preloaded' coffee stir stick. She struggles some when I apply
gentle pressure to open her mouth, and sometimes I have a bit of a hard
time getting the pill with margarine as far back on her tongue as I
would like.

I usually dish out the treat first, and let her eat a little bit, to
help cover the taste of the nasty Tapezole.

If you have a clean popsicle(sp?) stick, you could try this method;
although a popsicle stick is wider than a coffee stir stick. But it
would give you an idea.

I think the treat really helps, as I KNOW the Tapezole is very bitter
tasting, and I know that sometimes Kenzie winds up tasting it, despite
my best efforts. I can tell by the expression on her face.

And thanks to the people who helped me with suggestions when *I* asked
for them.

As an aside, I told TED the method I was using to pill Kenzie, and she
was quite impressed with it, saying that she would tell her techs about
'my method' for the cats they have trouble pilling in the clinic.

Good luck!

~~~~~~~~~~~~ ^..^

"Life without cats would be only marginally worth living."
-TC, and the unmercifully, relentlessly, sweet calico kitty, Kenzie.

Every day is a treasure with Kenzie; I try to treat them that way. There
will only be so many, and then there will never, ever, be any more.

How you behave towards cats here below determines your status in Heaven.
- Robert Heinlein