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Giving Your Cat A Pill

posted November 29, 2007 - 3:11am
Giving Your Cat A Pill

Giving a cat a pill can be a nightmare. No cat wants something shoved down his throat, and he will fight you tooth and nail to prevent it. Although most cats are small in size, you’d be quite amazed with how much power they actually have. There are ways that you can get your cat to take his pills, which we will cover below.

The easiest way to give a cat pill is to crush the power into a powdery form by putting it between two spoons. Once the pill is powder, mix it in with some wet cat food. Cats that are used to eating dry cat food will see the wet food and think of it as a treat. They will normally eat it up, unaware that they just took their medicine.

If the medicine happens to be in capsule form, all you have to do is pry the capsule apart then sprinkle the medicine on some wet food and serve it to your pet. If the food also contains the pill or if your pet is sick, chances are he won’t eat it. In this event, you should look into a pet piller. You can get these handy devices from your veterinarian. They are plastic rods that hold the pill until you press a plunger. When you get one, you should always get a long one with a softer tip.

When you get your gun, your vet should show you how to use it. The most difficult aspect of using the gun is getting your cat to open his mouth. The gun will more or less shoot the pill in the cat’s mouth, and down his throat. You’ll need to hold him tight, to make sure that he doesn’t wiggle his way loose. Once you have his mouth open, you’ll need to squeeze the trigger and pull the gun away quickly. After the pill has been inserted, make sure you give your cat a treat.

If you aren’t comfortable using the gun, you can always try giving your cat his pills by hand. To do it this way, you’ll need to hold your cat still, and open his mouth with your hand. Once you have his mouth open, you should aim for the back of his throat and throw the pill in. Once it is in his mouth, you should close his mouth with your hand and hold it shut for a few moments. This way, your cat will swallow the pill if he hasn’t already.

If you can’t get any of the above techniques to work, you can always go to a local pharmacy and get them to a make flavored gel or liquid using your cats medication. You should use this as a last resort though, as it can tend to get expensive.

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Comments

Try

Try wrapping the pill in a little cream cheese or even butter. It hides the taste of the medicine, which is usually bitter, helps conceal the smell, which does not smell like food and makes it slip down easier when you poke it in the back of their mouth. Works really well for dogs and as well as anything can for cats.... Angel

LOL

Haha, that's really funny! I can truly relate to the 'retaliation' part!! Nick

Nick

My cat now hates welding gloves...

We have one cat, Jack, who is more of a fur person than a cat, who now hates my welding gloves. He was never cooperative if we had to pull a tick off of him or give him his anti-flea/tick drops anyway, so I had to tag-team him with my wife. First, I put on my welding gloves (extra thick, insulated, and they go up to my elbows), pick up Jack (holding him at arm's length to avoid his Wolverine-like claws), hold him down on the couch, and allow my wife to do what needed to be done. In addition to the distrustful glaring that you mentioned, I had to hide the gloves in a drawer because Jack would attack them or take them somewhere to chew on them in retaliation. He's mellowed out a little over the years, but he still knows when I bring those welding gloves out.

Haha..

Hi, Thanks for your comment! I couldn't agree with you more! Talk about the scratch marks I had when trying to give them whole pills sometimes! LOL. Cats really do have their own personalities and in many ways, they behave like humans! ...and no one is ever in charge of them! Nick

Nick

LOL, This brings back memories

How right you are about a cat being a force of power when trying to give it a pill. You have presented some excellent ideas in how to deal with the problem. Cats are often finicky eaters anyway. Sometimes they like the food and sometimes they don't. If doing the by hand method one needs a thick long sleeved shirt and probably some thick gloves and usually it takes two people to handle this one to hold the cat and the other to give the cat the pill to the back of the throat. Know this as well using the plunger or hand method your cat is going to hate you for a couple of days and feel ruffled and abused and look at you with reproachful mistrusting eyes. They will forgive you in a day or two usually though and be back to curl around your legs or lay purring in your lap. Once in awhile though and this happened twice with us. Especially if they are male cats. If they are highly offended they might look elsewhere for a new home and people. Our big orange cat Oscar moved out after we had to give him pills. We tried the wet canned meat method he was suspicious and would not eat it. All the other cats wanted it though. We had to resort to the hand method and he fought and squalled and got away once but finally we got the pill down his throat we had to do this about six times because he had been injured and need the meds. Well once he was well his royal highness moved across the road and up the hill to a neighbors and this was two years ago. He comes around occassionally but he won't come inside anymore and if we try and catch him he runs away. The neighbors don't mind they are an elderly couple that dote on him and so we know he is happy and fed and they are happy. We had another cat named Nicco that did this too about 12 years ago he didn't like being man handled even if for his own good and I think partly why he moved out too was my son and his wife and little girl came to live with us for awhile and he was not fond of a two year old child trying to pack him around. Anyway he moved a mile away to an elderly ladys home. Cats own you, You don't own them. LOL

Celanith

Hello everyone, stop and set awhile.

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