Need tips on giving liquid meds and pills

[jazzcat]

Okay I'm strung out. I'm not used to medicating cats and now I have two to drug up.

I can only get the Prozac for Rocky in liquid. I've beat my head against the wall trying to get a pill but at his small dosage it's not possible so I need tips on giving him the liquid. It smells and taste like mint and it kills him. I can't hide it in food and it takes both of us to squirt it in his mouth but I usually miss and end up scratched. It's very traumatic for Rocky and making him paranoid, poor guy. Wrapping him in a towel just adds to the stress. Please give me some tips and suggestions. We can not do this every night for the rest of his life!

Scout is on Clavamox twice a day until Monday. I had been putting her pill in the middle of a soft treat but she refuses to eat that now and rejects all treats. I tried canned food but she eat around the pill and she freaks out when I try to stick it down her throat. I'm afraid the stress of doing that will make her pee in the floor more. Aside from pill pockets what can I do? I'm afraid she won't eat a pill pocket now because she's rejecting all treats.

Richard and I are both shell shocked along with Scout and Rocky after tonights medicating. I think we need Prozac.

[kuhio98]

I was just researching this for a friend who is about to lose her fingers trying to pill a German Shepherd. The dog has to take the pills without food, so they can't hide it in meat or cheese.

I think this pilling device (half way down the page) looks promising. Your fingers are out of harms way and the plunger shoots the pill to the back of the throat so it's harder for them to spit it out.

http://www.vetmed.wsu.edu/ClientED/cat_meds.aspx

[Emeraldgreen]

Maybe you could take the mint flavoured Prozac to a compounding pharmacy and have them mix it with a beef or chicken suspension. You might be able to sneak it into wet food after that. But if you do have to squirt in in his mouth still, it won't be as minty and offensive and might go better.
For the past month I've had to give a liquid med to Jimmy that is very bitter. He hates it. What I did was put down some food and let him eat it and then about half way through, I quietly sneak up behind him and kneel down with him between my knees. I quickly stuck the tip of the syringe in the side of his mouth and shot it in. He hated it but it worked. It got to the point where he'd keep looking up while eating trying to track me. lol but I was too sneaky for him.

There is an injectable antibiotic that is in the Clavamox family called Convenia and costs about 30.00 here in Canada. It is equivalent to two doses of Clavamox a day for 2 weeks and is in one single shot. Maybe you could ask your vet if Scout would be a candidate for that? That would reduce her stress level.
If your vet doesn't have it, they could borrow it from another clinic. (my vet did this for us because they had never had this in stock because it was so new but now they keep lots in stock).

[Taz_Zoee]

I have the pill plunger like in the link Kuhio posted only it's much longer. It was still difficult to pill Taz with it. But I'd secure him under my arm (either sitting on the ground or have him on a table) use one hand to open the mouth and the other to stick the plunger in. I gave him meds twice a day for about a week and I only lost two pills. One he wouldn't swallow and it got all mushy. The other he bit it in half. But once it's in his mouth I'd hold his mouth closed and rub his throat and/or nose to make him swallow.
The girl at the vet showed me how to do this with the most difficult resident cat and she was an angel compared to Taz.

Sorry I have no suggestions for the liquid. I've always just put it in tuna, but if it's minty smelling that could cause problems.

Good luck and stock up on band-aids.

[Medusa]

The pill popper just never worked for me. And squirting the liquid in the side of the mouth is more helpful than straight in because sometimes if you squirt it straight in, it goes to the back of the throat and gags them; too much to swallow at once. W/a pill, if you can manage to bend the head back far enough, you can pop the pill right at the back of the throat and it immediately causes them to swallow. Then I massage the throat a little to be sure that the pill went down. Sorry that I can't be more helpful. I know it's tough pilling a cat. Thankfully, most of mine are easy but if the meds are nasty tasting, it's a challenge. One word of encouragement, though: it's more stressful on you than it is on the cats. They do like to be dramatic at times and they're good at it. They convince us that they're going to be scarred for life. After a while, when they see that it's part of their daily routine, they may still hate it and you may have to outsmart them in order to catch them, (Yodie and I play this game every night) but once you do catch them, they'll resign themselves to being pilled. Hang in there.

[Moesha]

Do you think Scout would take a liquid better than the pill? My vet always gives me Clavamox in liquid form.

[GILL]

The only way I've found to pill a cat is;
Supplies:
1. large fluffy towel
2. lots of band-aids.
3. a full bottle of scotch
Wrap cat in towel, hold on table with one arm and body, pry mouth open and pop pill in.
Retrieve pill from table. Repeat procedure until pill dissolves, spread pill in cats mouth.
Wash your blood off arms and fingers, apply band-aids and drink scotch.

You can use the same method to inject liquid meds in a cat mouth. Just have plenty of paper towels for the meds that are spit out.

[critters]

Why is the compounder making it minty???!!! Ask for fishy instead, and try it in Tuna Select. As for the pill, I'd crush it or soak it in a drop of water until it goes to mush, then do Tuna Select. I have only 1 monster who will refuse meds this way, but the problem is if they won't eat it all. I use just a ball of Tuna Select, a tablespoon or so, so they're likely to finish it.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE the mortar and pestle set I got from Amazon!! The little bitty one is PERFECT for smushing pills!!!!

[Freedom]

I have never had much success with the pill popper; and I never have luck with liquid formulas either. This is just meant to sympathize, been there, done that!

Here is the best solution I have:

I sit in the recliner with the cat in my lap. Wedge the cat in between me and the armrest. The cat's butt is up against the back of the chair so she can't squirm out that way.

Wrap my left arm (I am right handed) around the cat, hold front paws down, squeeze cat in to me.

Using right hand, holding pill, squeeze jaw open just in front of the joint, and push pill down cat's throat.

Hold cat, pet her, offer a treat to "wash it down," basically trying to convince the cat this was "fun" so she will leave with a happy feeling for the next time.

In between pills, sit with the cat like this in the chair peroidically so she never knows when it is pill time. And stroke, offer treats, try to get her purring, so it is a fun thing.

Best wishes. It is not fun, not easy.