Need help with pilling Ripley please

[jazzcat]

Auggie - thanks for the link. That may be a good alternative to try.

Nepeta - thank for the links for the pill pockets. I think I will order some chicken flavor for him.

Barbara - garden gloves, I love it! I never thought of that. We haven't tried the between the knees thing yet like you and Lorraine but I'm going to. With garden gloves, a towel and using Phred's pill shooter tips it might work.

There is also the liquid on the fur trick!

I knew my PT Pals could help me with this. You all are brilliant!!

[jenluckenbach]

Another think you could attempt (instaed of the peanut butter) is processed cheese like Velveeta. YES, you would still need to get it into the back of his throat (because if he licks at the cheese he will taste the pill), but it should make it slice down better and the initial taste should be that of the cheese.

Give it a try while you wait for the pill pockets to come.

[Lizzie]

Oh goodness! do I know the foaming at the mouth problem. It starts before you have even started to open the cat's mouth and is so excessive that it covers their entire jaw, their front and the carpet. Then it's next to impossible to get anything into the mouth because they are pushing it out with the saliva so getting it to the back of the throat is well nigh impossible. I have to do my pilling alone and I've ended up in tears of frustration and fear.

I've done two things to avoid pills. One is to get the medication put into a gel that can rubbed inside the ear - though that might not be possible with antibiotics, and the other is to switch to injections. I know that sounds awful, and it's certainly not stress free but it's much faster than fighting to get something into a cat's mouth. You just lift up the flap of skin at his neck, choosing a slightly different site each time, and basically it's the same as sub-q fluids. It can take seconds to give an injection so although there is a small amount of pain, there is far less stress and aprehension.

Barbara - you made me laugh so much with the garden gloves (I've used those too, the ones I use to prune roses) and the ice-cream spoon!