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Post by Use Less on Oct 25, 2019 12:09:56 GMT
My cat Porky needs a thyroid pill twice a day. My strategies aren't working any more. I've coated them with butter or meat fat, wrapped them in something soft and tasty, used pill pockets, or pockets with treats stuck on. Being very careful about how I put the pill in the pocket doesn't make a difference now.
She isn't all that feisty at her age of around 19, but I really dislike putting her in a half-nelson to push the thing into her mouth, even with butter to help it slide down.
Your ideas? I'm adding a stop at PetSmart when I go to the city today. Without the med, she has a racing heartbeat. With only one a day, she was still losing weight. Thanks.
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Post by mzgarden on Oct 25, 2019 12:30:06 GMT
Wondering - is this a medicine that can be crushed before being taken (some can, some no).
If yes, could you crush the pill to a powder, dissolve in some kind of food or liquid she likes and have her take it that way? This is the way we get our barn cat to take antibiotics (ok'd by vet) - in her food.
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Post by Use Less on Oct 25, 2019 12:33:26 GMT
Wondering - is this a medicine that can be crushed before being taken (some can, some no). If yes, could you crush the pill to a powder, dissolve in some kind of food or liquid she likes and have her take it that way? This is the way we get our barn cat to take antibiotics (ok'd by vet) - in her food. I thought of asking that of the vet. There must be am odor that she dislikes, though, unless it's chomping onto the pill itself. She has become a fussier eater with age, too. Sits and stares at me sometimes, with two or three choices set out. Too bad our pets can't talk  |
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Post by Woodpecker on Oct 25, 2019 18:05:31 GMT
I give my daughters pup his pill everyday in a couple of raisins. Our pup will eat almost anything,except dog food  he's 15 years old now. I take one raisin push the pill into it and add another raisin or two on top and squish  Now your's is a cat, so she may not like raisins, but how about a small piece of cheese, with the pill inside it? |
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Post by shin on Oct 25, 2019 22:17:48 GMT
Rub a little catnip on the pill?
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Post by wildhorseluvr on Oct 25, 2019 22:38:58 GMT
Please do not feed raisins to dogs or cats!  They are toxic to both, but to dogs in particular, and as few as 10 can cause kidney failure! Grapes, chocolate, onions, etc. are also toxic. |
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Post by Woodpecker on Oct 26, 2019 0:07:40 GMT
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Post by Use Less on Oct 26, 2019 1:16:18 GMT
I knew about raisins, grapes, onions, but good to clue folks in. I bought more cat treats today: small bags, assorted flavors. I dipped the pill in butter and stuck a couple treats on it. She acted interested in the new flavor, so I'll give her that one only with her pill until she wises up, then switch off. We'll see. I think I'll get some fatty burger tomorrow, cook lightly, and try little "loaded" meat balls, too.
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Post by horseyrider on Oct 28, 2019 22:35:47 GMT
Use Less, I recently acquired a new baby kitten that showed up sick and snotty. I took her to the vet, and they prescribed oral antibiotics. Since my experience with pilling cats was analogous to stuffing a running chainsaw, I paid attention to the tech as she demonstrated. She placed the pill in a pair of long tweezers, scruffed the kitten, and popped it right down her throat. Kitten purred once she glucked it down. I have a set of hemostats that worked just as well. (FIL was a doctor; I ended up with a lot of weird things when he died.) I had no issues with pilling the kitten. She was a rock star, and she healed up great. She caught her first mouse at eight weeks old, and includes terrorizing my two German Shepherds in her job description. Yep; she's all that. She'd tell you so herself. Good luck with your cat. The old ones are the most dear, and caring for them is an honor.
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Post by mzgarden on Oct 29, 2019 5:09:58 GMT
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Post by Use Less on Oct 29, 2019 12:04:11 GMT
horseyrider, I am able to get a pill into Porky by hand w-o her taking my flesh apart, but she resents it Porky has gotten good at eating whatever a pill is hidden in, then spitting out all or part of her med. Rejects pill pockets now, even "empty". Yesterday I used a tiny bit of raw burger. I know there are folks here who do raw food for pets. I'm leery. mzgarden, I had a thing like that for my goatlings . I think I'll order one. Thanks! |
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Post by frogmammy on Nov 4, 2019 1:50:23 GMT
Put cat on lap, toss pill into back of throat, holding mouth closed, blow in cats face.
Mon
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Post by mogal on Nov 4, 2019 12:17:55 GMT
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Post by Use Less on Nov 4, 2019 12:30:42 GMT
Put cat on lap, toss pill into back of throat, holding mouth closed, blow in cats face. Mon I just don't like to manhandle her in order to do that. She is so old. Lately she's managed to spit the pill back out even after I do as you wrote. |
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Post by gracielagata on Nov 16, 2019 13:18:02 GMT
Use Less, Not a new way to give pills, but have you thought about having it compounded into a rub on? My childhood cat went into CRF that lasted some 7 or so years, which we treated with sub Q fluids and special food. But in the midst of it, as a side effect, she also went hyperthyroid. The vet didn't even have me attempt pills. She had a mail order compounding pharmacy make it into what was akin to a lip gloss tube that you twisted whatever amount of times it said to expose the cream on the tip, then rubbed it onto the inside of her ear tips, on the more-hairless parts. We wore gloves to rub it in for her. It worked great without exposing us to the medicine (same stuff used for humans, very bad to have it in/on your system when you aren't hyperT lol) and it kept us from having to hold down a small and going-frail 20+ year old cat. Good luck and love on that old little kitty! <3
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Post by Use Less on Nov 16, 2019 13:43:29 GMT
gracielagata, I have not heard of that. I believe there is a liquid form I could get from the vet. My sense is it's easily a hot mess. Some days I choose the right thing right off to wrap around her pills, and down they go. Some days not. She is fussier about what she will eat, too. I wish she could tell me, "That can, not this one." I maintained my dear old cat Spooky with sub-Q for CFD for four years. Usually OK, occasionally he just wouldn't. Or the needle wouldn't. |
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Post by gracielagata on Nov 16, 2019 14:16:26 GMT
Use Less, Yeah, I can imagine an unwanted liquid in the mouth might not go well. Especially so if it is a lot. The ear rubbed cream worked great because I would sit with a medical glove on and rub it into her ears afterwards, so it got absorbed nicely. And I hear you on the 'usually ok, sometimes he just wouldn't.' My girl was the same. I had to go out of town and asked my husband to have our neighbor come over and help him do it, as she was a vet tech, so could really help him to not hurt her. He decided to do it on his own. He got a bit rough with her fully arthritic body and she found some mega-strength somewhere and Exorcist-twisted her head around and bit into the meat of his thumb so bad he ached for days, if not weeks. We never really could get her to accept sub-q fluid treatment after that and she still lived some 3 or 4 more years. I had pretty much given up on the crap low protein commercial diet by then too. She got to eat most anything she wanted and tolerated. She lived to be almost 23 and was lucid, happy, mobile, and using her modified-over-time litter box until her last day when she woke up and couldn't use her back end. She had gone toxic we assumed, and knew it was her time. <3 
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Post by Maura on Nov 16, 2019 23:25:50 GMT
You can also break up the pill, add a little butter, and spread on her paws.
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he's 15 years old now. I take one raisin push the pill into it and add another raisin or two on top and squish 
They are toxic to both, but to dogs in particular, and as few as 10 can cause kidney failure! 
