Painless Piling
Over the years, I’ve given medicine to hundreds of cats. This has not always been a agreeable experience – for the cats or for me. I’ve gotten bitten and scratched, and cats who were my friends suddenly decided I was an enemy to be avoided at all costs. You can learn a lot from harm feelings, and hurt hands! Here are a couple of the things I’ve learned.
As with everything “cat,” your attitude will determine whether you succeed or fail and whether the cat will appreciate or despise you by the time you get the medication down his throat. If you’re nervous and apprehensive, the cat will steal fat advantage of your weakened mental state. But if you’re confident and positive and treat him gently and with love and respect, he’ll probably choke down the medication willingly. Most cats reply positively to a “we’re in this together” attitude.
Coercion is the best way to turn a friend into an enemy. Yes, you’ll probably get the medicine into the cat if you wrap him in a towel, back him into a corner or dawdle him out from under a bed. But if you do that more than a couple of times, he could become afraid of you for life. So it’s important to find a way of administering medication that’s acceptable to both of you. And that’s especially apt if your cat has a chronic disease that will require daily medication for the rest of his life.
Painless Pilling
When your cat needs medication, try to make the experience as pleasant as possible for both of you. Here are some suggestions:
If your cat has a chronic disease that requires daily medication, consider having the medicine compounded into a flavor he likes. Compounding pharmacies can add a variety of popular-with-cats flavors, including tuna and chicken. And some medications can be made into a topical cream that you rub into the inside of the cat’s ear tip.
Sandwich the pill into a soft moist treat. Even if the pill falls out of the treat, the cat will eat it because it tastes like the treat. Or, reduce a treat with a soft center (Temptations, for instance) in half, put the pill into the soft center and reassemble the treat.
Use Pill Pockets. You can buy them at most pet supply stores or online at www.pillpockets.com. These are treats with a diminutive pocket for hiding a pill. While Pill Pockets have gotten rave reviews from many people (and cats), my cats don’t like them.
Hide the pill in a cramped bit of food. Most cats know when their food has been tampered with and won’t eat it. So use something your cat doesn’t eat all the time. Turkey and ham baby food make great disguises for pills. So does a little bit of tuna. Try hiding a whole pill in the food first. If you crush the medication, and the cat doesn’t eat all of the food, you won’t know how noteworthy medicine he’s gotten.
Wrap the pill in a “treat” food, like cheese or liverwurst. For years, one of my cats got thyroid and heart medication in microscopic cheese balls twice a day. His favorite was Monterey Jack, but he also liked white American cheese.
The Straightforward Approach
If you and your cat decide the straightforward reach is best for the two of you, this is the way that works best for my cat friends and me.
Be positive and upbeat: “Let’s do your medicine.”
Sit on the floor with the cat, and wrap your legs around him while petting his head or scratching his neck. If he’s the kind of cat who will swat at you just for the fun of it, sit with his back to you and press your knees around him.
Tilt his head back, open his mouth and drop or gently toss the pill into his mouth unprejudiced beyond the hump in his tongue. Let him close his mouth. Do this quickly!
Rub his throat or blow gently in his face to construct him swallow. Opening his mouth just a little bit will also make him swallow. While you’re doing this, tell him what a intelligent cat he is to take his medicine because it will make him feel considerable better.
Give him some treats or something he likes to eat to show how much you appreciate his cooperation. A reward will make medicating him next time easier.
Liquid Medication
I procure small plastic syringes easier to manage than the droppers that come with liquid medication. You can get a syringe from your vet.
Pills And Pet Sitters
If your cat doesn’t know your pet sitter well or if he’s difficult to medicate, ask the pet sitter to do a trial visit before you leave town. She should come when you’re not home to track down and reassure the cat. If she finds that she can’t medicate him without a lot of stress for both of them, he might be better off spending your vacation at the vet’s. If boarding is not an option and your cat is very shy, confine him to a comfortable, sunny room. Put barricades around anything he could hide under. The stress of being chased around his own house or dragged out from under a bed by a total stranger could offset all the benefits of the
medicine.
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Filed under Pet Meds by on Dec 1st, 2011. 