How to give your cat medicine- ideas for my friend David aka TRex
Dear David,
I just read about your kitteh travails via your blog. I know how much you love those kittehs. I haven't had to give cats medicine, but I thought your cause called out for a response asap. I looked at various YouTubes, and also did a bit of the google. Info follows, first starting with two YouTubes. The first seems like it might work. Very clever, in fact. The second, maybe not, because you have a smart kitteh or two.
As to the first method, the Human says: "Having spent years observing others force feed their cats tablets, often wrestling them to the floor and getting bitten, I thought I would share this simpler method with those who don't want to fight their cat." Direct link is here (1:30) This was only posted 4 days ago on YT, btw.
The following is a more conventional method. Kitteh might already have learned to resist, so this is fwiw. Direct link is here (1:13)
I also did a bit of googling, and found these interesting ideas, which are from the comments at this link. I am repeating the comments in full, because they don't seem to have permalinks.
And, here's another link that details the traditional "put it down the throat" method, but has this interesting alternative idea:
(oh, p.s. site also mentions Pill Pockets. hahaha, TRex)
HTH. ymmv. xxoo VG
I just read about your kitteh travails via your blog. I know how much you love those kittehs. I haven't had to give cats medicine, but I thought your cause called out for a response asap. I looked at various YouTubes, and also did a bit of the google. Info follows, first starting with two YouTubes. The first seems like it might work. Very clever, in fact. The second, maybe not, because you have a smart kitteh or two.
As to the first method, the Human says: "Having spent years observing others force feed their cats tablets, often wrestling them to the floor and getting bitten, I thought I would share this simpler method with those who don't want to fight their cat." Direct link is here (1:30) This was only posted 4 days ago on YT, btw.
The following is a more conventional method. Kitteh might already have learned to resist, so this is fwiw. Direct link is here (1:13)
I also did a bit of googling, and found these interesting ideas, which are from the comments at this link. I am repeating the comments in full, because they don't seem to have permalinks.
One Human says: "I think it's very important to try and find "peaceful" alternatives to giving cats medicine rather than going for the standard "force their head back and squeeze it down their throats" method. The vet I saw did just that, but when I tried to repeat the procedure by myself, it failed miserably - my cat wiggled out of my grip, and we both got pretty spooked. What I tried next worked like a charm.
When she came out of hiding, I put a little drop of the antibiotics on her paw. She immediately proceeded to lick it all off. Furthermore, she didn't seem too disgusted while doing so. Little by little, I emptied the dropper on her paw, as she diligently licked every little bit off. By the end, she even started licking the dropper itself! The next morning, I didn't even have to put anything on her paw. She just started to lick the dropper and and I squeezed the medicine bit by bit as she swallowed."
Another Human says: "I rescued a severely neglected and abused cat from the local Bengal rescue group. When I got him, he had a horrid URI (upper respiratory infection). Seeing as how he had never had human contact, I could not lift him onto a table, let alone hold him there, force his mouth open, and make him take meds. But I took a page from my ferret book.
Baby food. Baby food stinks. It masks the smell of the meds, and tastes great to the cat. Get chicken or turkey baby food, and put a few spoonfuls into a shallow dish. Mix in the liquid medicine. Place the dish on the floor for the cat to explore, preferably in a bathroom where the other cats won't bother him for the baby food. The cat will smell the baby food and eat all of it, and he can't help but to consume the meds too. And there you go, you now have a cat that looks forward to medicine time and who doesn't have to be traumatized with forcing anything down his throat. And in my case, he learned I was the bringer of yummy things."
And, here's another link that details the traditional "put it down the throat" method, but has this interesting alternative idea:
"To give your cat a pill, crush the pill and mix it with with cream cheese. Wipe the mixture onto the cat's front leg. He will instantly lick it and therefore consume his medication."
(oh, p.s. site also mentions Pill Pockets. hahaha, TRex)
HTH. ymmv. xxoo VG
The first YT? Been there, tried that, had kitteh snarf up the treats and spit the pill on the floor. Same thing with Pill Pockets — they work once or twice, even when disguised in other treats, then kitteh learns to extract the pill from the pocket, eat the pocket and deposit the damp, half-dissolved pill on the floor. The second YT procedure has worked for me with every cat I've ever had but one. Pita (acronym for pain in the ass, but an absolutely sweet thing despite being a pita) would try to turn herself inside out when faced with medication or a manicure...
ReplyDeleteThe baby food idea intrigues me, and the next time one of my kittehs needs to take medicine (Victoria just finished hers yesterday) I'm going to give that a try. Thanks for posting that suggestion!