I’m bigger than my cat. Stronger than him. Smarter than him. But giving him a pill is a test of sheer willpower, and in that I am completely outmatched.
It’s like every cell in his body is repurposed into a perfect machine, the singular goal of which is not taking a pill. He becomes liquid when I try to hold him down, then instantly transforms into a spring-loaded pill shooter once I get his mouth open. One time, through incredible effort, I managed to do it without losing any blood. I watched the pill go down his throat. The next day I found it caked in his neck fluff, as though his body detected its presence and morphed around it, rejecting it at a cellular level.
He doesn’t need a lot of pills, but after years of blissful cat ownership punctuated by epic, disastrous pill-giving, the vet finally revealed that he could take liquid medicine from a little dropper. So that’s much better.
My vet ALSO took their sweet time in letting me know about liquid meds
He doesn’t need a lot of pills, but after years of blissful cat ownership punctuated by epic, disastrous pill-giving, the vet finally revealed that he could take liquid medicine from a little dropper. So that’s much better.
i remember my vet apologizing for not offering this sooner when she saw my bloodied and bandaged hands when my oldest cat needed pills.
it wasn’t all bad though; a part of me has happy to see such vigor and strength coming from my senior cat at a time where i thought that he was at death’s door. lol
The problem, at least here in the US, is that most times, they use pharmaceuticals designed for human consumption. They will either whole pill it, and wish you luck trying to administer it, or half a pill, etc. Charging new fees like medical care for a humans is their latest grift and they have that down, but the pharmaceutical end of it has not caught up. It will, I imagine soon, so they can complete their circular structure that mimics the healthcare system for humans, which is a HUGE money-making scheme of shit. It is why they now push and recommend getting pet insurance. See what they did there?
One time we had to pick up medicine for my wife’s cat at the human pharmacy, and the pharmacist confirmed with us that the patient’s name was “Sasha Feline”, because that’s what she saw in the system. But she pronounced it “fuh-leen”, like it was a person’s name. I don’t think she knew it was for a cat.
That became Sasha’s middle name after that.
🤣…priceless.
For anyone out there struggling with their cat during pill session:
- wrap it in a towel, like a cat burrito;
- hold the pill with your thumb and index fingers and use the middle one to open the corner of the cat’s mouth;
- it’ll open its mouth very briefly, during that time you’ll have to aim and let the pill go towards the back side of its tongue, near its throat
If you do it right, it’ll swallow the pill reflexively.
“Yees, yees, good nom, veery good nom, boiled chicken, mmm! Ignore the pill I stuck inside it, just eat it, yees! No! Nonono, don’t spit it o-oh, god damn it…”
We tried several of the pill pockets you can get. Our cats would eat around the pill and …there it be. I think they even sell pill shooters for cats that projectile fling them in the back of their tongue. Yeah, if that did happen to work, it would only work once for our cats.
When I read “pill shooters” I imagined a sort of NERF gun:)) That would be hilarious!
But, yes, it’s been a struggle every time. I did find, however, that one of my cats presented significantly less resistance if I’d imbibe the pill with some ham or salami (I’d just rub it on the meat for a bit), then feed it to her immediately after I’d give her a bit of ham/salami to whet her appetite and get her nommin’ thoughtlessly. She’d chomp the pill, then I’d give her another bit of ham afterwards, to keep her chewing and swallowing. Then the crying started, because no more ham. Only worked with the one, though (she was THE gourmand, and love-hated me because I refused to give in and overfeed her).
That was smart. I think we tried the meat wrapping but they wouldn’t have it. It was a nightmare whenever the DR told us they needed pills.
Thankfully, I’ve only ever had to dole out some periodic dewormers (the yearly “just in case” ones), and only when the vet couldn’t see us for that. It was an adventure every time, though!
Mum was a wiz at meat wrapping! I never understood what she did differently, but she was always one-and-done!
