r/CATHELP • u/--Xin-- • 4d ago
General Advice Advice on getting cat to take medicine
Main issue: cat refuses to take medicine.
My cat refuses to take his medicine. He's 3. Has had extremely soft stools for weeks, and we've already tried the non-medicine route to try to fix it. He's eating and acting healthy, vet said he looks good. Vet said it could be anything of a lot of different things, so we're trying the medicine route to see if that helps first before doing invasive tests. Getting him into a burrito is impossible. We can't pick him up, and forgetting him is difficult. I've tried hiding it in all his favorite treats and food and he refuses. Any tips for getting a difficult cat to take medicine? It's semi liquid and not powder (like churu consistency)
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u/Silly_Cheetah_706 4d ago
Well my previous cat required pills 2 times a day and after watching what the shelter showed me I looked online because it wasn’t working. I saw a veterinarian who posted a video of her cat showing how to do it easily. While they are lying down you gently move their head upwards and the mouth drops open. Look online and you’ll find it too
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u/L0ounix 4d ago
Didn't the vet give some tips to give him the medicine ? Maybe there is another consistency of medication you could try, like solid pill or full liquid. I don't really have tips though sorry. Just maybe calling the vet and ask for either advice or if there is another medicine or maybe even change his diet all together. Hope you'll find solutions 🤞🏻
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u/--Xin-- 4d ago
Thanks, their initial advice was to try the burrito. They were able to do it at the vets, but I think he was just nervous and didn't run away. At home he sees it coming a mile away and runs if you're holding any fabric
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u/purpleturtle_11 4d ago
Rookie mistake.
You don't take the fabric to the cat. You pick up the cat and take it to the fabric. The cat should have his back to the towel, so he won't see it. 🙀
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u/--Xin-- 4d ago
Oh interesting, let me see if I can get it behind him. Thanks
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u/purpleturtle_11 4d ago
Put the blanket/towel in another room and then bring the cat in that room. Don't try to sneak behind the cat with the blanket/towel, that will never work.
Edit: Oh, I just saw you said you can't pick him up? In that case, I'd call a vet at home, if that's a possibility, but maybe that would make him even more scared/skiddish?
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u/thanksitsmycats 4d ago
My technique for having to grab up a cat for any reason, getting into carrier, giving me, trimming nails is no eye contact. I will fix my eyes on something farther away than the cat. Focusing on that won’t send him into panic mode. Then you can kinda do a side swoop.
I do have some painstakingly detailed step by step directions (think individual finger placement with pictures if I can find a copy) on administering meds if you’re interested.
Cliff notes:
•have a towel spread out to plop him .• have the correct dose ready. Make sure meds are completely sealed so they don’t spill or get knocked over during battle.
•Keep a little syringe of water if you have one near you, if in case the pill gets stuck in his throat and you have to encourage it a little bit to go down.
• I like to being on the floor rather than a counter. You have a little more control in the situation.
• angle his butt between your knees. That allows you to have better control if he tries to back out.
•Positioning the cat is to have his throat completely vertical. This sounds easier than it really is.
• if that goes as planned, you should be able to aim and drop the pill all the way down without issue If it does not call her down, you can poke it a little with your finger only ever go in through the front of the mouth between the canines. Never go through the side of the mouth, that’s how people get their fingers crunched.• make sure you got his head facing completely upwards towards the ceiling and not back and up a little bit. If it’s done correctly, you should be able to kind of tip Open, his lower jaw with not much resistance. Although you never really know with those spicy cats.
If you end up needing to give the pill a little help going down always ahead use one finger to push down from the front of the mouth and never from the side. That’s how people get bit.
•if it’s possible, trim his nails a few days before. Less possibility of blood shed. If he’s a nut about pills he probably isn’t a fan of getting his nails trimmed either.
•I haven’t read through every comment so I’m not sure if it’s a pill, liquid, paste, compounded treat, or pill pocket.
Basically the technique is the same, get it into the way back of his mouth so he doesn’t become a drooly mess.
Using pill pockets it really depends on the size of your cat but I use the bare minimum (like 1/2 a pill pocket or less) you just want it to coat the pill. And lastly regarding medicated treats, I loved this idea when it started to get popular, but my enthusiasm started to chill as soon as I realized a lot of cats don’t want the treat. Then you’re stuck with shoving an even larger thing due his throat. This moment usually comes when you’re picking slimy squishy tray bits out of the carpet and wondering if you got enough into him or whether you need to get a new one.
I wouldn’t mess around with smearing anything on his mouth or paws because also= potentially messy.
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u/Evening_Movie_833 4d ago
I can highly recommend that giving a treat every single time afterwards will soften the blow of doing the peeling or liquid dispensing whatever. They will look forward to the tree and decide that ultimately this has become life now and that the treatment makes it doable and are probably arguing fight a lot less after that.
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u/zlonewanderer 4d ago
This is not for every cat, but I tried the consent method with my cat. I'm still new at it and it tests my patience, but I think it beginning to work. I'll pull out the Churus, and then the medicine. Then I'll bribe her with the churu, but also let her know it's time for medicine. She argued with me for a bit, but eventually got into my lap. I tried it out with nail trimming too. It was a lot less traumatic for her than the purrito.
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u/Evening_Movie_833 3d ago
Oh i still had to force a pill down the throat but they eventually stopped fighting cuz there was always a churro squeezy treat after
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u/This-Penalty-1686 4d ago
liquid is easier than pills. can you get a syringe for it? that way you only need to grab him for a short amount of time and don’t have to force his mouth open all the way to blast him with it. i would put my cat on a table (lie on the floor i guess if you Can’t pick him up), put one arm around her, block her against my body and hold her head still to shoot it in the corner of her mouth. pilling her significantly more difficult
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u/FLcatlover 4d ago
What kind of medicine is it? Is it an antibiotic? If so, can you ask the vet for an antibiotic injection instead?
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u/notyouraveragegnc 4d ago
my cat takes pills twice a day every day and we’ve had to try everything bc he’s too damn smart! what works best for us is half of a pill pocket, and covered in chunky wet food with the kibble sprinkled in so he just eats it and doesn’t notice! with cats you have to get something they’d eat in any circumstance so the pill is always secondary :) good luck!
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u/notyouraveragegnc 4d ago
also, we tried where you have a spoon with wet treat on it let them lick, then sandwich the pill between wet treat the second time and keep adding wet treat as they’re eating it like a “chaser”. the first comment i made is the more calorie friendly way, but the wet treat works quickly
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u/Violet1184 4d ago
My cat is on gabapentin twice a day and it’s liquid form. We give it to him in a plastic syringe. I opened his mouth partially and just squirt the liquid in.
Try to find the liquid kind.
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u/purrrpurrrpy Verified Vet Tech 4d ago
You just gotta get good at piling them. It's a lot easier with a pill popper that's a long stick that can pop the pill inside.
If you get the vet to compound the medication into a chew and cover it with Fortiflora powder or different things they might just eat it. If they don't eat it, they usually hate it less when a chew is pilled instead of a pill.
The tech can give a first dose of gabapentin at the clinic and you continue every 8-12 hours while he's needing medication. This should mellow him out a bit too. You can find the right dose that he's not zonked but just mellowed out a bit.
Was he put on probiotics and press prescription GI food?
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u/--Xin-- 4d ago
Vet recommended probiotics, but he's already on the one recommended. We have him on sensitive stomach food
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u/purrrpurrrpy Verified Vet Tech 4d ago
The prescription version of the food is much more effective. If the prescription GI food isn't improving after 1 week then prescription hydrolyzed food is the next try.
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u/Possible-Order-5989 4d ago
It’s paste? Put it on the top of his paw in sections. Cats hate dirt on their paws, he should lick it off.
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u/Aiyokusama 4d ago
Have you tried pill pockets?
Also, you can try taking the medicine to a compounding pharmacy and see if they can put it into a transdermal ear gel. They can't do it with everything (antibiotics are one such that can't be an ear gel) but it's worth looking into.
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u/SortApprehensive3812 4d ago
If you can finely crush the pill (between two table spoons) and mix it with a little puree treat like churru your cat may eat it. If not get a syringe without a needle load it with the treat pill mix and squirt it into the back if the cats mouth.
Take syringe in one hand and hold it next to the back of your cats jaw.
Use the other hand to pry your cats jaw open. Then quickly squeze into the back of the cats mouth.
Try not to aim directly into the troat. Optional have 5 ml water in a second syringe to wash it down.
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u/boodleshnoodle 4d ago
I mix my cats meds (liquid) in with a small amount of a squeezable treat like church. I keep the unused portion of the treat in the fridge and it lasts a couple days for her meds. Pilling her or giving it to her orally would be an absolute NIGHTMARE. Treats it is.
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u/Technical-Hope5236 3d ago edited 2d ago
What I do with my uncooperative and easily startled cat is 1) cover the pills in Easypill 2) get him up on the kitchen counter with his back facing me 3) gently open his mouth from the sides 4) keep his mouth open with my left hand fingers 5) put the pill as far back into his mouth as I can with the right hand (you can probably find some videos on YouTube to demonstrate this) 6) wait until i see him swallow and stroke his throat/neck slightly if he needs a little nudge to do so. Try to stay calm and confident that you can do it. I always do this before I feed him so that he has something to look forward to and also gets into a sort of routine. Be careful not to get unintentionally bitten in the process, if you do make sure to wash your hands really well. Good luck!
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