Kitty advice?

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This is the first time I've ever had a sick kitty before, and we are having some difficulty with taking our meds.

We took a trip to the vet this week and Chelsea has an inflamed bladder. They gave me two kinds of medicine - a pain reliever in liquid form that comes in a syringe, which I'm supposed to put on her gums, but it's okay if she swallows it; and pills for the inflammation. We're doing fine with the liquid - I kinda just stick it in her mouth and squirt and hope for the best. The pills, on the other hand... the first two she took no problem, I just gave them to her with a little bit of tuna and she gobbled them right up. But now she's caught on to my evil plan, and has started ignoring the pills and eating around them. I've tried just opening her mouth and sticking it in, but she's quicker than me and spits it out before I can get it to go down. I thought about mashing them up and mixing them into her food, but I don't know if that's advisable if they're time release or whatever.

I know there's a lot of pet people on my flist - anyone have tips or tricks to get them to take their pills?

Comments

[snickfic]

Alas, I don't know what it's called, but a friend of mine has this oh-so-useful gadget for giving kitties pills. It's plastic, about the length and diameter of a pencil with a push-button at one end. You put the pill in the gadget, stick the end in the kitty's mouth, and push the button, and the kitty doesn't even have time to spit the pill out.

So, hmm, you might try looking for it at Petco or someplace like that? Good luck with the poor sick kitty. :(

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That sounds pretty nifty. Perhaps I should invest in one of those things.

And the kitty is actually doing much better. Not sure if it's the meds (what I've managed to get into her), or if it's just going away on its own. My parents' cat had the same thing, and never got any treatment - they took her to the vet, who said all her tests were normal (of course, they also gave my mom the wrong cat so I'm not ruling out a lab results mix-up) - and she was fine after a couple weeks.

Well, except for the peeing all over the sofa thing. But we're trying to avoid that.

[gabrielleabelle.livejournal.com]

A pill shooter! Was gonna suggest that.

Hold the cat, push the shooter against their teeth. When they open their mouth, shoot the pill in, hold their mouth closed, and rub their throat until they swallow.

They'll hate you, but it'll get their meds down.

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I'm considering it... if I don't have any better luck tonight, I'll be making a stop at the pet store tomorrow.