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

[beloved-77.livejournal.com]

Okay, I had to give my old cat pills every day for years. As she got used to certain methods, I had to try different tactics:

1. Towel method--As described above, wrap the cat in a towel, blanket, etc., so that just her head is sticking out. Hold her underneath one arm. If you're a righty, under your left arm. If you're a lefty, under your right arm. Hold the pill in your preferred hand. With your pointer finger and thumb on the other hand, squeeze the sides of her mouth from the bottom to get her jaw to drop. Pop the pill into her throat from the side of her mouth. Stroke her throat until she swallows.

2. Water--I know, it seems so obvious, but I've never had another cat owner use water to help the cat swallow. I use an eye dropper or the needleless syringe that you have with her liquid medication. Just rinse it out first. Then, after you've popped the pill into her throat, squirt the water in. She's forced to swallow the water, and the pill goes with it. This is also helpful if the pill has a bad taste for her.

3. Pill shooter--This is the best thing by far. Snickfic described it above. There's a rubber tip on the end and a plunger at the back. Push the tip against her teeth until she opens up. Then just shoot it into her throat. She might gag a bit, but don't worry. I got mine from my vet for a few bucks.

4. Liquid meds--If all else fails, ask your vet if they can have the pills converted into a liquid. Mine sends it out to a lab. It's expensive, so I'd use it as a last resort.

Use any combination of these methods, and she should be good :-) I'm also experienced in kitty IV's, teeth brushing, nail clipping, ear cleaning, nose drops, eye drops, ear drops, cysts, those stupid head cones, behavior modification, and pet stains. :-P

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I just tried the water method - no dice. I only have two hands, so with one to hold her mouth open and one to drop the pill in, I couldn't get the syringe in her mouth fast enough to wash it down.

The throat-stroking thing didn't work, either. She just blocks her throat with her tongue and refuses to swallow. She also makes lots of chomping efforts to get the pill out, which ended up crushing the pill, and the contents of the gelcap got spat out on the floor.

Guess I'll be off to the pet store tomorrow to buy the pill shooter.