Catching the cat twice a day, tra la!

[Helen_B[$]]

Well, it has finally happened. We are treating one of our thirteen-year-old cats for hyperthyroid. This means that we must scoop him up twice a day and shove half a pill down his gullet. So far, this takes two of us. Marty has much less practice a scooping up and medicating recalcitrant, pissed-off small critters than I do (years of allergic, sick kids, lol), and is finding the process surprising, and not in a nice way. Fortunately, it's Critter, the 'fraidycat, and not Chaz, the dark destroyer. (When Chaz is pissed off, he's pissed off. Usually on my new recliner. Can you say "Urine Off" spray?)

Any suggestions for making this less of a struggle? Critter does not like being picked up for anything, much less for a pill. I know there must be something else I can do that would help, besides closing all the doors to keep him out from under beds. Thank goodness the pills are tiny. They could only be better if they were tiny capsules.

[mjfrombuffalo[$]]

Astro's been taking them for over a year now. It's gotten easier, but when I'm out of town, Hubby has to hide the pill in a soft cat treat, or grind it up and put it in a tablespoon of gooshyfud to get Astro to take it.

[pluckyduck]

We have a friend who is a compounding pharmacist and also an animal lover. (Horse farmer, too, animal rescuer - he's where we got Baxter. )

Anyway, he says that he can compound any (did he say any or most, I don't remember right now) cat medication to be topical. Rubbed into the ears instead of taken in pill form. Catch the cat long enough to rub the ears and then let him go.

He compounds for some local vet practices. We said buddy, you should take this online.

[eris esoteric]

Hmm... I'm not seeing much of a difference between catching the cat to stick something in his mouth and catching the cat to stick something in his ear.

I would crush the pill and mix it in with tuna, baby food or gooshy food. Too many LONG memories around here. If going directly for the down-the-throat method, definately be generous with treats/pettin's/catnip/other reward afterward.

[emeleel]

You could also buy these:

Greenies Pill Pockets for Cats - New Kitten Center - PetSmart

[jgibson2[$]]

One of the advantages of being allergic to cats is that I only have to shove pills down the throats of dogs. Trust me, 90 pounds of pissed off German Shepherd isn't much fun either.

Treats worked for us. We had to do some serious experimenting to find one she couldn't just lick off the pill and spit the pill out. The current dog loves cheese and takes her pills fairly well. With the German Shepherd, the ONLY food we found that she'd eat, pill and all, was marshmallows. I don't think that's going to work with the cat, though.

[eris esoteric]

jgibson2 said

With the German Shepherd, the ONLY food we found that she'd eat, pill and all, was marshmallows.

I would laugh, but Pixie gobble peas like they're going out of style.

[mtbat]

if the cat will eat a treat, cats are not like dogs, they don't necessarly eat whatever you toss at them. My mom was able to fool her dog for years with hamburger and cream cheese...

I would advise the towel method-wrap cat in towel to imobilize and then administer meds.. this works well for bathtime too. For the CaT!

[mjfrombuffalo[$]]

Two of my cats cry for treats if I'm holding the treat bag. One has no idea what a treat is, even when I put it in front of him and he watches the other cats eat them (which is a good thing, because that's the fat cat and he needs treats like I need a second head).

[jgibson2[$]]

mtbat said

if the cat will eat a treat, cats are not like dogs, they don't necessarly eat whatever you toss at them. My mom was able to fool her dog for years with hamburger and cream cheese...

Cats ARE like dogs. Dogs will not necessarily eat whatever you throw at them either. OK, some dogs are stupid, but I had a dog that if you put the pill in peanut butter and stuck it to the roof of her mouth would lick all the peanut butter off the pill and spit it out. Ditto for cream cheese, hamburger, liverwurst, and if I put it in the middle of a piece of hotdog, she could get it out of there too. Unlike MOST dogs and cats, this dog could gag up a pill you shoved 3/4 of the way down her throat -- and NOBODY in the house but me could get close enough to her to do that. She recognized me as the alpha bitch, but only to a point -- and that point was medication. OTOH, marshmallows worked.

[Helen_B[$]]

The "Greenie Pill Pockets" sound like a possibility. I can look in Pet Smart next time I'm near one.

As things go, Critter seems to have gotten used to being chased down and picked up, because after several days of this he is much easier to catch. We have a system worked out. Marty cuts the pill in half, gives me half a pill, and goes and finds Critter. Marty sits down on the couch holding the cat, I raise Critter's chin really high, pop his jaws open, and toss the pill down his throat. As long as it lands on the back of his tongue, we're good. I'm glad I figured out the sitting down part, since it was really easy to give Critter a pill when he was being held by our 5 foot nothing DIL, but not so easy when he's being held by a nervous 6ft plus Marty, who keeps bobbing up and down, hoping to make things easier for me. Whew. Glad we don't have a German Shephard.

[eris esoteric]

If it makes you feel any better, we're chasing Pixie around to get at her other end. We've got her weight stabilized, she isn't gaining any. Vet says she could stand to lose, but given her aggressive nature when food is involved, that's not going to happen anytime soon.

Unfortunately, she's a leeetle too big to actually clean her butt properly. The vet pointed out that she could start having issues "back there" between hygiene and scent glands. So, every other day, we're chasing her around so I can clean her butt.

Things I've learned... point the claws OUT, away from my body when securing her.

[Helen_B[$]]

Suddenly, my problem seems very small. Now, we just have to work on giving Critter the pill single handed, and we're good. It helps that he seems to be feeling better already!

[eris esoteric]

Thank god and all her furry little critters for kitty wipes. That's all I'm sayin'.

[magenta321]

The only thing that seemed to work with my dog was a piece of american cheese, folded up and molded around the pill. He'll gulp them down that way. Kitties probably couldn't take something that big all in one shot though.

Frasier always gets fat when he has to take pills and this is why.

[Helen_B[$]]

Our cats have almost never had "real" food, so don't know if cheese would work. Maybe a little cube of real cheese would be the best bet, since it's smaller. I could just stick the pill in. Might be worth a try.

Tonight Marty wasn't home until after midnight, because he was picking up Jeremy and Chris from the airport and their plane was 4 hours late, so I decided to try dosing the cat myself. I caught Critter where he was stretched out across the back of the loveseat, pinned him with one arm, got his jaw open, and popped in the half a pill. If it worked once, I can do it again, lol.

[eris esoteric]

All three of my girls are fond of cheese as well. Stranger is... well, Stranger, being stranger, is more than fond of it. She actually has a favorite kind of cheese. The boyfriend blames me and my cheese snobbery for this. I have no idea why.