Best tips for giving medication to anxious senior cat as peacefully as possible?

[hexevans]

Hi everyone!

(tl;dr: What are your best tips for giving anxious and/or senior cats their medication, down to the details?)

Since the death of my cat a couple months ago (I posted in the Rainbow Bridge forum, and was really touched by the kind replies you wrote), I decided I would try fostering for the first time. I pretty much almost immediately got a call asking if I could take in a 15-year-old cat, Callie, who was given up by her owner. She suffers from chronic pain and anxiety. She has kidney disease, arthritis from declawing () that impairs her walking, and is known to pee outside the litter box when stressed (her last foster parent returned her to the shelter after two weeks because of this). But after two days with her, it's clear she's an old and gentle soul who just wants love and comfort and dignity. I will post a picture of her below!

She was recently put on gabapentin (50 mg, twice a day). Aside from my best efforts to keep the environment in my apartment as peaceful as possible while she adapts, the gabapentin really seems to be helping her—she sleeps, purrs, enjoys some pets, and plays a bit, and no urination issues yet. BUT, I'm finding it a bit difficult to make sure she gets her full dose. Right now I'm using a pill-cutter to cut the gabapentin up into four pieces, then I kind of press it into her wet food. It's worked a couple times, but sometimes she still eats around it. I'm really resistant to using the pill gun; I had to use it on my last cat, and it was stressful, but at least we already had a relationship of trust established.

So my question is, what are your best tips for administering medication to anxious, sensitive cats? Do you cut the pill up? How do you mix it with wet food, or is there something better I can mix it with? If you use a pill gun, any tips on how to make that the least stressful as possible? (Also, side question: I've heard that sometimes cutting up the pill can make it taste worse—can anyone confirm that, particularly with gabapentin?)

Any collective wisdom would be deeply appreciated! Thanks!!

(P.s., I'm probably going to be making another post about caring for disabled senior cats. I really want her to enjoy her remaining time and hopefully match her with a loving forever home, but I think I need to learn some more. This is my first time fostering, and caring for a senior.)

 

[Furballsmom]

Hi,
I can't help re; the gaba although it's possible churu treats could help, or Beechnut meat baby food to hide it in, but also have you tried Cat Music for her? What stage is her kidney disease, how is that being addressed?

 

[FeebysOwner]

Hi there! You are so wonderful to be taking care of this sweet little girl! And, she is a darling!

Gabapentin isn't the best tasting, cut up or not. I would try some Greenies pill pockets and/or Tomlyn pill masker. These can be found in most pet stores and on many pet web sites as well, even Amazon. Feeby (18+ yo) gets a pill that I cut into halves to make it smaller, and then place each half into one-half of the pill pocket, as they can be cut in half too. I do that because if it is too big, she will avoid eating it. The pill masker is a paste that can be made any size you want it to be, and it also forms about a pill.

They can be given to her separately or with a bite of her food before giving her the rest of the food as a meal. I have even rolled the pill pockets into a bit of Forti Flora probiotic (more of a flavor enhancer than a probiotic) on those occasions when Feeby is hesitating a bit about eating the pill pockets or pill masker.

There are also a ton of different lickable treats you could try as well, but I would start with one or both of the above first, just because the lickable treats could take on the taste of the Gabapentin.

 

[silent meowlook]

OMG!! She is adorable.
Gabapentin comes in a capsule form of 100 mg. You just open the capsule and sprinkle it onto 1/4 of her food. Mix in and feed her. Then after she eats that, give her the rest of her food.

 

[Katead]

Towards the end of his life, my cat Jack was on gabapentin three times a day. The vet prescribed a liquid form that was bacon flavored - I squeezed it into a bit of creamy treat, you know the type in a lickable tube, and he loved it. He had a few other meds, one was liquid I hid in a tiny bit of cat milk, and a pill one I would cut in half and squish into small chunks of tuna or chicken fillet. Inaba make tuna and chicken fillet treats that he loved. I made the chunks as small as possible so he was more likely to just swallow them without noticing. I found it much easier to hide liquid medications, so perhaps your vet could switch you over from pill form.

 

[Timewarpcat]

The Royal Canin pill assists are much more eagerly accepted by my 2 cats on meds than Feline Greenies pill pockets of various flavors. You can get them at the vet and they are a little more expensive than Feline Greenies. When the cats are super fussy, I press in a small crunchy treat or two into the soft mass of pill pocket, or press in a little leftover bacon. Been using this for over 6 months, still working.

 

[hexevans]

Hey everyone, thanks for your replies! In reply to Furballsmom, I have indeed tried cat music, and it seems to help her! In regards to the stage of her kidney disease, I will call the shelter and ask. She's been using the litter box well and not leaking as she walks around, so that's good so far.

This morning I attempted the pill gun approach, and as predicted it did not go well! She bit my partner and I, not hard enough to bleed but she clearly was very unhappy and I felt like it damaged the trust we've been building. So no more forced pilling attempts.

But I'm so grateful for the other suggestions! When I call the shelter I will ask if they have the liquid or capsule form of gabapentin, because right now she has the tablet form which seems the hardest to administer. I will try the Greenies and Royal Canin pill pockets as well. The medication is clearly wearing off and anxiety is going up, so hopefully I'll find a solution soon.

Thanks again!

 

[Furballsmom]

 

[FeebysOwner]

Maybe your cat will like it, but I tried bacon flavored liquid gabapentin (and 4 other compounded versions), and Feeby hated it/them even more so than the unflavored liquid gabapentin. Gabapentin is usually manufactured with a sweetener in it - both pills and liquids - why I don't know, but even the compounded ones contain it. I am sure it is supposed to help mask the true taste of gabapentin, but I found it does nothing of the sort. I always taste test Feeby's meds so that I have a clue about what it might taste like to her. And, I have not found any meds that she has taken that taste as bad (to me) as Gabapentin. That is why I suggested small pieces of pill pockets or pill masker in the hopes that your girl will do what mine does and eat them whole so that there is no pill taste involved.

 

[treeclimber]

Another vote in favor of pill pockets - even if she won’t eat them, dropping a pill pocket in her mouth is much easier than a pill (won’t stick to the tongue instead of being swallowed) and masks the taste of the pill so she may not object as strongly.

Also, for a declawed cat with litterbox issues, try replacing your cat litter with sand. You can get nice clean “play sand” meant for childrens’ sand boxes at a store like Ace Hardware or Home Depot, and it’s very cheap. Sometimes those poor little declawed toe-nubs are sensitive to walking on litter that’s like tiny rocks (would you rather walk barefoot on cat litter or sand?) and the cat may find a litterbox full of sand to be more comfortable. You’ll have to change the box more frequently, but fortunately sand is cheap. You’ll also get sand tracked everywhere in your home, but sand is much better to clean up than cat pee.

 

[hexevans]

FeebysOwner, I think your idea of cutting up the pill pockets is a great idea! That will be the first thing I do when the pet store re-opens tomorrow.

With all your suggestions, I feel much more confident we can find a peaceful solution for her! This girl deserves a lot of peace.

In reply to treeclimber, they mentioned it was possible Callie was peeing on the last foster's bed because the litter hurts her paws, so thank you for the idea of using sand instead! There is a Home Depot close to where I live. I wonder if a softer litter like sWheat scoop would work as well.

 

[Furballsmom]

 

[treeclimber]

In reply to treeclimber, they mentioned it was possible Callie was peeing on the last foster's bed because the litter hurts her paws, so thank you for the idea of using sand instead! There is a Home Depot close to where I live. I wonder if a softer litter like sWheat scoop would work as well.

Probably yes on the other soft litter - just try stepping on it yourself and see how it feels to you. And watch out for anything with pieces that could get stuck between the toes, some cats don’t like that either.

There used to be a company that made a very fine-grained crystal litter that was like sand instead of tiny rocks, but I haven’t been able to find a litter like that for a long time now.

The two most common quantities sand is sold in are 50 pound bags and bags that are labeled 0.5 cubic feet (weighs 8-9 pounds). If you get a 50 pound bag, it’s easier to take the litterbox to the sand and scoop sand into it than it is to move the bag around. There are also sands sold for different uses - “play sand” meant for children is probably the cleanest/safest option for a cat.

Sand does clump, but the clumps are fragile so scoop gently. Odor control isn’t great so you’ll need to change the box more often, but 50 pounds of sand usually costs less than $10, so you can afford the more frequent changes!

I don’t know why, but some cats really love sand. Part of the reason they make covers for childrens’ sandboxes is that even outdoor ferals who has never used a litterbox in their lives find it an incredibly tempting place to do their business.

 

[FeebysOwner]

If you do try sand, do so with a second box and leave the 'old' litter box as is. She then has a choice, which could help with her not rejecting the 'new' stuff and going elsewhere. Btw, I have had 3 different cats who were declawed and none of them had issues with typical clumping clay litter.

After numerous attempts with joint supplements, which Feeby ended up rejecting them all, she is now on Solensia monthly injections for her arthritis, and after injection #2 (she has now had 3), her limp went away and I think she moves about more freely than before. Joint supplements that many have success with are Cosequin or Dasuquin. Feeby was on Glyco Flex Plus for over 3 years and I do think she benefited from it, but for whatever reason she decided she no longer liked the taste (it has green lipped mussels in it). Then, I tried the other two mentioned above and she absolutely refused to eat them.