Denamarin And How To Give Pill To Cat

[PollyJ]

After recently being diagnosed with acute pancreatitis and hepatic lipidosis the Vet recommended Denamarin for my cat. Has anyone had experience with this? Also, what's the best way to give a pill?
Thankfully my cat is recovering and as he gets better he is not happy with being fed. So he's not going to like taking a pill!

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

Denamarin is supposed to be given WHOLE, so unfortunately, crushing it up and syringing it into him with his food isn't a good option. As far as pilling a cat, I'm guessing he's NOT eating at all on his own, correct? You will need to open up his mouth and drop the pill in. Not an easy task, but there are lots of youtube videos that give great instructions on how to do it. Your best bet is to actually view them, or have your Vet show you and even have you do it with them a couple of times. We actually had a Vet Tech come over to our house and give our girl her Denamarin, because she had the jaws of a Pit Bull (even though she only weighed 5 pounds )

If your guy is eating on his own, you can use Pill Pockets or anything soft to hide the pill in and try to trick him into eating it. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Depends on whether your guy chews everything really well, or grabs and swallows.

 

[casportpony]

Here are a couple of videos:

 

[JMJimmy]

There are multiple techniques.

The simplest imo is the side pill. Lift the head with the left hand, put your right hand finger near the back of the mouth to get it to open, and drop the pill in the side of the mouth as the cat sticks it's tongue out. Then hold the mouth shut for 3-5 seconds while it swallows.

It's far less intimidating/dangerous than doing it down the front and sticking your finger in the cats mouth.

An alternative is to get a "piller" which is just a device that pinches the pill and lets you get the pill to the back of the mouth and lets you drop it without putting your fingers in danger. Less likely to be spit out than the side pill method but the cat learns what it is and to be afraid of it.

Always follow up with a treat/pets to help them forget the bad part of the experience.

The first thing I would try is feeding it to him though. Wrap it up in something like a small amount of cheese (dairy isn't great though just easy) or a piece of meat. If he'll eat it on his own you'll save yourself a lot of headache.

 

[PollyJ]

Denamarin is supposed to be given WHOLE, so unfortunately, crushing it up and syringing it into him with his food isn't a good option. As far as pilling a cat, I'm guessing he's NOT eating at all on his own, correct? You will need to open up his mouth and drop the pill in. Not an easy task, but there are lots of youtube videos that give great instructions on how to do it. Your best bet is to actually view them, or have your Vet show you and even have you do it with them a couple of times. We actually had a Vet Tech come over to our house and give our girl her Denamarin, because she had the jaws of a Pit Bull (even though she only weighed 5 pounds )

If your guy is eating on his own, you can use Pill Pockets or anything soft to hide the pill in and try to trick him into eating it. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Depends on whether your guy chews everything really well, or grabs and swallows.

Thanks for the reply and info. He is eating very small amounts of dry food and wet on his own but I'm also feeding him by putting recovery food in his mouth with my finger. He tolerates that well but since he's better I know he's not going to do well with a pill. He is drinking water on his own as well.

Have you used Denamarin with your cat?

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

Thanks for the reply and info. He is eating very small amounts of dry food and wet on his own but I'm also feeding him by putting recovery food in his mouth with my finger. He tolerates that well but since he's better I know he's not going to do well with a pill. He is drinking water on his own as well.

Have you used Denamarin with your cat?

If your guy IS eating a little on his own, then it's possible you can get him to eat something with the pill inside it. Does he have any favorite treats that he really likes that are soft? If there is anything you can think of that you can hide the pill in, then try it, even salmon flavored cream cheese might work...liverworst, soft treats, anything like that. But as I said, if he's the kind of cat who chews everything up, then it probably won't work.

Yes, we used Denamarin with our Callie (before she passed way). It works very well for cats with liver issues, so I would try everything you can to try to get it in him. Did you view the above videos? If you absolutely cannot do it, then see if maybe one of the Vet Tech's will come over and pill him for you. As I said, that's what we did...we just called around to different Vets in our area until we found a Vet Tech who lived a few blocks from us and offered her a few bucks for a side job

 

[Katiekat412]

If your guy IS eating a little on his own, then it's possible you can get him to eat something with the pill inside it. Does he have any favorite treats that he really likes that are soft? If there is anything you can think of that you can hide the pill in, then try it, even salmon flavored cream cheese might work...liverworst, soft treats, anything like that. But as I said, if he's the kind of cat who chews everything up, then it probably won't work.

Yes, we used Denamarin with our Callie (before she passed way). It works very well for cats with liver issues, so I would try everything you can to try to get it in him. Did you view the above videos? If you absolutely cannot do it, then see if maybe one of the Vet Tech's will come over and pill him for you. As I said, that's what we did...we just called around to different Vets in our area until we found a Vet Tech who lived a few blocks from us and offered her a few bucks for a side job

I was wondering if you can tell me anything about your experience with Denamarin? I’ve been treating liver disease for a year, an d bilirubin is looking bleak, but I’ve added this for s week. I swear she looks a little lesss yellow, but she still looks rough. Any feedback about how well it worked, how long it took, side effects, etc.
thanks!!!!

 

[marmoset]

When we brought in our 3rd cat he came to us with liver problems. We took him off the street and it appears that he'd been a recent abandon because he was a bit emaciated. Of course the first thing you do with a new pet is go to the vet and that's when we found his levels were off. Initially we thought hepatic lipidosis due to sudden decrease in food supply but as we continued vet care the mystery deepened. His liver wasn't repairing itself like normal so he went on chewable tabs of denamarin which he took for about 3 months along with other meds (bilirubin D sounds like it might've been in the mix) and gradually his levels came back down to normal and every year we test his blood and cross our fingers and anxiously await the results.

So far he's gone 2 years without a liver issue again. The scary thing is that the vets still could not diagnose the cause of the problem. They were scratching their heads and shrugging. As far as taking the denamarin it was no problem. The cat would eat anything-I mean ANYTHING! Then we dealt with his pica problem lol. But for medication purposes the pica disorder was a bit of a help initially.

 

[Antonio65]

Denamarin is supposed to be given WHOLE, so unfortunately, crushing it up and syringing it into him with his food isn't a good option.

My cat needed to take Denamarin-like(*) pills for a long time. The pills were too big for a cat, I called the manufacturer and explained the problem, and also asked why they do such big pills when they know that cats can't swallow them!
Anyway, they told me I was allowed to cut them in smaller parts and give them to my cat, and that the effectiveness of the pill wasn't dimished by being cut.
I gave my cat the pill for a couple of months and started seeing some improvements in her blood works, but I eventually had to stop giving her the pills because she was getting intolerant to the external protective film of the pills.

(*) These pills were an equivalent of Denosyl, which is no longer imported here in Italy. So the pharma factory, that used to import them, started making a similar pill to fill the gap. The name of these equivalent pills is BeSame, that is, in my opinion a wonderful wordplay... BeSame, can be read as "it's the same of the other ones", and SAMe, which is the active ingredient of Denosyl.

 

[denice]

I gave my cat Denosyl when he was recovering from Fatty Liver. The vet told me it was best if they were swallowed whole but they are simply too big so I cut them. It would be best to cut them into smaller pieces rather than grind them up so there would be some of the protective coating left. The vet told me the coating was so that the pills would dissolve in the intestines rather than the stomach.

 

[di and bob]

I pill several of my cats by taking a little bit of pill pocket and 'pasting' it to a piece of bacon. It may take a few tries but works. I have one cat that even the vet cannot pill. The ONLY way to pill him is to take the loose skin on the back of the neck and hoist his front legs off the ground. Then someone else has to open his mouth and put the pill in. This works best with liquids though. Please tell us if something works!

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

I was wondering if you can tell me anything about your experience with Denamarin? I’ve been treating liver disease for a year, an d bilirubin is looking bleak, but I’ve added this for s week. I swear she looks a little lesss yellow, but she still looks rough. Any feedback about how well it worked, how long it took, side effects, etc.
thanks!!!!

Do you know what the issue is with your little one's liver? Our girl had raised ALT, not bilirubin, and she would get an antibiotic along with the Denamarin. We never knew what caused the issue though, because she also had Kidney Disease so we didn't do an ultra sound of her liver because we knew we wouldn't put her through too much since she was already "end stage" with her kidney issue. As I recall, though, the Denamarin is a 28 or 30 day course. Jaundice takes awhile to improve. Our girl was not jaundice and as I recall didn't have any side effects from the denamarin. (It's been several years since she was on it)

 

[Aedrynn]

My cat was prescribed Denamarin and the smallest tablet Nutramax (the manufacturer) is still quite big for cats and small dogs. I called them and they said you can cut/crush the pill, if needed, but one of the ingredients can only be exposed to air for 20 - 30 minutes. After that, it's no longer effective. He said just make sure you administer the medication immediately if you cut/crush it. I am also seeing the same information on other site where people have had difficulty with this medication.

As such, I am just going to cut the pill in half from now on, maybe dipped in fish oil or wet food before I try to pill her. Probably make it taste better to her and help it go down. Worst case, crush into a fine powder, mixing water, and putting in syringe. I've had to administer antibiotics that way and, while she fights it a little, it works. Again, key is to administer immediately after cutting/crushing it.

 

[felinekiddos]

The syringe technique works great if you can crush the pill - I put a small bit of butter in the syringe, crush the pill in with some butter, and follow with a bit of just butter. If the butter gets too soft, put into fridge to firm up a bit, you don't want it melted. I insert into the side of their mouth.

The point of the butter at the end is to push the entire pill contents (mixed with butter) through the syringe. Worked on my cat that didn't like butter. They get a weird look on their face but don't spit it out.

 

[inkysmom]

My car is on a chemotherapy treatment at home for multiple myeloma (blood cancer that's also in spleen and liver but is almost gone after just three days of chemo). Problem is cats don't respond to chemo very long typically.
He gets two big pills daily, chemo which I can't touch without gloves, a little half cerenia for nausea, and liquid syringes of steroids for cancer fighting, Zofran for nausea too, and gabapentin for pain. All at night. Now lysine gel rubbed on his gums for antiviral because he's stressed and is congested plus I clean his nose. Mornings a syringe each of gabapentin and Zofran.
He hates me the poor little guy!

I have two pill guns or I'd never get the pills in him. The chemo pills are way too big for a cat and are capsules so he has to swallow. I get them in the back of his mouth with the pill gun then give him a syringe of the liquid meds to help get him to swallow. Nearly choked him tonight but usually it works fine. Pill gun with pill, liquid in syringe to chase it down, repeat til all is taken. Dodge the cuffs and sharp nails and teeth. Lots of pets and treats if he'll eat them.
Without the pill guns, no way would he take pills, he's not eating well enough to stock to a schedule. And he wouldn't eat the huge capsules.

 

[kmoulus]

I have been pilling my cat for about 13 years for cardiac disease, nowadays she takes five medications. In the early days, Speedy really resisted. After she got wise to Greenies pill pockets, I switched to capsules. You can buy empty gelcaps on Amazon or ask your pharmacist for some (I got them free!). Put the pill inside, grease up the capsule with butter and pop it in his mouth. Cats like butter. I used to have to cut the vetmedin in half to fit it in the capsule. Also, if the capsule looks too big you can trim it. I think there is an entire thread in this forum where people are discussing gelcaps for their cats.

The good news is it might get easier. I agree with the poster who recommended giving your cat treats after the pills. I do that and I now have Speedy trained to associate pills with tasty treats. No more gelcaps, she'll eat almost anything if it is stuck inside a Friskies Temptation or a soft treat. She resists only a little for the most hateful of her pills (plavix) because she knows good stuff is coming afterwards. She actually wakes me up in the morning demanding her medicine and yells at me if the evening does is late.

You can do it!