found a new DIY treat to pill cat (suggestion) - metronidazole

Jaylin A

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So after going through the hell that is Metronidazole, running low on pills after many failed attempts and trying every "trick" online (textured towel mat, throwing it straight in food, attempting putting it in mouth, etc) I decided to try my own.

I simply took a strip of unsalted (REAL) butter and wrapped the half pill in it. I molded it around the outside with my fingers so it would cover most of the pill and somewhat melt to make it easy to stick on food-- you can put whatever your cats eats on it and it should stick fairly well. I made a small ball of both dry food and wet food on the butter and threw it in breakfast and dinner. he ate it up with no reaction! what makes this work well is the butter doesn't really make the pill "wet", which intensifies that horrible flavor if you throw it in wet food. it disguises the scent and taste along with the help of the food extremely well, especially since the butter is very distracting like with fish or coconut oil (a good alternative, but may melt a lot faster) and they lick their chops a lot. make sure to not give them so much food that they get full and don't eat the treat, you can give the rest of the food after they eat it!

if you're also at a loss with metronidazole and can't handle forceful pilling (me either!), I suggest this. saves a lot of wasted pills if you were to just throw it straight in food and your cat avoids it/spits it out a lot
 

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Jaylin A

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Glad you found a method that works for you :)

If your cat catches on and starts to refuse the coated pill, try one of these tricks:

Pilling Cats: Must-know Tips For Hiding Pills – Cat Articles
The Best Pill-taking Secret I Know...
Pilling Cats and Dogs Safely
How We Give Our Pill Hating Cat A Pill
Getting Cat To Take Pills... Post Tips Here.

Long term medicines such as metronidazole can be compounded into another form such as a transdermal gel or flavored chew treat.
Thanks for these as well! Very good to know. I know some people have mentioned pill pocket products being overpriced where they are from, some even costing more than the medicine! So I figured I would share a costless and very easy to make at home version
 

IndyJones

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Kabby gets violently ill if I give him dairy. I have I can't believe it's not butter in the fridge. I sometimes have to give him pills if his arthritis flares up. He is 13.
 

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Does lactose free butter exist? Or would I can't believe it's not butter work?

These are:


Butter spreads and margarine are not true butters.
 

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If your cat likes the pill pockets but you just find them to be too expensive, get the dog ones. They're often cheaper for the amount that you get. The chicken flavor has the same ingredients as the cat version (just in a different order). Break up the treat into smaller pieces and put part around the pill. Roll the additional pieces into little treat balls. I can usually get at least 2 extra "treats," sometimes 3 depending on how big the initial pill was. Put them on the floor in order of pill, treat, treat, etc. My cats gobble up the pill one because they're so excited for the extra treats. It's worked on all 3 cats I've tried it with.
 
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Jaylin A

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Does lactose free butter exist? Or would I can't believe it's not butter work?
I'm not an expert but I wouldn't recommend "I can't believe it's not butter", it's not exactly the greatest for us either. It uses plant oils, but a good alternative is coconut oil, even just boiled chicken, salmon, etc (avoid unhealthy processed meats, seafood high in mercury, etc). many cats love it, down side is it'll melt fast and especially in hands so you'd need to keep it cool. its also a healthier alternative than giving your cat a fingertips worth of butter everyday. someone mentioned peanut butter but it's not good for cats either, plus it's very sticky
 
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Jaylin A

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If your cat likes the pill pockets but you just find them to be too expensive, get the dog ones. They're often cheaper for the amount that you get. The chicken flavor has the same ingredients as the cat version (just in a different order). Break up the treat into smaller pieces and put part around the pill. Roll the additional pieces into little treat balls. I can usually get at least 2 extra "treats," sometimes 3 depending on how big the initial pill was. Put them on the floor in order of pill, treat, treat, etc. My cats gobble up the pill one because they're so excited for the extra treats. It's worked on all 3 cats I've tried it with.
Good to know! personally my cat is a picky eater and oddball, he isn't as huge a fan of treats as my other cats. I found the butter/coconut oil/etc to work well for his picky eating because I could throw it in and have a higher success rate of him not smelling it as much or tasting it right away
 
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