Giving Meds - Any suggestions

[berylayn]

As many of you have read Lilly is going through some tough times right now. We have some pain meds and antibiotics to help make things better for her until her biopsy this Wed.

Lilly is our cat who does not like to be held and is very timid as it is. So giving her meds is not something we have been looking forward to. The first two days were ok, I got a couple scratches but not major.

Today after about 15 min. of running around in circles I finally caught her but as my husband was about to feed her the meds she bit me! I feel terrible.

What can I do to make this process smoother? Can I try to squirt the meds in her food (they are liquid). Or will that cause them not to work? So far today Lilly has not had her antibiotic at all and she's had her pain meds one of the two times she needs to take them.

Help!

 

[beandip]

I hate giving liquids. You have my sympathy and vibes.

I think if her mouth is sore because of her illness, I would hesitate to try putting the meds in her food...you wouldn't want her to have another reason to go off her food, besides the pain / discomfort.

I don't think the medicine's effectiveness would be any different in food, but she will have to eat it all...and that's usually the problem. Enough food to hide the taste, but not so much that she won't finish all of it in one sitting.

If you do that, perhaps try something really different that she doesn't normally get to eat. Meat based baby food (no onions) or some smelly tuna cat food.

Cats sense or don't sense certain tastes differently than we do, but I always try a little drop of the medicine to see just how bad it is, to help me make a decision on how to handle it.

I guess you probably already know this, but her mouth doesn't need to be open for liquids. Get the dropper in the side of her mouth, in the gap behind the canine teeth. I just gently prod with the dropper till I find the spot then squirt. She'll try to throw her head to the side away from the dropper, so I have had some luck bracing the side of kitty's head in the palm of my hand, for stability....hopefully without getting bitten. Sorry you're going through this.

As far as positioning, I like to kneal on the floor, feet crossed under/behind me to eliminate backwards escape...kitty between my knees facing the same direction I am. If one of you can hold her in that position, while the other puts one hand on the side of her head...then squirt the meds in on the other side. "Scruffing" helps if it's done right...you have to have a real solid hold or it just makes it more difficult.

Contrary to what others may advise, I like to avoid tricking the cat whenever possible. Sometimes and with some cats it's unavoidable. But if the medicine follows some sweet talk and petting, then the cat will be suspicious every time there's sweet talk and petting. I like to establish that when I come to kitty for petting, there won't be any nastiness (from kitty's point of view) following that. This comes in handy if you anticipate having to medicate her for very long. I understand that might not work if she's hard to handle anyway. I hope that makes sense.

Best of luck...I hope Lilly's tough times will be improving soon.

 

[berylayn]

Thanks for the suggestion. I guess its a bust for this evening. My husband is gone out with the guys. Unless I am able to snuggle with her later I doubt she'll let me near her again tonight.

Since we've had her the only way to catch her is by the scruff. She's way to squirmy otherwise, and even catching her by the scruff her paws go spread eagle and she starts the thrash.

Her pain meds don't taste as awful so those have been easier for me to give alone.

I will do what you said and hold off on mixing the meds and food. I do see your point. I have been rewarding her with some canned food after the meds - I will continue doing that assuming I am able to get meds in again sometime soon!

Thanks again for all the support.

 

[beandip]

You're welcome, and I hope you have some success.

It may be worth the expense and trouble to look into getting a (different) antibiotic componded into a better tasting liquid. I haven't done that before, so I can't advise much else...but it may be worth looking into.

 

[jean44]

The advice you got from beandip is excellent.

Regarding a different antibiotic- ask the vet if there is a transdermal available that will work for Lilly. It's the only way I could administer an antibiotic to Palekana. Lilly just needs to hold still long enough for you to rub it on the inside of her ears.

Good luck. I hope you can find something that works. I know exactly what you're going through.

 

[hyacinthbucket]

Oh geez, I feel for you. We just went through this with our new cat who had a leg amputation.

Is there any chance you could get an injectable form of pain medicine? Our vet gave us injectable doses of Buprenex, and we found our kitty really seemed to prefer it to any form of oral medication (liquid or pill form).

Good luck with everything. This can be a very frustrating problem, especially when your kitty is not feeling well.

 

[batgirl2good]

I do what beandip says:


guess you probably already know this, but her mouth doesn't need to be open for liquids. Get the dropper in the side of her mouth, in the gap behind the canine teeth. I just gently prod with the dropper till I find the spot then squirt. She'll try to throw her head to the side away from the dropper, so I have had some luck bracing the side of kitty's head in the palm of my hand, for stability....hopefully without getting bitten. Sorry you're going through this.

As far as positioning, I like to kneal on the floor, feet crossed under/behind me to eliminate backwards escape...kitty between my knees facing the same direction I am. If one of you can hold her in that position, while the other puts one hand on the side of her head...then squirt the meds in on the other side. "Scruffing" helps if it's done right...you have to have a real solid hold or it just makes it more difficult.

 

[berylayn]

Lilly is actually on the oral Buprenex so possibly! Right now that one isn't as much of the problem.

Its the antibiotics that smell terrible, so I can only imagine how they taste. I plan to talk to the vet when I drop her off for the biopsy Wed.