How Do I Worm Half Feral Cat

[moaning minnie]

Can anyone help I have a half feral little cat who can be very affectionate but when it comes to picking her up and holding her she freaks out she needs worming I got some worming granules to mix with her food but she wouldnt touch it there is no way I could hold her to give her a tablet and am stuck on what to do now would be glad if anyone has any advice.

 

[Columbine]

Hi, and welcome to TCS

What food did you mix her wormer with? You need a really stinky and irrisistibly yummy food to sneak wormer into. Sometimes the best options are 'human' food. Canned tuna (in spring water, NOT oil or brine) is a favourite with many cats, as are other stinky fish like canned sardines or mackerel. Plain meat baby food is irrisistible to many kitties too. It helps if they're hungry when you feed them too - my ex semi-feral girl hates being pilled, so I give her her supplements in her first meal of the day. The hungrier the cat, the less picky they'll likely be Sometimes adding a topper like bonito flakes or crumbled Purebites-style treats can help too.

Failing that, I'd try the pill with Greenies pill pockets, or other malleable treat that you can mould round the pill. Lightly buttering the pill before hiding it in some tasty morsel can help keep the medicine-y smell and taste locked inside too, which also increases the chances of her eating it. If you chose the treat method, offer several treats, so ahe doesn't automatically make the connection of treat = pill in future. Hope some of this helps
Pilling Cats: Must-know Tips For Hiding Pills

 

[moaning minnie]

Hello thanks for the advice I will give it a go to say my little cat had such a bad start to life when we found her she was eating bird suet pellets and now she will only eat one brand of cat food and it has to be fish. I think I will try her with some sardines and hope she will eat it I put treats ontop of her food this morning to cover the worming powder and she lifted them all off with her paw when they had all gone she walked off

 

[Columbine]

It helps to mix the powder thoroughly into the food - I've yet to meet a kitty who would eat medication-topped food! (and apologies if I've misunderstood you ).

Poor little baby, having such a rough start in life My girl had a rough start too, and I care for a semi-feral at a local farm (where I keep my pony) who was surviving by stealing horse feed before we started feeding her Its so heartbreaking what some kitties have to go through. Your girl is very lucky to have found such a wonderful mom

 

[di and bob]

Break the pill in half and put each half deep into a small piece of sardine. Cats usually gobble their food with out really chewing when they are hungry, so make sure she is. Powder I would mix with a SMALL amount of tuna juice. Then feed normally after that is gone. I get wormer as pills (drontal) and break them into smaller pieces and then take a very small piece of Greenie's Pill Pocket for cats and 'cement' it to a piece of bacon, wrapping the bacon around it. It makes a pea sized treat that I have never had a cat refuse yet. I gave pills to a cat for 8 years that way, bacon rules!

 

[kittychick]

Mackerel has worked with every feral we've ever wormed. As has jarred Gerber baby food -- - but HAS to be Gerber Stage 2 Chicken with Chicken Gravy (I think it's actually now called "Gerber 2nd Foods Chicken and Chicken Gravy - - - just please only use this one flavor - - -many have onions or garlic, which isn't good for kitties - - Beechnut does make a similar flavor, but I've never had any luck with it). And whichever you use - - mackerel or the Gerber Baby Chicken - warming it ever-so-slightly enhances the smell, thus enticing the cat to gobble it down so quickly that they don't have time to realize that something a little different might be in it!

 

[shadowsrescue]

I have found using Chicken flavored gelatin capsules helps so much. I put the tablet or powder into the gelatin capsule and wrap it in something yummy. I have used cream cheese, pill pockets and now I have found the most wonderful thing, bacon flavored pill masker it is incredible. It is like play dough. It just wraps around the pill and then I can place it into the food or even just give it as a treat.

I order the chicken flavored capsules from Buy Wholesale Pet Capsules - Pet Capsules Suppliers & Manufacturers | Capsule Depot They have lots of flavors which really helps to mask the taste.

 

[maggiedemi]

What is the name of the de-worming powder?

 

[houseofnine]

I would ask vet for liquid wormer. There is the one they give to kittens, I think it's Strongid, and it tastes like bananas, so they don't totally hate it. We had to give a stronger one to our feral who had lungworm--I believe it was Panacur. We mixed it into fish food and she ate it. =) Best of luck.