How To Give Liquid Medicine To A Skittish Cat

katiesperson

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We have a very skittish 5 year old brown tabby named Brook who has developed asthma. At today's vet visit our vet prescribed liquid prednisone. I thought it would be a liquid I could mix with Brook's wet food or put on a treat, but the vet said she probably wouldn't eat it because she can smell the medicine in it. It's nearly impossible to get a hold of Brook once/month to trim her nails so I can't imagine how I can capture her every day to get her to take the liquid from a syringe. Even worse, she hides from our cat sitter and I don't think the cat sitter will be willing or even able to get a hold of her to give the liquid when we are away this weekend. I would cancel the trip but it's non-refundable and my husband and I really need this time away after a very stressful summer.

Do any of you have ideas on how I can get her to take the liquid in some type of food or treat? I think if I can't manage a way to do that, she won't be able to get the medicine.
 

LTS3

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Can you call the vet and ask for suggestions on how to give the liquid? I know there are members here who give liquid pred. Here's a thread that may be helpful: Masking Smell Of Prednisolone Pill Or Should I Try Liquid?

Prednisolone is a similar steroid to prednisone. My cat takes prednisolone for his IBD and asthma.

Will your cat take pills? Ask the vet if you can get the pred in pill form. Then use Pill Pockets to hide the pill in. Any pet store sells Pill Pockets.

Since the pred is for asthma and you'll likely be giving it for awhile, ask the vet to have the pred compounded. Wedgewood Pharmacy has prednisone available in several forms including a flavored chew treat Prednisone Medication & Information for Animals, Wedgewood Pet RX, Wedgewood Pet RX The capsule might work, too. You would just pull the capsule apart and sprinkle the medicine directly into canned cat food ((stinky seafood or gravy based work well), mix in, and feed.
 
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katiesperson

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She wouldn't ever take a pill either because the problem is getting a hold of her. Once I have a hold of her, she gets so scared that she will be really docile. I need a way to get the medicine to her that doesn't involve holding her. I will check into the treat from Wedgewood. Thank you.
 

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If it is pill form you might be able to hide it in a pill pockets treat. You can try mixing it in with some liquid from a Fancy Feast Broths or fish pudding paste. They might be strong enough to mask the flavor.
 

LTS3

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If you use a Pill Pocket with a pill, you just give it like a treat. Or put the covered pill in a bowl with some tasty canned food. I just put my cat's dough covered pred on the floor and he gobbles it up.
 
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katiesperson

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Thank you for the suggestions. I have ordered some chicken flavored capsules and pill pockets from Amazon, thank God for same-day delivery! The vet wanted to try the liquid so we can easily and accurately adjust the dose depending on Brook's symptoms. We're hoping this is a seasonal issue that will clear up as the weather gets colder (we live in Chicago) and then she won't need as much or any medicine.
 

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Just to advocate more for the pill form- I give my cat prednisolone for IBD in the pill form. I just put it in a little ball of her wet food every morning & night, and she rarely notices it. She also hates liquid medicine & it would be a struggle to give it to her every day, but the pill has worked great!

If you do end up having to stick with the liquid medicine, I could manage to get it into my cat by placing her on a blanket & swaddling her in it, then getting on the floor on my knees & kind of placing her between my knees with my feet crossed behind me so she couldn't wiggle out from behind. Then I'g gently hold her chin up & place the syringe just in the side of her mouth, & just try to get it all done in one sitting (as long as the amount is small enough that can be swallowed in one sitting with ease). Sometimes it took a few tries to get all of it in, but after awhile of doing it every day, this method worked well, even if she was squirming like crazy. You can look up lots of videos online to get some tips too!
 

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Skittish cats are a huge challenge whenever you need to do anything to them. I struggled for a very long time with my skittish female. I didn't want her to be traumatized and go into hiding after I did basic hygiene things with her (brushing teeth every 2 days, nail clipping, cleaning ears, etc.)

One thing I did that helped was to train a release command ("All done!") and give a reward after the task was finished. After I say "All done" I don't look at her and just leave her alone. She's learned whenever I say "All done" it means that I won't try to grab her again, which has given her a confidence boost. I still have trouble grabbing her in the first place, and usually have to snatch her while she is sleeping. She also will not let strangers near her. But she no longer hides after tasks are finished, and doesn't feel threatened when I need to do hygiene because she understands the 'schedule of events,' so to say.
 

Wile

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When you are away this weekend could you put Brook in a room with a cat tree and all her other furniture, but without a space she can hide in? That way your sitter can find her for the meds.
 
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katiesperson

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Thanks for the suggestions. The release command is a good idea. I usually reinforce her with brushing after I have to do something to her that she doesn't like. I've been working on training her to let me pick her up and hold her and then brushing her when I put her down. I'm afraid that holding her and forcing liquid down her throat will set things back to her running away and hiding from me constantly. We've had her and her brother/littermate for almost 3 years and she has only really started to trust us in the past 8-10 months.

The sitter is my 16 year old niece who has never had a cat of her own (her dad is allergic). Even if we did trap Brook in one room, I don't think my niece could do it since Brook is so squirmy and skittish.
 
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katiesperson

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Thanks for the link, I will check it out. We have switched to a silicone litter but that doesn't seem to have helped. With Brook it seems like mold is the biggest trigger because it is worse on rainy/humid days.
 

PushPurrCatPaws

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... 5 year old brown tabby named Brook who has developed asthma. At today's vet visit our vet prescribed liquid prednisone. I thought it would be a liquid I could mix with Brook's wet food or put on a treat, but the vet said she probably wouldn't eat it because she can smell the medicine in it. It's nearly impossible to get a hold of Brook once/month to trim her nails so I can't imagine how I can capture her every day to get her to take the liquid from a syringe. Even worse, she hides from our cat sitter and I don't think the cat sitter will be willing or even able to get a hold of her to give the liquid when we are away this weekend. I would cancel the trip but it's non-refundable and my husband and I really need this time away after a very stressful summer.

Do any of you have ideas on how I can get her to take the liquid in some type of food or treat? I think if I can't manage a way to do that, she won't be able to get the medicine.
... The vet wanted to try the liquid so we can easily and accurately adjust the dose depending on Brook's symptoms. We're hoping this is a seasonal issue that will clear up as the weather gets colder (we live in Chicago) and then she won't need as much or any medicine.
My cat also takes some prednisolone for asthma/allergies. I'm in the same boat as you only in that I wish I could give her liquid Pred because it can be more accurately dosed, but my cat will not let me use that liquid, no way, no how, no matter if a pharmacy might compound that liquid into whatever flavor of deliciousness. The liquid ends up all over the squirming cat, the front of my shirt, and on the floor.

If you've just gone to the vet today, and you are going away this weekend coming up -- when was the last time your kitty had her most recent coughing/asthma attack? Could you discuss with the vet if, in your immediate situation, your kitty can handle the starting of Pred once you get back from your weekend trip? (This may not be possible or best for your kitty, but it's an idea.) Or can you ask the vet if you can dose at the outset this week at every other day (today, Friday, and Sunday when you get back) then go to daily Pred after your vacation? Many asthmatic cats can dose with every-other-day Pred once they have been stabilized, so maybe your vet has some thoughts as to how you can handle this upcoming week and weekend, with the skittish cat and the wild card of having a cat sitter.

As far as whether dosing pill Prednisolone or liquid Prednisolone, when I tried doing the liquid version for my cat, I also had on hand the pill version. The compounding pharmacy and my vet said that, in essence, the two forms --liquid, pill-- that my vet had prescribed were the same strength, and interchangeable. I could try the liquid... and if it ended up on the floor and if, basically, the cat ingested practically nothing, to try the pill version within a kitty treat/pill pocket for that dosing time. You need to run that idea by your own vet and follow your own vet's instructions only.

I am lucky that my cat does use pill pockets, she essentially swallows them whole with not much chewing. In that manner, she does not taste the Prednisolone contained in the pill pocket. Occasionally, she will really chew on a pill pocket and it definitely dissuades her from wanting that medicine. So, the trick is to coat the Pred pill in a "yummy covering" but one that is not extra moist, as you do not want that pill to dissolve and "taint the treat" with Pred's nasty taste! Sometimes I also have to coat the pill pocket itself in a dusting of crumbled freeze-dried treats like Vital Essentials Duck Liver treats. She eats it right away when the pill pocket is also disguised!

And the links about the various forms of Pred that LTS3 LTS3 gives are a great resource.


--edit: One other note... I always give the Pred at the same time frame each day (per vet's instructions), and I give it at a meal time. My cat is offered the Pred with its treats FIRST, and only after she eats it, does she get one of her favorite meals. In that way, I've basically trained her to do a certain pill pattern whenever I need to pill her. Which is very handy and reliable.
 
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katiesperson

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The vet wanted to start with a high dose and then taper. Brook has never had a full-on asthma attack, just fits of coughing. She got a steroid shot about 5 weeks ago that stopped the coughing fits, but the past week we have heard her starting to cough again a few times/day (it's been rainy and warm) and so I took her back to the vet today and got the liquid pred. I can ask about the every other day for now until we get back. I agree we will need to give her treats with med first and then her beloved wet food only after that. The trick is keeping her brother away from the treat while she eats it. I guess he will need to get a treat without meds to keep him distracted.
 
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katiesperson

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I wanted to come back and report on what we ended up doing with Brook to thank everyone for their suggestions and so that someone else with our problem might benefit. I called our vet and explained that we weren't able to find a way to give the liquid med to Brook without getting a hold of her and forcing it into her. Brook had been hiding from me all day at this point because she was terrified of me giving her the medicine. That couldn't continue, so we needed another option.

Our vet is awesome and she agreed that we needed to try a different approach. She had us stop trying to give her medicine or pick her up at all for a couple of days so that Brook would calm down. Then she had us introduce a bit of pill pocket to her without any medicine in it and see what she thought of it (she was suspicious at first but tried it and thought it was YUM). Then starting yesterday morning we gave her the pill form of prednisone wrapped up in about a third of a pill pocket (to make it smaller so she'd swallow it). I knew she'd be suspicious and wanted her to eat it quickly before her brother came nosing around so I rolled it in freeze-dried chicken treat to make it more irresistible. So far so good with this approach---she's taken her pill 3 times now!
 

LTS3

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Great :yess: You don't have to use the entire Pill Pocket:) Just use enough to fully cover the pill and roll in crushed treats if needed for an extra yummy taste.
 

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I used to have luck taking one empty pill pocket, or two, and breaking it in pieces and rolling up into a ball. Put the pill in another pocket, or break it in half and put it in a half of pocket for each half of pill, so it will be small. When your other cat is near and watching, quickly toss Brook a couple empty pieces of a pocket, and when she quickly eats them (so the other cat can't get them)toss a pocket with a pill in it to her. Then quickly toss her more empty ones, before she has a chance to sniff and realize there was a pill in one. This used to work great for one of our cats that could smell a pill a mile away, no matter what we mixed it in.
 

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While not a cat, my dog might as well be as picky as one. I cover his prednisone (he has a severe immune deficiency) with a little bit of butter or peanut butter. He swallows it immediately, doesn't even notice the taste.
 
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katiesperson

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Well, just when I thought I had this figured out, Brook decided to be suspicious about the treat and just would not take her second dose today. She hasn't coughed all day so I am not going to force it. My husband gives treats to both cats before he leaves for work each morning and she thinks he would never trick her, so she'll take her morning pill treat from him without a problem. He's a saint in her eyes because the nail clipping, liquid Pred dosing, and vet visits are my job and the treat dispensing and grooming glove-brushing are his job.
 

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When my cat was on prednisolone, liquid, I took it to a compound pharmacy and got it fruity flavored. She loved it
 
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