Masking Smell Of Prednisolone Pill Or Should I Try Liquid?

[jinxyspops]

Hi Everyone,

First time posting. We just found out our 14 year old has Lymphoma. The vet has put her on Prednisolone. I didn't give my cat enough credit on how smart she is. The first time I was able to hide the food in her regular wet food...though I knew she could tell something was up. That night for her second dose, she wasn't having it. Wouldn't touch it. I had to move up to a smelly tuna which she ate, but looked at me afterwards, like she was like yeah I know what you did. The next morning, she didn't eat it.

She has been eating table scraps lately, so I "faked" scraps and hid ground up pill into some chicken we had for dinner. Worked, but again, I think she knew, because she didn't fall for it again the next time. The next morning I decided to give everyone their favorite wet food (we have three cats), well Jinxy wouldn't eat hers, she instead ate the other cat's food, knowing we did something to her food. I am running out of ideas and I would rather not manually put it in her mouth.

Would the liquid be better to give her? Do you just squirt it in their mouths? I have wasted a lot of the pills on trial and errors so I am going to have to buy another bottle of something again soon. Any ideas?

 

[Purr-fect]

The next morning I decided to give everyone their favorite wet food (we have three cats), well Jinxy wouldn't eat hers, she instead ate the other cat's food, knowing we did something to her food.

Smart girl!

I use powdered greenie treats sprinkled on top of our cats wet food to get them to eat it when required. I grind them in a coffee grinder........much cheaper than buying powdered food toppers.

 

[jinxyspops]

Didn't think about using the treats she loved mixed with food. I will definitely try that!

 

[sabrinah]

When I had to give dewormer pills I just coated them fully in a thin layer of butter and dropped them in the back of her mouth. They went down easy, she couldn't taste the awfulness, and she wasn't at all upset. She actually wanted to lick my fingers! I've also given her liquid medication but I think overall butter covered pills are easiest, though its not necessarily the healthiest.

 

[babiesmom5]

I am very sorry your cat has Lymphoma. I too had a cat with (Small Cell) Lymphoma and have (had) several other cats who required Prednisolone as a component of their treatment plan.

For what it is worth, I will share my experience with Prednisolone. Cats do not like liquids squirted in their mouths...even flavored liquids. Sometimes they spit it out, turn their heads, gag...it is an unpleasant experience for both cats and owners. I try to avoid liquid meds.

I tried Prednisolone compounded into a flavored "chew". You have a choice of chicken, fish, beef or chicken liver flavors. It is not cheap. My cats maybe ate it once or twice, then rejected it. So I hid it in their favorite food. Cat just ate around it. Cats are too smart!

The best way I have found that works consistently is to enclose the Prednisolone pill inside of a chicken flavored gel capsule. I purchase a Size #3 pack of 100 of Capsuline Catcaps Chicken Flavored empty capsules from www.capsuline.com. It costs $7.99 and they ship fast.

I preload the capsules with their Prednisolone, and and other meds needed, in advance. Then I coat the end of it in butter, and administer the capsule using a pill gun. Works every time.

Then I follow up with a treat or some food so they associate "pill time" with something tasty.

Hope this helps. I wish you and your kitty all the best!

 

[PushPurrCatPaws]

Some people have good luck pilling a cat using their normal food as the "pill carrier", hiding the med within the food. I've never had luck with that.

I personally like to separate pill-giving from meal-giving, as it is usually really important to get the cat to trust, to like and to eat their meals (esp. when a cat is sick, like your poor kitty -- ).
If that gets messed up because the smart cat smells or figures out that there is a weird medicine tucked away in the meal, it becomes really hard to get them to eat their meals. (This is from my own experiences.)

So I think it is best to give a pill or any kind of medicine at a different specific "Treat Time" (and associated with lots of their favorite yummy treats and lots of love and cuddles, if they feel up to it).

I've never had success giving Pred as a liquid with my cat. I agree that most cats struggle with accepting liquid meds -- at least, in my experience.

Unfortunately with Pred, the liquid version of the prednisolone is actually more accurately dosed than the pill version -- but alas, my cat will only take the pill version inside of a pill pocket and with a few treats alongside. (I'd love to give the liquid so I could be more assured of giving her only the least measured dose possible of pred, and reliably so, but so far she will only accept the halved or quartered pieces of pill version.)

Babiesmom5's suggestion of using gel capsules is a great idea, too.

 

[LTS3]

Have you tried Pill Pockets or other similar pill dough? I use a bacon-flavored pill dough to give my cat his pills including prednisolone.

Wedgewood Pharmacy can compound the prednisolone into a flavored liquid or chews or other forms. The lowest strength they seem have is 5 mg so if your cat is on a 4 mg or less dose, you're probably out of luck but call them and ask.