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- May 10, 2016
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I have two cats who are brothers and around 15 years old. They've lived with just me for their whole life and they do not appreciate visitors. Recently, one of the two got very skinny and was throwing up and not eating. I found out he has hyperthyroid. So now I need to give him a pill twice a day.
My first issue is the difficulty I have giving him a pill. There is no way that he will let me put the pill in his mouth. I have pilled my neighbor's cat when they were on vacation, so I am familiar with how to do it. My cat goes spastic and sometimes starts peeing when I try to do this. So what I have to do is try and use the pill pockets and mix them in with regular cat treats. I'd say about 50% of the time he eats the pill pockets, but he knows there is a pill in them so he eats around them. I've tried cutting the pill and putting it in some gravy cat food. That too, he figured out and eats around the pill parts. I've also done the ear gel instead, which works when I can spend 15 minutes chasing him around the house as he knows what I'm trying to do. Then his ears after some time get caked with old gel and then washing his ears becomes impossible as he goes spastic on that too.
I'm really struggling to come up with something that works and doesn't require such an effort. Does anyone have any suggestions?
My other frustration is that should I need to be gone for a week or two on vacation, I know nobody that I have come feed/water them could get him to eat his pills, so I feel like I'm trapped at home. It's really been discouraging.
I feel like I've researched and tried everything possible, but nothing makes it easier for me or gives me any faith that someone else could medicate him while I'm gone. I know there are medical procedures for this, but my vet wasn't very optimistic about this and said it's very expensive.
Any help from here would be appreciated. And thank you for taking the time to read.
My first issue is the difficulty I have giving him a pill. There is no way that he will let me put the pill in his mouth. I have pilled my neighbor's cat when they were on vacation, so I am familiar with how to do it. My cat goes spastic and sometimes starts peeing when I try to do this. So what I have to do is try and use the pill pockets and mix them in with regular cat treats. I'd say about 50% of the time he eats the pill pockets, but he knows there is a pill in them so he eats around them. I've tried cutting the pill and putting it in some gravy cat food. That too, he figured out and eats around the pill parts. I've also done the ear gel instead, which works when I can spend 15 minutes chasing him around the house as he knows what I'm trying to do. Then his ears after some time get caked with old gel and then washing his ears becomes impossible as he goes spastic on that too.
I'm really struggling to come up with something that works and doesn't require such an effort. Does anyone have any suggestions?
My other frustration is that should I need to be gone for a week or two on vacation, I know nobody that I have come feed/water them could get him to eat his pills, so I feel like I'm trapped at home. It's really been discouraging.
I feel like I've researched and tried everything possible, but nothing makes it easier for me or gives me any faith that someone else could medicate him while I'm gone. I know there are medical procedures for this, but my vet wasn't very optimistic about this and said it's very expensive.
Any help from here would be appreciated. And thank you for taking the time to read.