Need To Give Cat Pills But Worried She'll End Up Hating Me

[PerfectlySaneCatLady]

Hi all,

I've posted a few times now about Cinnabon (1 year old spayed female) and her habit of peeing outside the box. On the advice of some members, I took her to the vet, who tested a sample of her urine and told me there's nothing wrong with her medically. The vet gave me a bottle of pills to correct what we now know is a behavioral issue.

The problem now is that Cinnabon does NOT like it when I try to feed her the pills. I've tried the method mentioned on here, holding her from behind and trying to open her mouth at the same time, but she was not having any of it.

I bought the Greenies Pill Pockets today and plan on trying to feed her the pill that way when I get home, but she's a pretty clever cat when she wants to be and I could see her easily figuring out that there's a pill inside (that is, if she will even eat the Greenies in the first place).

The other issue is I am very worried that she will end up hating me because of this. I know it might sound silly, but today I was trying to feed her the pill and she hissed at me, which she has NEVER done before. I tried to pet her after the unsuccessful pilling attempt and she shrank from me. We have a wonderful relationship and I'm anxious that I will ruin it and lose her trust because of this.

Anyone been in the same situation? How on earth do I give her these pills?? How the heck does anyone do it? I am not comfortable being rough with her and I really don't want her to end up hating me.

 

[DreamerRose]

No cat likes to be pilled. If none of the other methods work, try crushing up the pill and mixing it in some wet food, even if you have to sprinkle the food with catnip. This has always worked on Mingo, who also fights tooth and nail.

She won't hate you. Hopefully, she won't have to take the pills forever, and when you stop giving them, she will return to normal.

 

[PerfectlySaneCatLady]

No cat likes to be pilled. If none of the other methods work, try crushing up the pill and mixing it in some wet food, even if you have to sprinkle the food with catnip. This has always worked on Mingo, who also fights tooth and nail.

She won't hate you. Hopefully, she won't have to take the pills forever, and when you stop giving them, she will return to normal.

She doesn't eat wet food - that's a whole other battle we've fought for months over in the past. She'd rather starve. I've also been considering mixing little bits of the pill into her dry food.

 

[DreamerRose]

Then try moistening the dry food a little so the powder will stick to it. Keep trying. Paws crossed.

 

[jcat]

The easiest way to give pills is to find something to hide them in that she finds irresistible. If Greenies don't work, try liverwurst, cream cheese, whipped cream, fish paste, etc., without the pill at first. The smaller the pill, the better, so if you can cut them, try that. The trick is to make little balls of the treat - and have some balls with the pill pieces inside, and others without.

It can take awhile to establish a "pill-time routine", but most cats adapt to it and learn to look forward to their special treats.

 

[LTS3]

Try another pill dough. Some cats may just not like Pill Pockets. I use a bacon flavored pill dough when my cats need pills.

Ask the vet if the pills can be crushed up. If it can, try that and mix into a little bit of canned tuna in water. Or take some plain poached chicken and grind it up into paste in a food processor, then mix the crushed pill into that. Also ask the vet if the medicine is available in a liquid form. Sometimes liquids are easier to give.

How long do you need to give the medicine for? If it's short term, it's not worth compounding the medicine into something like a chew treat or transdermal gel.

 

[di and bob]

I take the Greenies Pill Pockets and pull a tiny piece off and 'paste' the pill if it is small enough, broken if not, to a piece of bacon. a little piece of bacon with the pill inside is usually gobbled right down. sometimes it took more than one piece if the pill fell out, but more times than not one piece. I fried a lot of bacon which i kept in my fridge over the years for my cat that needed lasix. He never got tired of it. I also mashed them inside of cheese, and pieces of Arby's roast beef, anything your cat loves and tends to gobble. i have used favorite treats too, once again using the Greenie's to paste the pill on. My ferals take pieces of worm medicine mixed in a tiny bit of tuna. they eat so fast they don't even notice,

 

[sargon]

I pill my cat with a pill gun. She always finds it a bit annoying, but then I give her a small treat as a reward, so that she finds the whole experience a net positive. She actually comes when she hears me getting her pills and treats, so she definitely isn't overly traumatized by the experience.

One thing to note is that if your cat's pills are tablets and not capsules, that you may want to put them inside a small capsule to hide the taste. i didn't do that with Freya at first, and one time she bit into a kitty prozac pill and ran around foaming at the mouth because it was so bitter!

 

[Kflowers]

When you are forcing a pill down your cat, remember it's to help her get well. She won't like it, probably wouldn't believe you if she could understand the words. She may twist, scream, hiss, even claw the living ... whatever out of you. But once she has a few minutes afterward, she'll be fine.

She won't hate you.

Cats have the amazing way of tolerating pilling and other things that make them fight us and not hate us. We've always joked that cats just figure their people go insane from time to time. Once the person has recovered, stopped forcing pills down (in that minute, tomorrow is another pill, another episode of insanity) they are fine. In fact, some cats seem to think their people need extra care after such an episode.

I put the meds in tuna, not albacore that tastes like chicken, but tuna that tastes like tuna. If you don't want to use human tuna, you can buy tuna cat food. Treat it like a treat, like your food you don't really want to share. That makes it more interesting.

 

[Ardina]

I wish I had some tips for you, but I've been lucky with Saipha. She has pica, so all I had to do was "accidentally" drop the pill on the ground, and she gobbled it right up. Even when she discovered that it didn't taste good, she loved getting pilled with the pill gun and would come running when I pulled it out. I didn't even have to give her a treat afterwards. She's a weird cat.

 

[Kflowers]

Ardina, is it all right if I'm a little jealous? I admit the pica would have driven me mad, and you do deserve something to balance that experience.

 

[Ardina]

Ardina, is it all right if I'm a little jealous? I admit the pica would have driven me mad, and you do deserve something to balance that experience.

Haha I guess that sort of balances the multiple trips to the vet and x-rays every time she's eaten something dangerous. She's a strange little cat but I love her.