| Archive for Downsizer For an ethical approach to consumption |
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remind me how to pill a cat10 tablets over the next 5 days, plus drops that are supposed to go on her food.She's a bit feisty as well, anyone want to take a bet on how many stitches I'll have needed by the end of the week? |
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| Chez |
Will she take it in something like a bit of liver? Otherwise, wrap her in a towel and wear gloves.
This might help: http://www.sucs.swan.ac.uk/~cmckenna/humour/animal/catpill.html 
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printed that off to show my mother. | ||||
| hedgehogpie |
Drawstring bag & welder's gloves?
Depends on just how fiesty really and whether you can persuade her to eat them in food. Mashed into a little bit of something that's really favourite and quite smelly like pilchard is a good one. If it was really necessary and had to be done, I used to lure mine onto a big towel (stokes, cuddles, food - whatever works), wrap 'em quick & grabbing the whole thing by the scruff of the neck basically sit on them (clamping them between the knees). Then I had hands free to deal with the fun part - prising the jaws open and dropping the pill down the back of the throat. Make sure it really does go to the back tho' or it'll be spat right back out and there is nothing worse than trying to get a sticky spit encrusted tablet back down a cat's gullet. Bear in mind that this is not something you're likely to get away with more than once though! Good luck..... |
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i have 10 pills to do over 5 days 
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| Fee |
We wrap ours (firmly) in a towel and squeeze their jaws open and drop the pill in. Retrieve pill from floor, try again, see link above
Top tip: have the opening of the towel away from the sharp side of the cat, making escapee claws more difficult. |
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| marigold |
Do it quickly and shove the pill right down her throat with your forefinger - not pleasant, but you can have a good scrub with the nailbrush afterwards  .
I "sit" on puss, using my knees to restrain her, open her jaw with my left hand (fingers on the hinge, so to speak) and stuff the pill in with my right hand. I've pilled other people's cats too, so it's not just a case of mine being particularly docile. I think you have to be firm and fast - I think 5 seconds of relative nastiness is kinder than 10 minutes of wussy coaxing which just freaks the cat out. It helps if you practise the jaw-opening technique when puss is relaxing on your lap - just gently squeeze at the sides of it's gob, so you know exactly how to do it when pill-time comes. |
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| yummersetter |
does wrapping it in butter work for cats? If it's far enough back it sort of slithers down my dogs' throats. Mind you, I have better odds. More throat to pill ratio
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| BadgerFace |
Wrapping in smoked salmon trimmings, work for my lot - apart from one who has his in cheese ! or pill poppers are good, your vet should stock them or hyperdrug has something similar http://www.hyperdrug.co.uk/Buster-Pill-Giver/productinfo/BUSPG/
Good luck
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| nettie |
Ooo, sympathies, agree with the wrapping advice, and also Marigold's advice to get it over with as fast as possible. Good luck. | ||||
| Shan |
Get yourself a pill dispenser: http://www.cheappetproducts.net/QUICK___EASY_PILL_DISPENSER-UKP60342.html
It saves being bitten. |
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| Bebo |
Peashooter and wait for it to yawn. But remember to blow not suck. | ||||
| Fee |
Probably depends on the cat
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| hedgehogpie |
 Good luck with that technique! I'd be less worried about scrubbing my finger than bandaging what's left of it.
Try the food lure first, from experience I know it's far better not to p*ss your at off unless you really have to. |
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Is there a non sharp side to a cat? They seem pretty able to sccatch in any direction. |
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| Shan |
Nope, they are as prickly as a cactus and more malicious than a scorpion. | ||||
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She's a sweet little thing most of the time. Took ages to tame properly, but goes so soppy for the kids.
I just hope this works, it's likely either an abcess or tumour. |
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| Midland Spinner |
We had no end of problems with last cat, but I made a determined effort with these when they were kittens and it has paid off. I got them used to having me open their mouths and look inside, I got the vet to show me the correct way, then lots of practice when they were small enough.
They don't like it, but equally don't make too much fuss / too many wounds! One tip the vet gave me was to make sure that their paws are on the floor then make sure that you apply downward pressure as you open their mouth - that way they have to push back on the floor & can't spare a paw to scratch at you (that's the theory...) Good luck & I hope cat gets better. |
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| Mutton |
It takes two of us to put pills down our cats. One to hold the cat down, the other does the quick clamp on top of head with fingers on either side of jaw. When we open mouth it is by tilting the cat's head backwards far enough that the bottom jaw is left behind. Also provides a vertical drop down the throat. Then clamp the jaws shut and watch for the swallow. You can also have a syringe of water to hand. Lob in the pill, clamp jaws shut, then trickle water slowly in between the cats lips. That helps wash the pill down. Be very careful to do only a little water at a time and watch for the swallow. You don't want to get water in their lungs. (We no longer need the syringe of water as we've had enough years of lobbing practice.)
A vet nurse we know can pill a cat single handed before it knows its happened. Sneak up on them when they don't expect it, is what she says. Basically walks up from behind swoops down, grabs jaw, tips head back, lobs down pill and walks on. Far faster than it took to write this. Our cats adore tinned tuna, that works with some pills. Try asking the vet whether the pills are meant to be inoffensive to cats so that you can put them in food. Some pills are supposed to be odour free etc, others don't have that design feature. If you finish up cat wrestling have a big saucer of treat ready for the second you let go. Then with nearly all cats you will have cat slurping from the saucer and prepared to forgive the trauma rather than flinging itself out the cat flap and looking at you in a hunted way for hours afterwards. |
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| Mutton |
It takes two of us to put pills down our cats. One to hold the cat down, the other does the quick clamp on top of head with fingers on either side of jaw. When we open mouth it is by tilting the cat's head backwards far enough that the bottom jaw is left behind. Also provides a vertical drop towards the throat. Then clamp the jaws shut with the head still tilted back (so bring bottom jaw up to meet top jaw using the hand that used to contain the pill) and watch for the swallow.
You can also have a syringe of water to hand. Lob in the pill, clamp jaws shut, then trickle water slowly in between the cats lips. That helps wash the pill down. Be very careful to do only a little water at a time and watch for the swallow. You don't want to get water in their lungs. (We no longer need the syringe of water as we've had enough years of lobbing practice.) A vet nurse we know can pill a cat single handed before it knows its happened. Sneak up on them when they don't expect it, is what she says. Basically walks up from behind swoops down, grabs jaw, tips head back, lobs down pill and walks on. Far faster than it took to write this. Our cats adore tinned tuna, that works with some pills. Try asking the vet whether the pills are meant to be inoffensive to cats so that you can put them in food. Some pills are supposed to be odour free etc, others don't have that design feature. If you finish up cat wrestling have a big saucer of treat ready for the second you let go. Then with nearly all cats you will have cat slurping from the saucer and prepared to forgive the trauma rather than flinging itself out the cat flap and looking at you in a hunted way for hours afterwards. |
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| mihto |
Well done, Marigold. You are spot on
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i bought some catmilk and some tins of smelly fishy gourmet catfood as a treat(and to tempt her to get the damn liquid meds down her as well. ) |
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| marigold |
Thank you mihto. I am indebted to the person who showed me how to do it . I forgot to say that you should pull the cat's head back gently as you open the mouth - Mutton describes it well. If I push the pill down far enough I find she swallows automatically, then I just give her a stroke, say something soppy and let her go. It takes moments and she looks a bit bemused, but rarely distressed. If I muff it, I leave it for a while before trying again.
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The only really good thing is that the vets we visited is having an open day next weekend, to give their clients a behind the scenes tour of the surgery. She demon is announcing a wish to become a vet when she grows up, so I'll take her along | ||||
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I lost the tip of a finger today. I am not joking, she bit me 3 times, twice as a warning, then sliced off the end fo my finger
thankfully, there are only 10 pills to give this cat. I shouldn't run out of digits |
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| gil |
Get a 'pillgiver' device, as described earlier in the thread. My vet provided me with one.
It helps if you stroke them under the chin after pilling, as it seems to make them swallow as a reflex. I used to keep mine confined to the kitchen with me present [few places to hide things in] for a while after pilling, in case they decided to go and throw the pill back up behind or under furniture. I also inspected the cat's mouth after a bit to make sure they weren't hiding the pill prior to spitting it out. |
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| Gervase |
I can really recommend the little plunger-type pillpopper - it's saved me a chewing before now. | ||||
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she started scoffing ridiculously expensive catfood straight after, so i think it stayed down | ||||
| Rosemary Judy |
last time mine needed antibiotics, I begged for a syringe or 10 and injectable stuff.
i had to prove I could do it, to the vet, but I passed ! i can give an injection into the back of the neck far more easily than I can give pills.... |
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i'm about to go loose another finger | ||||
| Mutton |
With greatest respect and sympathy - you need to be faster in your pill lobbing technique. (Not ever tried the pill dispenser mentioned by others.) Speed comes with practice. We've suffered pain and disasters down the 14 years we've had cats. Our big cat will stick his claws out a little way in warning. Then if you don't let go in two seconds he will then extend them fully into you. They are best part of half an inch and very sharp. When you let go, he then retracts his claws and sits there perfectly calmly. Would swear there was an aura of "glad you see it my way, now we can be friends". There was the memorable time we thought - ah lifting up onto worksurface will be just like the vets table, so they will behave. Better yet, lets use the draining board it is easy to swill down. Lots of wriggling and scrabbling as we fumbled, cat backs down draining board to the sink and lands bum first in the grubby water in a soaking saucepan. Then we were wrestling a wet, really, really cheesed cat. With big claws. So if you lifted cat onto surface last time, pounce on her on the floor next time. |
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| Mutton |
Also just wondered - are you tipping her head back far enough?
My big cat came and sat between me and the computer monitor just now so I did a quick practice to make sure it was as potentially easy as I remembered. He was sideways on to me, facing right to left. I'm right handed. I placed my right hand on top of his head, over his ears, thumb on one cheek bone, fingers on the other. Tilted his head from horizontal to vertical - so through 90 degrees. Sure enough his mouth was then slightly open, little gap between his front teeth which I could drop a pill through. just like that. (You'd drop the pill in, put your hand under her jaw to clamp for a moment, and stroke throat with a finger if you can reach.) (Then I let go and he gave me a really dirty look, before returning to his theme of I want some of those biscuits you give her (i.e. not older cat diet biscuits)) |
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| ninat |
If it's antibiotics you're giving and you really can't get the pills in, there is now an injection called Convenia which is one shot and lasts for 2 weeks- no pilling required.
It is expensive but I guess you have to weigh that against the twice daily stuggle of lacerated fingers . ( there are also other long acting ones which are cheaper but only last a couple of days which would mean more visits to the vet.)
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I'm now pilling the other cat, more pills because he's a great lump of cat. he's also soppy as hell, not going to bite, he does clamp his teeth together though. | ||||
| mihto |
Can you ask the vet for fluid anibiotics? Like the drops we give our children? | ||||
| Mutton |
To my mind the cats would drool a liquid out the corner of their mouth. At least with a pill you know whether or not the full dose went in. | ||||
| BethinPA |
I concur with the tipping back of the head - try to get the cat's throat as straight as possible, they're more likely to swallow as a reflex. If the cat doesn't swallow right away, stroking the throat and blowing a puff of air into his/her face might get him to swallow.
Mine would manage to eat every scrap of food around the offensive pill, leaving it neatly uneaten in the center of the dish. 
Good luck! Clean your wounds well, and use antibiotic ointment! Beth (beginning to buckle under daily pleas for a kitten from children) |
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this one is easy. he's a big softie
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| Millymollymandy |
Sorry, didn't read thru the whole thread but I just put the cat on my lap, open his mouth, tip his head back, pop pill down his throat. It's gone in one secibd. He's been taking pills every day for ages and now down to one every other day.
I'm probably the luckiest cat owner in the universe! |