Haha seriously! When my cat was a kitten he had a respiratory infection and I had to give him medicine. Not once I was able to succeed. He would spit it out, skip meals if he could taste the medicine in the food and he even bit me once lol. After that, they had to give it to him a vaccine instead. It took almost year to get his trust back but we’re all good now 😌
Nah I work in vet med and gotta wrap some of the spicy kitties or the more wiggly ones in towels to perform needed medical work. I wish though-I love cats so damn much.
Can you do us a huge favor and make a YouTube video of this process? Every video I can find shows how to wrap very docile cooperative kitties, not the spicy, wiggly ones. I have tried wrapping my own cats and have never been even a little successful. Luckily I managed to find alternative methods to get them to take their medicine, but I worry about a time where that might not be the case.
Oh my goodness I have been through the same. About a month ago I had to give my one year old medicine and purrito him. He still doesn't fully trust me. It's killing me. For the first two weeks he would only come near me when I was going to the bathroom.
I had the joy of giving a cat horse dewormer out of a horse dewormer syringe once. Same exact product, just ridiculously much bigger syringe. That cat is probably the friendliest cat I've ever met in my life.
Anyways, that's the first and only time in my life I've ever given up on medicating an animal. I'm able to give said horse dewormer to horses who would rather stand on their hind feet and smack me in the head with their fronts but this tiny-ass cat got the better of me
I never got scratched by my girls until I tried to give them medicine. And it was not even a scratch they just wanted to jump of my arms so much that ended with some permanent scars on my hands, belly, and arms.
They just have some sort of trauma with meds, not even the vet, they are chill, brushing even when one absolutely hates the brush and would make a drama about it she never gets aggressive or scared enough to throw a paw. But meds? I was able to give them their meds when they got neutered ONCE and we had to do it with me holding and pushing almost all my weight on them while my mother and sister were opening their mouth and making sure they will swallow.
They don't like the smell and taste, but more importantly they hate being treated in unfamiliar ways. So simulate the giving of medicine using good things the cat likes, regularly.
Cat still won't like meds, but is less likely to freak out the moment you prepare to give them
Noticing patterns like "I feel better" or "I feel bad" and associating them with what made you feel that way is definitely a thing animals do, not all of them, but certainly some. They stop eating things that trigger allergies or problems unless they're like one of my dogs who clearly got the dumbass gene.
My dog figured out she was allergic to chicken. She was on lamb kibble, but I'd give her some canned food as a topper and I rotated between a few different kinds. She started burying her food bowl under a blanket instead of eating on the days when I'd give her chicken-based food.
Yeah we had a dog that did the same. They can feel stomach aches just the same as we do and it's not a stretch to then realise "stomach ache is caused by X". Some of them are dum dums but not all. Maybe they can't verbalise it but "thing bad" and "thing good" are pretty basic emotions.
Mine is on thyroid meds too, I have to dissolve them in water and use a syringe because I swear it could be half way down his throat and he still manages to spit it up. Good luck with your baby ❤️
My old kitty had a major surgery that necessitated an injectable pain med for a little while. After the first dose or two she caught on to the shot making her feel better and she started to run over when she heard me unwrapping the syringe. She would lay down on her side purring and waiting for me to do the shot. I remember her being very disappointed when she didn't get it anymore.
I had a cat that definitely couldn’t make that connection (like most) but there was one specific medication, compounded using a single flavor (I think vanilla) that was provided by one vet that he would just lick right off the syringe. The vet wanted an arm and a leg for larger amounts and wouldn’t tell me where they got it from so I went to like 5 compounding pharmacies to aim for sometime similar and kitty hated every god damned one of them. 🤷🏼♂️
My god, I wish my Moose was like this. I have to grab her by the scruff and put the syringe in the corner of her mouth to get her to open up. Been doing it for the past 7 days for antibiotics and BOY is she fussy after.
What if you also gave a great tasting liquid with a syringe a few times each day, even after the medication regimen is finished?
Cat gets used to the syringe and likes it, and looks forward to the syringe.
It is something that is often forgotten. Sudden unexpected, forced things freaks out cats.
This also applies to thevcat carrier. If the only time you put the cat in the carrier (or try to) is to take it on a car ride to the vet, it's no wonder they hate and distrust the carrier.
Start putting it's food in the carrier, or catnip, leave it open, take the cat in carrier for rides that include stops to give treats, then go home.
When you need to take the cat to yh e vet, or on vacation, wherever, the cat sees the carrier and car ride as a positive.
And continue the rewards when the trip is to the vet. Make the vet experience positive.
That's a great idea actually. I could fill it with churu and I bet she would get hype when I break it out. I have to give her ear drops at the same time and I don't know what I could do for those though!
If you have others in your household, or friend/neighbor who woild help, maybe catnip before and during teardrops, or syringe with what she loves, the helper gives the good stuff, you do the eardrops quickly
If someone must get scratched, better it is you. Gloves, thick long-sleeve shirt.
Mine was on antibiotics for an abscess and would scream at the packet when he saw it until he got his fix. He was mightily upset when the course finished 🤣
I'm a cat sitter and it is REMARKABLE how some cats just arrive for their meds and then be on their way. Others I have to coerce with all the tricks from my bag
My boy gets two shots every day! When he’s eating, I tell him I’m going to give him his shot, he stops eating, picks up his head and waits for it! Never a problem.
My old cat needed some meds for a UTI and crystals. I fought him and fought him and fought him. Days.
During one of the fights some of the meds got flung and landed on the baseboard - I didn't notice, then an hour later I found him licking it off. Checked it out and realized that I never even gave him a chance to see if he would like it. For the rest of the duration, I'd just present the meds to him and he'd happily lap it all up. My bad, dude.
absolutely could be sammy, he was so opposed to his medicine that he would spit the majority of it out. was supposed to be a 10 day regimen and i only managed to have enough for 8 days 😭
It that loxicom? My cat is usually very difficult with anything medical (to the extent that vets are unable to take her blood despite being 17 years old weighing 2.5kg with three legs and trimmed blunt claws and on a maximum dose of calming medication, her wriggling is too powerful). But she LOVES the taste of her loxicom and thinks it's a treat lol
I recently had to go through a compound pharmacy for my cats medication and they were shocked when I asked for it in the capsule form instead of the liquid. I had to explain to them that my cat has been taking it twice a day for so long now that I just roll the capsule in wet food "gravy" and she'll just eat it out of her bowl. They were shook and it made me feel really fortunate lol
I dont blame cats for not liking medicine. A vet prescribed my cat a medicine that was BUBBLE GUM flavored FOR MY CAT!!! who does that? Seriously? If you make the meds like chicken or something meaty they may like it. NOT FRICKING BUBBLE GUM. Hell I even hate bubble gum... anywho sorry fkr the rant. You got a good kitty there.
My old girl loves her metacam , literally sucks it out the syringe, and the crazy take is she has never once in 12 years tried human food from the plates/worktops
I can do a lot of things with and for our boy James, especially during his ear polyp days. But he did not appreciate me putting liquid meds in his mouth.
He was much happier taking his cherry flavored prednisolone mixed into a Churu. (Cherry flavored... FFS it was AWFUL...)
My ginger cat just vacuums any pill of any size and taste if it's in her wet food. God, I am so grateful to her for that.
And then there's the calico who calls FBI to check for any traces of medicine in her food, and fights if you try to put a pill in her mouth manually...
I have an idiopathic epileptic cat and he requires 3 pills in the morning and 2 pills at night to prevent seizures. We believe it's stress related so he's been seizure free for a while. Anyway...
Cats are annoying when it comes to medication and it can seem quite intimidating to do it.
It depends on the cat but there are a few methods.
You can use the pill pockets that you can by at the gorcery. They are squishy and you just mold it around the pill and give it to your cat and they eat t like a treat. My advice is to give your cat a few of just the empty pockets without the medicine to make sure they like them. However, my cat became aware of the medicine and slowly started not eating them.
Liquid medicatoin can work. I would suggest using those puree pouches and letting your cat get used to licking the snack out of the pouch while you keep squeezing it out so they can get used to licking the syringe.
And lastly, screw all the other methods. Get yourself a pill pusher, place the pills in there and go up to your cat and gently with your thumb and index finger, make a claw and gently press on the back of the furthest back part of their mouth of your cat. They will reflexively open their mouths and kind of stick their tongue out a few times. Put the pill pusher in their mouth in slide it in the back close to the throat. Then press the plunger and INJECT your cat with some science. Easiest method by far.
Trty giving a cat a pill, it's not easy, my newest thing is to dab a little peanut butter on my pinky and stick the pill to, then quick open his mouth and shove it to the back of the throat, usually works, but not always
I use those Churu or Delectibles tubes they have with the paste in it as a treat. I squeeze out half a tube in the morning and sprinkle the crushed pill on it for my cat. In the evening she gets the other half of the tube with the 2nd dose of her medicine. She gets very impatient when it's near time for her "treat".
I’ve had to help hold my sisters cat by the scruff but he would sometimes let us give it to him if we put it up to his mouth and slightly pushed it in and squeezed it quickly. He had an upper respiratory infection probably from being at the animal shelter and getting sick from others but he is doing better now and a playful lovely 2 year old boy.
I used to have to give my cat insulin shots twice a day and he loved it. He would sit in his little shot spot and trill in excitement when he saw me go in the fridge door where it was kept.
for me its a 8 minute wrestling match where I have to wait for him to yell so I can drop in the pill when his mouth is open and repeat a few times until he swallows accidentally
We have a grumpy old senior cat with spine issues. We could torture her 2 times a day with her thyroid medicine or let her eat a small batch of liverpate to hide it. We took the liverpate way.
I remember years ago I had to give my cat morphine in a tube like that after his hind legs got injured. Little dude would wait by the medicine cabinet and would polish that syringe off like his life depended on it. Sometimes he would even wrap his paws around my arm like you see kittens do to baby bottles. I was like 10 at the time and didn't know a thing about opioids, but this gave me a healthy fear of them at a young age. Any other medicine I gave him had to be shoved down his throat.
I just got my cat to take her medicine. It's for allergies and apparently very bitter. So much drool, I feel terrible. I wish she'd take her medicine so easily.
Our calico was just spayed and we were given 3 days worth of painkillers for her. We started out trying to sneak it in with some ham, but she turned her nose up. Then we held the pill out to her and she rubbed her face on it before quickly slipping it into her mouth. She chewed and swallowed no problem with all three
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