Pill Pockets: One of the greatest inventions of man. Thanks to them, I have my cat begging for medication.
Next time, try a suppository...and then give the cat the pill...
How to give a cat a pill
1) Pick cat up and cradle it in the crook of your left arm as if holding a baby. Position right forefinger and thumb on either side of cat’s mouth and gently apply pressure to cheeks while holding pill in right hand. As cat opens mouth pop pill into mouth. Allow cat to close mouth and swallow.
2) Retrieve pill from floor and cat from behind sofa. Cradle cat in left arm and repeat process.
3) Retrieve cat from bedroom, and throw soggy pill away.
4) Take new pill from foil wrap, cradle cat in left arm holding rear paws tightly with left hand. Force jaws open and push pill to back of mouth with right fore-finger. Hold mouth shut for a count of ten.
5) Retrieve pill from goldfish bowl and cat from top of wardrobe. Call spouse from garden.
6) Kneel on floor with cat wedged firmly between knees, hold front and rear paws. Ignore low growls emitted by cat. Get spouse to hold head firmly with one hand while forcing wooden ruler into mouth. Drop pill down ruler and rub cat’s throat vigorously.
7) Retrieve cat from curtain rail, get another pill from foil wrap. Make note to buy new ruler and repair curtains. Carefully sweep shattered figurines and vases from hearth and set to one side for gluing later.
8) Wrap cat in large towel and get spouse to lie on cat with head just visible from below armpit. Put pill in end of drinking straw, force mouth open with pencil and blow down drinking straw.
9) Check label to make sure pill not harmful to humans, drink glass of water to take taste away. Apply band-aid to spouse’s forearm and remove blood from carpet with cold water and soap.
10) Retrieve cat from neighbor’s shed. Get another pill. Place cat in cupboard and close door onto neck to leave head showing. Force mouth open with dessert spoon. Flick pill down throat with elastic band.
11) Fetch screwdriver from garage and put cupboard door back on hinges. Apply cold compress to cheek and check records for date of last tetanus jab. Throw Tee-shirt away and fetch new one from bedroom.
12) Ring fire brigade to retrieve cat from tree across the road. Apologize to neighbor who crashed into fence while swerving to avoid cat. Take last pill from foil-wrap.
13) Tie cat’s front paws to rear paws with garden twine and bind tightly to leg of dining table, find heavy duty pruning gloves from shed. Push pill into mouth followed by large piece of fillet steak. Hold head vertically and pour 2 pints of water down throat to wash pill down.
14) Get spouse to drive you to the emergency room, sit quietly while doctor stitches fingers and forearm and removes pill remnants from right eye. Call furniture shop on way home to order new table.
15) Arrange for RSPCA to collect cat and ring local pet shop to see if they have any hamsters.
HOW TO GIVE A DOG A PILL:
1) Wrap it in bacon.
Made me laugh.
As you attempt to approach her mouth with the pill, she will retract her head into the towel. In doing so, she will manage to free up enough space to get one front leg out of her bindings and she will strike out at the nearest body part.
Reminds me of this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nE-ZDpMo8qc
It sounds like a massive infection. Remember, cats comb through dirty litter with their claws. I would go to an urgent care asap. You don’t want to lose your nose! And next time, bury the cat in the backyard up to her neck. Then give her the pill. Works every time.
I smash their pills up in a wad of kitty treat, food of some sort I know the cat loves, and give it to the cat. If the cat eats it and gets well, good. If not buh bye kitty. I don’t mess with animals anymore that way.
FYI: More than 30 cats through these portals since we’ve been married 33 years, and more than 30 dogs as well. Currently 15 cats, and 4 dogs. Rarely lose one to other than old age.
Well RoseyT,
Has springtime hit yet and are you planting yet?
If so, What?
Kids old enough to help?
Put the pill in some food or a hollowed out treat.
My aunt’s football of a dog once bit my eyebrow because I got too close to her when she was eating. That damn overgrown rat almost cost me an eye.
It sure as hell wasn’t the only time she had bitten me.
Conversely, she had a golden colored mutt with no tail that loved me.
Great vanity
Here’s hoping your nose recovers fully - ouch!
(Try cutting up the pill smaller and embedding it in cheese/soft snack)
The only think you left out was a reference to a ‘cat taco’. The vet told me that when he wraps a cat in a towel, he calls it a cat taco. [Mine won’t eat a pill in any kind of treat or goodie. For me, the secret is making a great taco. If it’s done just right, the head will not retract nor will a paw emerge. The cat’s bad mood will take a while to neutralize, but overall my results are good.]
Every morning, your dog looks at you and thinks, “I sure do love my people!” Every morning, your cat looks at you and thinks, “This may be the day they finally try to kill me” and “If I was bigger, I would kill and eat you.”
Funny!
I simplified medicating my cat(s) after the very first attempt with the very first cat. If the med doesn’t come in liquid form, I mash it between two spoons to make the pieces as small as possible, add enough liquid (maybe meat juice, a little gravy, soup, or just plain water, and use an eye dropper to give it to the cat.
This method DOES need two people, but! You don’t even have to pry the mouth open. Just slip the eyedropper between the cheeks and squeeze. The cat will be surprised enough to open her mouth and let you finish the dosing.
:o]
Ohyah: Good luck!
LOL I have been there. Dogs are easier to give pills too. Open up their mouths; insert pill to the side of the mouth and push it. Keep mouth closed until they have swallowed. Make sure you push far enough in the mouth and to the side or they will spit up and look at you laughingly. However do not attempt to give doggie liquid ear medicine to one that ears hurt. Go to the vet and let them give them a treatment that last for two weeks.
Cats are the devil.; but liquid is easier. I do have a friend who can get a pill down a cat faster than anything I have ever seen and no problem. It’s amazing.
Giving liquid medication to a cat is just as bad if not worse.
Shortly after I got my Annie she developed a respiratory infection and the Vet sent me home with some sort of liquid medication to give her.
The first and only time I tried I ended up with a good part of the contents of the bottle on me and Annie foaming at the mouth and her face and neck covered with what she refused to swallow.
When she needed surgery a few months later I told the Vet “ If you send her home with antibiotic's for me to give to her don't bother doing so because I will bring her in here every day because there isn't any way on God's green earth that I can get meds down her.”
And I'm an old hand at giving cats and dogs meds. But Annie? No way!
I hope by now you've seen a doctor about your nose. Cats' claws and teeth are filthy, and your brief description sounds like an infection.
This worked for my cats: Crush pill in Gerber lamb or veal baby food. It is for infants and comes in small glass jars. Our cats licked it off the spoon, even when it had medicine in it. You may need more than one spoonful if the pill is large. We tried mashing it in liverwurst too. The cats liked baby food better.
You may think it's bogus but I can tell you whenever we set a schedule and gave it to them religiously, they expect the treat but crushed up inside the correct day's wet food is the drug the Doctor described, never had a problem. It really works, it seems to make their coat seem (hair ball medicine) better and for some reason I can't figure out, was where they were doing the wonderful hairball coughing which anyone here with a cat can identify with. It is smaller, less frequent and you don't seem to find piles of kitten ejecta
When we didn't use the fur ball stuff, I would see a cat eat, and then ten minutes later, you'd hear the horrible hair ball cough,
So my best advice is, keep the cat inside. As you already know, this requires:
1) You have to love the cat.
2) Unlike most dogs, cats don't gobble up their food in one bite. Keep in mind, this is an anecdote, Our dog doesn't scarf down his food no matter that type it is or the food type.
3) If you have 3 cats, get them at least 3 cat condos. More cats, like I said, you can get away with one per new kitten. you need more condos, Some cats don't use them, some guard them with their life. After you have three cats, one litter box per cat works well.
4) At least two litter boxes per cat until you have at least three cats and they need to be cleaned at least 3 times a day. It also depends on the litter, get cheap litter and you will notice it. We have found what the manufacturer says is, " the best litter there is something like that; eventually, we realized it was true. I don't 3want to name it but it's jungle should get you. . We're out of it at the moment. Always use a pooper scooper tray for litter boxes, it saves litter, it help keeping the litter from its magnetic attraction to human and it lasts as while.
5) Find a good vet now, closer is not necessarily better, ask around or while you in line at a vet. People will usually tell the truth.
6) It also helps to already have a cat or dog. I'm amazed at how big dogs like a lab will go up to a kitten and slobber all over it and play with it and then defend it for its life; it's really too funny.
7) Finally, get them a little kitten fountain like this one I stole from a site that parses you word and then shows you what you want to see.
Good luck!
