A tip I've read on another group - and it has been reported in a veterinary journal too - is to use clothes pegs

clip 2 or 3 pegs on the back of the cat's neck (scruff) - this will immobilise the cat for long enough so that you can open his mouth and pop in the pill, always remember to follow with a small syringe of water so that the pill goes down properly, as some medicines can cause damage to the oesophagus if given dry.

I have not tried this myself because luckily I've never had a cat who was impossible to pill.

But others have said it works very well.

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I put it in a bit of butter and push that down the back of the throat if they are difficult, it works for my awkward girl.

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Gosh, so many great replies!
Thanks so much for your time.
Think I will carry on trying to tempt with treats for the moment but may will try pill hiding treats in the future.
Keep your ideas coming as they mean a lot to me.
Does anyone else have a cat with polycythaemia?

I've never heard of polycythaemia in cats, only in humans - it's a condition where they have too many red blood cells, I think? I hope your cat will be OK, and that the medication will help her.

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Now given my boy 3 tablets and have brought same tablet pockets which worked really well today - just hope they continue to interest him!

The tablets are having a really good effect on him and he seems more like himself everyday! Didn't need a venesection today so that was really good news!

Hi

My cat was diagnosed with liver problems last year. Treatement involves a number of pills each day, some of which are essential and some are nice to have if he would let you! We have had to go for essential ones only. I have tried every way I can think of to pill him so perhaps these ideas may be of use to someone. Thing is anything that stresses him out too much is ultimately a waste of time - you have an unhappy animal (so what is the point in trying to make them healthy - they need to be happy too) and in our case one which would stop coming into the house as he was so nervous, so didn't come in to eat properly etc etc. So you need the right balance for your own pet. I thought we would never find a solution which was really tough as he had to have treatment and I was desperate to help him. But we have sorted something in the end so do keep trying different things.

In order we tried....

1) Giving the pill directly - managed it a couple of times but there was a lot of blood (mine) and a very distressed animal by the end. I have given pills to many cats before but some of them simply won't have it, whatever nice calm instructions people give you. The simple descriptions of how to do this are all very well for most animals but if you have a feisty strong one you can't win.

We also tried the pill shooter things - same outcome. A few worked but the stress was counter productive. My vet also said he didn't like these - where the animal flinches suddenly (as a "fighting" animal may well do) he has seen cases where the shooter has damaged the inside of their mouths quite badly.

2) Pill in food - we tried freshly roasted chicken, prawns and white fish. Couldn't try anything more "tasty" as his liver problmes meant you could do more harm than good by introducing bad food to the diet. Worked for a while but soon he became suspicious - to the point where he wasn't keen to eat anything you gave him, even normal food, so this failed eventually - he needed to eat!

3) Pill pockets - as above, worked a few times then no joy.

4) Then tried ground up in tinned and fresh tuna, or mackerel, or sardine - stronger smelling food (in spring water - nothing salty). As above worked for a bit.

5) Ground up in marmite or cheese spread or baby food and spread on front legs - people say they like to be clean and this was a stress free winner for a while. Until he decided he would rather be covered in marmite than take his pills.

6) Where we are now - ground up in Dairylea light and spread on his teeth and lips. The texture of the light dairylea works just fine. He doesn't like it but is so intent on keeping his mouth shut that you can spread it on his teeth and face while he locks his jaw to prevent you getting a pill in there, so it is actually not a very stressful exercise. Make sure it goes on the teeth and upper lips / face - they can't lick their lower jaw. We have to give him a good face wash afterwards to keep him clean but I think he gets 90% of his powdered pill this way and we have been doing this every day for over 6 months now.

Hope these ideas help someone - it is so tough when they won't let you help them get better! But there may be a solution even for the feistiest of cats....

If you have a helper they can sit behind the cat and put their hands on the shoulders and puts pressure on them. While the other one has the mouth area to throw the tablet down

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Grandma to Jinja Dog, Mum to Tilly the Cavalier, Tattycat, Moomy, Choo, Sonic, Niven Mc Twisp and Lawna the rabbits and 1 guinea,17 budgies, 4 Cockatiels, 8 Goldfish.

This may be a fluke but when our cat was on antibiotics for 4 days twice a day I tried this.

Pills were very very small and he had to have 3 halves. Did the open mouth, get down throat and stroke trick, but followed it up with 2 treats. Now this cat will do a lot for treats!

Next day left the 3 halves on the table and he ate them then waited for his treat!

Couple of times he wasn't interested so went back to the open mouth bit, but on the whole he self medicated.

Smelly cheese is great if its allowed in his diet you can mould it around the pill and most cats will not notice the pill in their rush to devour the cheese (stronger smeling the better) worth a try if all else fails

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Kay, pet portrait artist and Mum to Milo and Fred, foster mum to "Tabatha Snow" aka Maggie
............ all run ragged by the chooks Myrtle and Mavis


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