<p>@MommaJ, I can’t pretend to be an expert because I’ve had many, many instances of pill spitting, wriggling from my grasp, and running at the sight of my perceived attempt to medicate. If it helps though, what the vet told me is in line with ignatius’s advice. You don’t have to pry the cat’s mouth open because there is a natural opening on the side that allows you to “slip” the pill in via the pill gun. In the end, I found that liquid worked better than the pill and started requesting that instead. I seemed to have a better chance of slipping the syringe with the liquid in successfully than I did getting that pill to go all the way down. It was definitely a hit and miss affair in either event though.</p>
<p>LOL about the dog! I miss having one in my life.</p>
<p>Never used a pill gun. Have wrapped the cat in a towel to avoid death by claws, one person holds, the other grabs the hinge points of the mouth, which pops it open, then get it in over the tongue. Some places will compound the pill into a liquid suspension. You might ask about that but the pill may taste so bad that it’s not a good idea. Otherwise … it’s you versus nature.</p>
<p>If you can crush the pill, here’s what I do with our cat: crush the pill and mix it with a few grains of sugar, a dab of whipped butter and a drop of cream. I then take her on my lap, hold her head with one hand, then with the other hand smear the mixture against the corner of our cat’s mouth, even into the mouth if possible. I do about one third at a time with each swipe. She can’t spit it out so she has to lick it off, which gets it into her system. </p>
<p>This is the only method which has ever been successful for us. Our girl actually likes butter so she tolerates it although she hates the ignominy of the position.</p>
<p>Find a compounding pharmacy, preferably one that specializes in veterinary prescriptions. They will be able to tell if it is ok to crush the pills and will be able to fill your prescription in the form of a “paste”. I was even given a choice of turkey, chicken, or salmon flavor. Kitty was ok with turkey-flavored antibiotic that my local compounding pharmacy prepared for her (the med by itself is bitter).</p>
<p>Thanks for the good ideas. I like the butter plan! This morning I used the towel wrap approach, was able to lift his jaw slightly and pop in the pill, which he swallowed before he knew what happened. I think it worked only because the towel wrap was a new thing, and he didn’t realize he was about to be medicated. So by tomorrow he may have wised up, in which case I’ll move on to the butter idea. And I’ll ask the vet about compounding.</p>
<p>He went in for another urine culture today to see if the med is working. Over $200 for this visit. So the next question is whether anyone has had a positive experience with pet health insurance. The last time I considered it, quite a few years ago, the reviews weren’t very good, and seemed like the exclusions made it of little value. </p>
<p>@MommaJ, I tried crushing the pill, mixing with a few drops of water and then squirting in the mouth with a syringe. That worked to get the medicine down, but my poor kitty starting dreading the sight of me, so that wasn’t a long term solution. :(</p>
<p>The next step was pill pockets, which work really well when I use this technique: First I give him an empty one, to prime the pump so to speak. When he’s carefully chewed that one up, I give him the “loaded” one. The instant he picks up that one, I immediately slip another empty in front of his face. He’s so eager to get to #3 that he swallows #2 whole. It’s worked like a charm.</p>
<p>Of course, that gets pricey because pill pockets ain’t cheap, and we were going through 6 a day. Still, I was happy to do it, until he suddenly decided he hated pill pockets after a couple of weeks. So now we use the same technique with soft treats – empty, loaded, empty. I’ve been using Purina Whisker Lickins for 3 or 4 months. So far so good. </p>
<p>@LasMa, I tried the empty-loaded-empty technique. Big fail. He gobbled the first one, then sniffed at and disdainfully refused the second. Either he’s really smart or this antibiotic smells very strong.</p>
<p>@Marilyn, so far two successful days with the butter technique! I I guess the feeling of food on the lips sets off an instinctive need to lick them clean. I also fed him breakfast right after, so I figured anything that landed around the outside of the mouth would get captured in the usual post-meal clean-up routine. I just hope the butter sits well, digestively speaking. I was thinking that another similar way to go would be to use that chicken flavored toothpaste instead of butter. I may go with that tomorrow. The nice part of this approach is that he didn’t fight back too much and I didn’t feel like I was making him miserable. </p>
<p>@Nrdsb4,Those litter box solutions are clever, but a lot of cats won’t use an enclosed box–imakes them feel trapped and vulnerable, I guess. Whenever I see complaints about cats going outside the litter box, the first advice given is to take off any lid.</p>
<p>^^^^We have been lucky in both our last two houses to have a perfect set up for a litter box which would not require an overly enclosed space. In our last house, there was a closet under the back stairway. We put a cat door in the closet door, so she had this entire space to herself. It kept the box out of sight and eliminated any odor problems.</p>
<p>In our current house, the AC units are upstairs, outside on a little covered enclosure, kind of like a little covered balcony. For some reason, the builder made a small closet sized room in front of the door to the ACs, so that you open a door in order to get to the door which accesses the AC units (probably to cut down on noise). So there is a small room created by this setup, which is a perfect kitty room. To keep the dog from accessing this kitty room, we put a cat door on it. AC repair guys have to go through the kitty room to get to the AC units, but so far we’ve only had to have them looked at once, and the guy didn’t complain. :)</p>
<p>Getting a pill into a cat–as mentioned in post 160–cats have a natural pouch on the side of their cheeks (think squirrel) from which they will naturally swallow. So pull back the cheek and put it there.
What is the antibiotic? most can be dissolved in small amount of water and squirted into side of mouth with a tiny syringe. Your vet can give you the syringe.</p>
<p>Well, Iggy’s check-up did not show the hoped-for results. The kidney values did not continue to drop; in fact, they inched up - just a bit but still not good.</p>
<p>The vet estimates that we’ll have him a few more months to a year. We will continue his antibiotic (another week or so) and after that nothing … except to watch him for quality of life.</p>
<p>Right now, he still enjoys his treats and some activity and sunshine.</p>
<p>Iggy update (one month later): I understand that Iggy has kidney disease but, if I didn’t know I’d assume a complete recovery. He’s constantly hungry and has gained a good bit of his weight back. We call him Iggy Piggy at the moment. He’s playful and keeps up his daily routines with energy. I know he can slide backwards quickly. Still, one month ago, I would not have believed he’d be doing this well.</p>
<p>Hope everyone’s kitties are doing well too. </p>
<p>Go Iggy! That’s really nice to hear. Does he still have 8 lives left? It is amazing how cats seem to manage this-not always but miraculous when they pull it off.</p>
<p>As our update, the weird cat we’ve been feeding is still a weird cat we’re feeding. We think she may have been abused because she runs away if you have something in your hands. Sunday morning, she saw my wife holding the rolled up papers, bolted and didn’t come back until Monday. And this kind of thing has happened before. This thought means it could be a neutered male or female and we won’t know until the trust level increases. She’s started to come inside to eat more and now lets us pet her inside but near the door. There seems to be an issue with one of our actual cats, which is funny considering he’s huge but harmless and she’s scrawny. She now lets me scratch her back and I sometimes get elevator butt.</p>
I had to find this thread after my cat’s behavior this afternoon. She was crying loudly outside my door and wouldn’t stop. I opened the door, and she ran down the hall into the kid’s bathroom. I turned on the shower for her, helped her “take a shower” and all is now fine. She stands on the edge of the tub and puts her paws on the spout, but I have to help redirect the water so she can get wet. My kids have been home taking care of this for the last several weeks, but she certainly let me know I was neglecting this responsibility.
My baby (the little tortie in my avatar) does a similar thing: she cries by the master bedroom door until I open it, and then she slips in and runs straight into the bathroom to chew on the potted palm plant! It does not stop her that I always pick her up and take her outside. She also likes running water, just not from a kitty drinking fountain.
Kitty was ok with turkey-flavored antibiotic that my local compounding pharmacy prepared for her (the med by itself is bitter).</p>