whats the best way to give a pill to a cat?

Question

mix it up or what?

Answer 1

Hi there...generally it is best to give a pill whole as cats are smart enough to eat around the medication and will not be able to get their full dosage requirement. For cats who are difficult to pill you can use a pill gun/syringe. Here's a video created by Cornell College of Veterinary Medicine which demonstrates step-by-step techniques to pill a cat with and without a pill gun: http://www.felinevideos.vet.cornell.edu/pill_or_capsule/

Answer 2

Getting a pet to eat a pill can be nearly impossible. Here are food tricks suggested by vets to make it easier without forcing the cat's mouth open.

Steps
Hide the pill in a little bite of a special food treat that the cat rarely or never gets. Cream cheese works best, but you could also try baby food.
Acclimate the cat to the treat by giving it some of the food without the pill in it.
Let the cat eat the food with the pill in it out of their dish or off your finger. Because the cat is excited about the treat, the cat usually never knows he ate a pill.
If the cat won't take the pill whole, try crushing it. Place the pill on a metal spoon, place another metal spoon ontop of the pill and press down. This will crush the pill & leave the powder in a neat pile inside of the spoon. There are also pill splitters and pill crushers available commercially at stores that carry pet supplies.
Mix the powder created in step 3 with a small amount of catfood or treats. Liquid from a can of wet catfood works well.
It helps to train a cat from the time that it is a kitten. If a little fragment of a Kitzyme tablet (or similar) is given as a pill, then followed up by the real thing or a treat the cat becomes used to pills.
When giving the pill hold the head back with one hand and throw the fragment of pill down the throat with the other. Kittens are not strong enough to object and will grow used to it easily.



Tips
Putting the pill in cream cheese is the easiest, because pill stays in the cheese. Most cats love cream cheese but aren't allowed to have it. Once the cat gets the cream cheese in his or her mouth, it's sticky and difficult to spit out.
Tuna also works well, as cats love tuna. Bits of chicken or beef also work well.
Some cats love peanut butter. Like cream cheese, it is sticky and hard to get out of their mouths. Be sure to use only a very small amount because too much peanut butter can choke them.
Vets also will give you a free narrow plastic and rubber pill dispenser to put the pill in the back of the cat's mouth. It makes getting the pill in easier if the cat refuses to eat.
Vets can also provide empty (and needle-less) syringes in which you can administer crushed up pills in a small amount (.5 ml) of water.
If any of these didn't work, mix the pill with cream cheese and put the mixture on the cat's front leg. He will instantly lick it and therefore consume his medication.
If there are other cats around, make sure they are not allowed to eat this treat before, during, or after the intended cat has received it. You may need a separate bowl of baby food for the other cats so no rivalries arise.



Warnings
Don't crush pills that are designed to be 'time release'.
Be careful to avoid getting the medicine down their wind pipe instead of down to their stomachs. When using a syringe, squirting only half the solution at one time helps.

Answer 3

simply by opening the cat's mouth and putting the pill as far back as you can without choking the cat and closing the mouth till it swallows the pill. If it manages to spit out the pill while you are holding the mouth -- just repeat the process. I know it sounds mean but it is how most vets and animal facilities do it.

Answer 4

Gently open the cats mouth, hold one finger in the edge of his mouth. Insert pill as far back on the tongue as possible. Then very quickly close mouth, while holding his mouth shut. Then, rub his throat area until you are sure he has swallowed. Then, to be on the safe side, open his mouth again, look and make sure the pill is gone. Some cats will hold a pill in their mouth and spit it out, especially when you are not looking.

Answer 5

I have always used the $5 pill poppers you can get at a vet's or probably at a pet store. You "load" the end with the pill in it, go in from the side and get it as far down the throat as you can (without gagging the cat of course) and push the plunger.

Answer 6

Since cats seems to get surprisingly strong when trying to aviod eating a pill, I straddle them between my legs and use my left hand to gently push/pinch the corners of their mouth so it forces it open and the try to drop it into the back of their mouth. Sometimes that takes a few trys if they manage to push it back out. I also recently was able cut some pills in half and mix them in with a small amout of kernal food and my cat ate them along with the food. Good luck!

Answer 7

Depends on the size of the pill. If you can crush it and put it in some moist food. However, some cats are slick, they can smell when canned food has been tampered with...if concealing a pill doesn't work, the only other option is to go ahead and hold kitty's mouth open and put the pill to the back of its throat, close kitty's mouth and breathe in its face..that'll force kitty to swallow.

Answer 8

One of my cats takes a pill every other day. So I have become an expert. I kinda put her between my legs while on kneel on my knees and sit on her so she can't run. Since you are above her pull her head back so when you open her mouth the pill will fall back in her throat so she won't spit it out. Drop it in and kinda hold her mouth until she swallows. You can even stroke her throat to make her swallow. Check to see if its down. It will get easier.

Answer 9

Crushing & mixing never worked for me. Cats too smart?

Chris J. is right, or get a "pill gun". Most pet stores carry them.

Get on your knees behind the cat so he can't scootch backwards. Open mouth, insert pill.

Answer 10

Force the cats mouth open with your fingers by pressing right where the jaw hinges. It's not hard, the cat's mouth will come right open and then drop the pill as far as you can down the cat's mouth. It will automatically swallow it when you let go of it's mouth.