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Giving a cat a tablet

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  • 15-05-2019 5:40pm
    #1
    Tranceypoo
    Registered Users Posts: 1,531 ✭✭✭


    I've tried crushing it and mixing with small bit of wet food and smearing on her paw, crushing it and hiding it in a couple of tablespoons of tuna in her bowl and trying to contain her and open her mouth to put it in

    Nothing has worked, she was atthe vets yesterday and diagnosed with an enlarged heart, so she needs this tablet every day for the rest of her life

    She is about 13, indoors 99.9% of the time and does not like people, she tolerates me because I feed her but she hates me after yesterday's vet visit when she had to be sedated

    Any suggestions?!


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    #2
    Mundo7976
    Registered Users Posts: 1,097 ✭✭✭Mundo7976


    Ah cats and tablets. Shoving it down her throat is an option but every day at that age!
    You could try crushing and mixing with butter then onto the paw. Or crushing and mixing in water and syringe down the throat?


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    #3
    Alun
    Registered Users Posts: 21,432 ✭✭✭✭Alun


    Some medication for cats is often not designed for them, and has a bitter taste that's difficult for them to stand. You can get things called pill pockets that are like soft cat treats that you hide the pill in.

    Otherwise try crushing the pill really fine using a pill crusher (obtainable from any pharmacy) and mixing it in a really small amount of wet food when they're really hungry, eg first thing in the morning.

    Is it Fortekor by any chance? Our cat is on this and doesn't seem to mind it.


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    #4
    Tranceypoo
    Registered Users Posts: 1,531 ✭✭✭Tranceypoo


    Alun wrote:
    Is it Fortekor by any chance? Our cat is on this and doesn't seem to mind it.

    Yes it is! She's a very fussy eater....


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    #5
    Alun
    Registered Users Posts: 21,432 ✭✭✭✭Alun


    Tranceypoo wrote: »
    Yes it is! She's a very fussy eater....
    All I can say is persevere!! Our cat is on Fortekor and Gabapentin, plus two supplements, Cystaid and Arthriaid and it took us a good while to figure out a way of getting it all into her.

    Pilling her via her mouth is a highly dangerous undertaking, even the vet has problems, so we have to do it via her food.

    Again, what we do is give her the Fortekor tablet, very finely ground up, in her first meal of the day. She doesn't have any food available overnight so in the morning she's really hungry. We give her a tiny amount of food, about a teaspoon, with the Fortekor tablet ground up and thoroughly mixed up. Usually she eats it right away, but sometimes walks off in disgust for no obvious reason. If we just leave her be and ignore all her plaintive cries (very difficult!) she eventually goes back and eats it, and when this happens we give her lots of praise. The other medications follow in similarly small amounts of food. Once she's finished all her meds, we feed her as normal. The key for our cat seems to be not to make too much fuss about it and to just ignore her if she's fussy. Any sign of pandering to her whims seems to be construed as a sign of weakness, and she'll keep on whining for something else without that nasty medicine in it. Don't give in !!!

    Also as I said, make sure to get a pill crusher from your local pharmacy, it'll crush the tablet really fine. I think it's partly the texture they don't like if you don't grind it fine enough.


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    #6
    Loveinapril
    Registered Users Posts: 2,329 ✭✭✭Loveinapril


    The best advice I got from a vet was to crush the tablet and mix in it a bit of butter and put it on her nose. Instinct is then to lick it off or wipe it with her paw then lick that.


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    #7
    Tranceypoo
    Registered Users Posts: 1,531 ✭✭✭Tranceypoo


    Loveinapril wrote:
    The best advice I got from a vet was to crush the tablet and mix in it a bit of butter and put it on her nose. Instinct is then to lick it off or wipe it with her paw then lick that.

    This seems to be the only thing that's working at the moment!


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    #8
    Archieboy13
    Registered Users Posts: 11 ✭Archieboy13


    Breaking it up and hiding it inside the jumbo dreamies worked for us , wolfed it down..


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    #9
    Tranceypoo
    Registered Users Posts: 1,531 ✭✭✭Tranceypoo


    Thanks everyone, I'm sad to say that, even though I'd managed to get the tablets into her for the last four days, it was just too far gone and she died this afternoon. RIP Babs.


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    #10
    Odelay
    Registered Users Posts: 3,795 ✭✭✭Odelay


    Sorry to read that. You did everything you could, but sometimes it’s just out of your control and nature takes its course.


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    #11
    tedpan
    Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators Posts: 4,627 Mod ✭✭✭✭tedpan


    I thought Galaxy tab or iPad when I read the title..


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    #12
    Anteayer
    Closed Accounts Posts: 886 ✭✭✭Anteayer


    It might depend on the personality of the cat in question, but I used to just used to put a tiny bit of butter on the tablet and then place it midway down his tongue.

    With my cat that would be fine, but I know with some others you'd probably end up in A&E.


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