Giving a cat a pill

I need to give my cat a baby aspirin. How do you recommend I do it? Force it into his mouth (more difficult) or smush up and put in food?

Thxx.

When I have to give my doggie a pill I coat it with peanut butter, she eats it right up. Does your cat like peanut butter? Or anything else mushy like that? if you have wet food you could try and coat the pill with the food. That way you can see her eat the whole pill.

I know some people say to just drop it down their throat but not only is that easier said than done but I also worry that it could be aspirated. I go with tucking it into some yummy food although that doesn't always work either. Cats are not stupid animals. 

I use either food or Pill Pockets for my dog but dogs are very, very different.

Good luck.

They sell a popper for cats, the pill goes in it, insert in their mouth and hit the thing in the back, like a syringe, and it flies down their throat.

Wrap him in a towel first, easier to deal with claws if they're a claw-y cat.

Another thing I do, is crush the pill, and put it in a syringe made for liquid, like amoxicillin, for animals, and add water, mix and squirt it in their mouth. I do this everyday for my cat and his vitamin.

Cheese! Or raw ground beef!

You did speak to your vet first right?

Oh I had one of those pill injector things for my cat when he needed antibiotics. They're convenient. But yeah, mixed with food is good.

Are cats able to have aspirin?

I put it in tuna.  It worked for a while, but then he got wise to it.  Then I mashed up cat treats and put it in that.

Ok here's the story ....

I took my cat to the vet last week for a check up. He is 15 years old, I adpoted him at 12 years old, and he hasn't been in nearly 3 years  - so I thought it time for a check up/shots/blood work.

The cat went absolutely ballistic on the examination table. It was horrific. They couldn't examine him and they had to trap him in a net. It was awful, traumatic, physically and emotionally, he was utterly freaked out and upset. We got the shot in but nothing else. So I took him home.

Since then he limps quite a bit and has what appear to me like caved in hip bones and is sort of dragging his legs - like walking low to the ground. It is intermittant. I think it's arthritis.

The vet (on the phone) agrees.

We are giving one baby aspirin every 3 days to deal with pain so I can bring him in again (sedated the next time!).

:-(

Unlike dogs, most cats will eat around pills if you just mush them up in their food.  It really is best to just administer the pill by itself.  (Followed by treats to make the whole experience less traumatic is what I've found best.)  It's actually not that hard once you get the hang of it.  Just make sure you keep an eye on the cat for 10-15 minutes after you give the pill if there's any possibility that it stuck the pill under its tongue so that it can spit it out later.  (Cats are smart!)

Essentially, what you do is put your hand so that the palm is over the top of the cat's head and use your thumb and middle finger to hold the cat's jaw open (by putting them in the edge of each side of the mouth; if you can have your palm behind the head, that's better but requires the cat to have a small head or you to have a big hand).  You should be able to get the mouth fairly wide that way.  Then toss the pill as far back on top of the tongue as you can.  If it's on the front half of the tongue, it will be spit out.  Let the mouth close and stroke the underside of the chin until the pill has been swallowed.

Some cats are more co-operative than others.  I've been able to give my cat pills by myself (one hand for the cat's mouth; one for the pill) but my parents find it's a two-person job with their cats.  I didn't have a choice in the matter, so that may have more strongly motivated me to figure out one-person pill-administering.

We had to give Vodka a lot of pills before she died.  The easiest for us was to sit on our knees, huddle her tight in our laps, and pop the pill (wrapped in a bit of cheese, usually) into her mouth.  While holding her mouth closed, rub her throat to help her swallow it.

It's so much easier giving cats injections. :|

The first time I tried giving my cat a pill, I mushed it up and put it in her food but she only ate a little bit then had no interest in finishing it. So my then boyfriend and I just held her, had the pill between my thumb and index finger then put it in back of her throat while holding her head. I did this twice breaking the pill in half and it wasn't that bad as I thought it would be.

I sit down on the floor and with the cat facing away from me hold him between my legs. I am on my knees. Then I grab his head and put my finger in the corner of his mouth so he opens it and push the pill toward the back of his throat. Then tilt his head up and run his throat a little bit to make him swallow it.

The peanut butter works great!

Our cat always eats around pills, so we got the pill popper. Giving her pills in general was such an arduous experience though, that we often considered just giving up :P

*thinks about trying to give my cat a pill*

ROFLMA!

Good luck!

http://www.dailykitten.com/chat/topic/12566

adolphs I was just going to post the same thing.

Good luck, I never had any succuss giving cats a pill.  Paid the extra money for the vet's assistance to do it.  Well worth two trips to the vets each day for a week.

Well I wish I could take him to the vet but sadly he needs the pill BECAUSE I took him to the vet and now he can barely walk. I am devastated.

Wrap him up in a towel, pry open his mouth and stick the pill as far back as you can. Put your hand over his mouth and hold it shut. Stroke his throat with your finger to make him swallow. Baby talk to him the whole time.

Oh, and good luck.

Just thought of something. Do you have a heating pad? Put it where the cat likes to lay with a blanket or towel over it. The heat may make him more comfortable.

I don't have a heating pad, but I can get one. Is there a particular kind? Does any old kind from CVS work??

Any old heating pad will work. My old cat has some arthritis and would get stiff and walk funny in her old years. I'd put the heating pad on one of her favorite places to sleep and turn it on low. She loved it and it soothed her. I've also done it for a dog who got old and achy.