ideas needed for force feeding food with meds

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Noah & me (GA)

Noah & me (GA)

Member Since 2016
Marco our civvie is absolutely hating getting pilled, like something I've only seen twice in 40 years. The "between your knees" thing doesn't work and this morning he was frothing at the mouth after getting pilled. He's really stressed and so am I. So I'm going to try and crush the pills together and use a feeding syringe. What should I use? Watered down wet food? He has urinary crystals so this has to get done. Pill pockets, mixed with food etc have always been failures for me.
 
Does he taste it when it's mixed in with his food? Just curious as to why the mixing in with food hasn't worked. When I crush and pulverize Leo's pill and sprinkle on top of his wet food and then sprinkle the Forti Fora on top he doesn't even know the pill powder is in there. The Forti Flora has such a distinct taste that is usually well liked by cats that it covers up any pill powder taste.
 
They can never be fooled, typical of a cat. What breaks my heart is that he is so trusting, just like Noah. Five minutes after inflicting all this misery they're back in your arms, "It's okay Daddy, I know you're not doing this to hurt me". We'll get through this just like we always do. He's not mouth breathing or scratching, it's just been a bad week.
 
Hi ! I haven't been much active lately but I just saw your post and thought I'd chime in :)

Champagne is being pilled daily since the last month and hates it too. I had to find different techniques as he spat his pills out so many times they started turning to mush :facepalm:

So far the trick that works best for him is putting the pills into gel caps and giving it to him in-between treats. I use size 4 gelatin capsules. They're wide enough, but a bit too long for a cat to swallow whole, so I shorten a bit by cutting the longest half with scissors.

I start off by giving him 1-2 treats, then the gel cap (now conveniently treat-sized), and then I quickly offer him a few more treats so that he doesn't focus on the different mouth-feel of the gel cap. Most times he doesn't even notice the difference and swallows it right away.

If he does notice and spits it out, I use the old "force feed" technique and pry his mouth open. But at least, with the gel cap, the pills don't immediately disintegrate with his saliva.
 
Civie Bebo completely freaks out when I've tried to pill him for years. Wrapping up does also....and now he HAS to take Enalapril every day for high blood pressure. We're on week 5 and this is still working: At breakfast, I put a small spoonful of soft food on a saucer then top it with several pieces of small size hard food pushing it in a bit and putting the pill in the middle. Some mornings it takes longer for him to get the pill, others it goes down with the first bite. I'm hoping he falls for it for a long time to come...
 
I guess I'm lucky in the sense that Leo will eat anything as long as there's Forti Flora sprinkled on top. Wedgewood Pet Pharmacy makes a lot of different flavors and sizes of their pet meds. Metronidazole comes in a 'tiny tab' from them and it is so much easier to get down. It's so small Leo doesn't even realize he's swallowed anything.
 
My civvie, Willow, absolutely hates taking pills with every fiber of her little being. She was diagnosed with allergies in 2008, and after trying everything, I gave up on trying to give her allergy meds, so she has done without all these years. She recently had to take Clavamox twice a day for 14 days. I got a pill shooter (I had never heard of that but the Vet tech told me to try it). I put the pill in the shooter and put a little bit of water in a syringe and put them, along with a hand towel, on a level of the cat tower that is about waist height for me. Then I picked her up and took her to the tower where I gently wrapped her in a hand towel.. kitty burrito. Then, I got her mouth open just enough to be able to get the pill shooter in there and shoot the pill into her throat, then I squirted a few drops of the water from the syringe into her mouth to cause her to swallow to make sure the pill got swallowed rather than being held in those secret places these cats seem to have to store pills so they can spit them out when you let them free. :)

I still hate having to make her take pills, and she hates having to take them, but at least this seemed to work better than past things I have tried. Hiding medicine in food has never worked with her. She knows. It does not matter how little medicine or supplement or whatever I put in the food or what kind of food I put it in (even tuna), she knows. She will not eat it. Period.
 
I use pill pockets by greenies for pilling my kitty. I'm not sure of the carb content, however, for a treat or two a day, it's probably nothing to worry about and forcing the pills probably raises the BS more due to stress. These treats are like kitty crack! My cat refused the pills any other way, would refuse any foods sprinkled with pills, and would spit out if tried to put them in his mouth.
 
What I use are Purina 'whisker lickin's' or Meow Mix 'Irresistibles' soft treats (be sure the get the soft ones, not the hard). Be sure to squeeze it tight around the pill. These almost always work when nothing else will. Also... giving just one (or ever less for smaller pills) treat... doesn't seem to have any affect on Derek numbers. :):cat:
 
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I found this technique worked really well for my kitty, although someone did say that you shouldn't shoot water into their mouth like they do in the video, so i just gave him some water to drink on his own. And of course some treats and head scratches when it was over.

ETA: Also, they need to be standing on something where they can't get great traction. It worked on the counter or tile floor. Didn't work at all on the carpet or sofa.

 
It's funny (?) how different all our cats are. Noah's brother Nigel actually enjoyed car rides. He was never crated and just pranced around the vet's office showing off. For his shots I used to have a beach towel on the kitchen table, gave the table a thump and he'd jump up even though he knew what was next. BUT... No one could trim his nails. He sent a tech to emergency once. They actually gave her an IV bag and left the shunt in because she would have to return the next day for another bag. You can't make that stuff up. For years it was referred to as "The incident" at my vet's office. We're not supposed to have favorites but I miss Nigel every day.
 
My mom never could get her cat to take a pill. I pick the cat up and had it in in less than 20 sec. I just set the cat between my knees with his feet sticking straight out and pull his head back with one hand and just put pressure at the hinge of the mouth so they open and stick the tongue out. Flick the pill in so it clears the tongue and release the mouth and hold it shut as you run a finger gentle down the throat. The problem most people have is they go to slow and give the cat time to fight or get upset. When you can do this and leave the cat think "what the heck just happen" you are doing it right.
 
Thanks. We've finally gotten into a nice routine w/o using food. You're right, a quick flick and he's back on the bed like it never happened. What gets me about Marco and every other cat I can think of is that they never pout or hold a grudge. I think that's a sign of trust which comes from intelligence. We love dogs too but basically you just put some peanut butter on bread and whoosh! Marco also loves riding in the car, sat on my lap today looking out the window.
 
I don't like pill pockets, but this pill paste is perfect for me.
0249_pillpaste_cat.png

She eats her pill every morning out my hand, and she had trouble at the shelter with not eating her pill. As soon as she smells me open this she's up and ready for a snack. She's not diabetic though, and I don't know how healthy this is. Probably not healthy at all lol.
 
I'm not sure actually, the shelter I got my cat from gave it to me. I'll ask next time I'm there. Also it says up to 30 pills but I can easily get 90 pills out of it. A thin layer is enough for her to want it, the bacon smell is strong.
 
Kiki Thor said:
Probably not healthy at all lol.
Click to expand...

Nope, wouldn't be good for a sugarcat for sure!

Wheat flour, corn syrup, vegetable glycerin, vegetable oil, stabilized rice bran, spray dried pork liver, natural pork flavor, vegetable lecithin, salt, dried cheese, dried corn syrup, xanthan gum, sorbic acid and calcium propionate (to preserve freshenss).
 
Djamila said:
I found this technique worked really well for my kitty, although someone did say that you shouldn't shoot water into their mouth like they do in the video, so i just gave him some water to drink on his own. And of course some treats and head scratches when it was over.

ETA: Also, they need to be standing on something where they can't get great traction. It worked on the counter or tile floor. Didn't work at all on the carpet or sofa.

Click to expand...
Thanks for sharing the video. We have been having such a pain giving them medicines. And one is on daily heart pills. Tried the technique shown on the video and it was a breeze! No mess, no foaming at the mouth, nothing got spat out and we didn't suffer any scratches!
Thank you so much!
 
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