Oldest cat had a liver infection a couple of weeks ago, and he's on long-term antibiotics, three tablets twice a day. He absolutely refuses to take the tablets in any sort of food (have tried all his favourites, including cream), and I find it very difficult to get the pills down him - he's a master at holding them in his mouth and spitting them out as soon as he's released, can hold it for 5 minutes! The best method I've found so far is to grind down the pills, mix them up with some butter, and coat the front of his paws with this - he has to groom, and he'll lick it all off, thereby getting his meds. I know it works as he's got the runs as a side effect of the antibiotics!!

Has anyone else got any tricks for giving cats pills that don't involve undue distress to the cat (or owner)? Any suggestions for tasty foods that will disguise a bitter taste would be welcome.

Ha, sorry I had to laugh at your method of coating the paws with butter!! That is something I probably would have never ever though of!!! The things we have to do!!

I may try that with my dog. In fact it is approaching time where he has to have his Piriton tablet and I am dreading it. He is just the same for taking meds,a nightmare! I just wrap his tablet in some thin meat and coax him hoping for the best but it really doesn't always work

I will be watching this thread for any other ideas!

The one annoying part of the butter-coating is that the cat now smells permanently of rancid butter!! I did try Marmite for a change, but it got everywhere. I'm told peanut butter also works. I wouldn't mind if it was just one tablet, it's having to do three each time that's a real pain. Fortunately he's recovered completely from the infection, but the vet doesn't want it to recur, hence the long treatment period.

i find buying a pot of salmon or crab paste and rolling it around the tablet into a pea shaped ball, first giving them a ball with no tablet then a ball with a tablet....works most of the time

If you can manage to get the pill into the cats mouth (pushing as far to the back of its throat as you can), close it's mouth, hold it closed and short and sharp onto it's nose - this makes cats swallow automatically - it was a tip from the vet and it works everytime for me!

Yup, tried that, but the cat refuses to oblige! Trouble with him is that although I wrap him up in a blanket to avoid the claws, if you don't get it right first time, he wriggles out and it's impossible to hold him without hurting him. Even the nurse at the vet's admitted it wasn't easy. If it was the Maine Coon or diabetic cat, it would be fine - Maine Coon is so daft he'd probably hold his own mouth open for you, and diabetic cat will eat anything, he hasn't much sense of smell/taste. Oldest cat is a wily beggar, bred for the streets and wise to everything (and he's 17, so I don't want to upset him too much in case he has a heart attack!).

Oooh I know this will make me out to be a complete crazy - but I love pilling cats when they've needed it. It's a sport. lol.

We had in the past one who was a real sneaky thing. He'd hold it in a little pocket in the back of the throat for ages.... stroking and massaging the nose pad did nothing. Was not at all amused by the suggestion of a lot of people to bop the cat on the nose pad - because to me that would only cause the cat to associate facial handling with a nose tap. Don't want a headshy cat.

My black and white fluffy thing is easy. I just hold the pill in my fingers, walk right up to him, no hesitating, grab upper head with one hand and at the same time as craning head back, use other finger in side of mouth to prise open jaws, and holding pill in 2 fingers, I push my fingers into the far back of his throat at the very back, release close jaws and stroke firmly the throat. It's all over in a flash - and at the very worst - I have had a dew claw catch me a little. I say nothing until he has it in his mouth, when I praise him, and follow up with a treat of something nice.

The Bengal is a feisty so and so - so I find, the best way is to feed him, and then he goes off and curls up. I let him sleep... then about 20mins later, I call him, and he looks up bleary eyes, and that is when I pounce - same as black and white - left hand takes control of the head, right hand has pill and prises open jaws, etc.... He will get up and give head shakes and impressions of impending death - but its mainly if I don't get the pill at the very back of the throat - therefore he tastes it or feels the size too much.

I always think give them as little clue as possible - act confident - and just do it fast. If you worry and hesitate, they pick up on your nerves.

That being said - I have always handled, daily all my cats faces, jaws, ears, paws, tummys etc, in the event that they need a vet - so they are used to that type of handling. That hasn't stopped them fighting back if they are aware of the pilling sessions, but I just hold them very firmly and get the job done, with loads of praise afterwards.

Hope your cat feels better soon.

I have a cat who has had to take a daily tablet since he was 2... no way I was going to put my fingers in his jaws every day for years on end. So he has it ground up in a mix of yoghurt and marmite. The marmite on its own kills any bitter taste but is a bit too icky, but mix it with a dab of yoghurt into a creamy paste and it is the highlight of his day.

I can suggest various foods to disguise the taste but I have no idea what your cat likes. I wouldn't put it in his dinner, but giving him a tiny medicated appetiser of something he can't resist (whatever that may be - prawns, tuna, coley, cheese) is the least stressful method. Cream cheese is great because it's a strong taste, I sometimes use it for the boy, but if your cat doesn't like it .....

There are some cats who I could have hand-tabletted regularly, I've had three who were very amenable, but my current cats would be made very miserable by that type of manhandling every day, a week's course of antibios is fine, but longer than that wouldn't be possible.

My Tortie is on 3 pills a day , and she's a nightmare !

I have to crush her thyroid pill, which I'm not suppose to do.

At the moment, I mix the pill in primula cheese spread ,and she licks it off my figer or a tea spoon .

She sometimes has the cheese spread which has got ham or garlic in it.

Is that plain yougurt Lippincote ?

Vet taught me a trick. Get the tablets in the cats mouth and hold it closed. Then gently massage the cats neck. For some reason it makes them swallow.

I find the cheap and cheerful pill givers are good as you can aim further back in the mouth.

The other things I've used are fromage frais and cream cheese as they are quite thick.

stargazer, I might try the cream cheese or fromage frais,

Get the pill into the cat's mouth ? You must be joking

Tell me about it. The other thing I tried a while back was crushing the tabs and then putting them in a child's medicine syringe with strawberry yoghurt. Right faff though!

I've tried the medecine syringe, you just get a splatter effect of yougurt or whatever over a 2 ft radius.

My Torties quite thin now,(illness and old age ) but she's always been terribly fiesty, and I'm frightened if I grip her too hard to force pills down, I'll break one of her bones

I sometimes use the vet method of tabletting as described by stargazer but I wouldn't get away with that long term for my cats. My vet gave me a pill popper last time I was there (he is a real pro at hand medicating without it of course) - but when he demonstrated it to me it looked very cumbersome so I didn't use it. I subsequently discovered that his 'practice run' had hurt her throat (either physically or psychologically) and she was gagging up any hard food for the next ten days so that (plus the cumbersomeness) put me off ever using one.

The yoghurt I use (recommended years ago by a vet) is plain live yoghurt, which is also good for their tums, helpful if the meds give them a gut disturbance (e.g. antibiotics). Cats tend to like it the taste but it won't disguise bitterness, so if the tablet is bitter you would need to add something like marmite to it. If your cat is happy with the cream cheese you're quids in curmy!

only thing I can suggest is the element of surprise - and speed. One of mine was difficult so used to wait until he was kipping, then sneak up on him and voom down his throat. To add to the mystery of what makes them swallow, I was told to blow gently into his nostrils.
Are you 100% sure the pills can be given crushed as some can't? Failing that, can you ask your vet about antibiotic injections as there are some eg convenia that may be appropriate. Sadly don't think penicillin is available as injectable and think that's the one for liver disease (mine had it too)?

Oldest cat is equipped with an extremely efficient set of claws, and he may be 17, but there's nothing wrong with his reflexes! So surprise (a la Spanish Inquisition) is unfortunately not an option. One of his antibiotics is metronidazole, which you can only get in a drip solution or pills, but fortunately they can all be crushed, so that's OK. I've tried a syringe with the ground-up pills, but he just spat that out, and the pill-popper is too awkward. Like Curmy, I'm afraid of hurting him if I'm too rough because he's an old boy and he's already got a heart condition (at least he doesn't mind his heart pills!).

One of the problems was that when he was ill, he had no appetite anyway, and it's taken him a week to get up to speed on his eating, so he wasn't really interested even in treats, but I'll try the Marmite/cheese combo - if he won't eat it, at least it's spreadable!

Thanks Lippicote I'll definitely give that a go ! I have to rotate what I put the pill in about every 10 days !

In the US, you can get things called Pill Pockets, which are cat treats that you can hide tablets (whole or ground up) in. Anyone know of a supplier of these in the UK? I suspect my cat would get wise to that pretty quickly, but it's worth a go - presumably the flavour and texture will disguise the pills better than a Kraft cheese slice!

I have a pill pusher for my cat as she has daily capsules. Thing is she seems to like them and comes running when I get the box out......well she comes running when anyone starts getting tablets out which is a worry lol

If you have problems getting them to open their mouth you can put your fingert over their nose but then you have the problem of them breathing the meds which isnt good. If you crush the tablet and disolve it in a bit of water to use a syringe you should put it in the corner of the mouth and not the front as I found out when I got it spat back at me lol

I think you can get pill pockets at vetuk.com

I am surprised no-one has dug out that very famous instruction manual for How to pill a cat...it normally pops up with discussions like this and ALWAYS gives me chuckle.

http://www.jokefile.co.uk/numerical_order/1132.html

Sorry, just had to add that link, yup I laughed out loud again!

Re above suggestions....is Marmite ok for cats or is it not really high in salt?
Pre-diabetes ( and no carb diet ) Paddy used to love a 'cat canape' for his meds.
1 Thomas treat biscuit, smear with Catalax paste, top with tablet. Offered on an empty stomach this was successful on most occasions.

Mine has a quarter of a pill once a day. It's crushed mixed with a tiny amount of marg then pressed on his paw so he can't flick it off, seems to do the trick as he licks it off eventually.

It does seem to be the least traumatic method, although the rancid butter smell isn't pleasant (I've got three pills worth to crush up, so more butter needed). I did read the How to Pill a Cat thing, it was hilarious! Every vet should have a poster of it on the wall.

My cats love taramasalata so I crush pills and mix them in - the strong fishy taste conceals them.

I'm pretty sure that by crushing those kind of tablets you're very much reducing their effectiveness, to the point that you may as well not bother giving them at all. We had a cat on tablets for hyperthyroidosis once and we either had to hide them in a bit of cheese or some tuna.