A kitty that won't eat tuna? Wha???
Crime reporter Peter Hermann needs help from Unleashed readers. He's got a stubborn kitty who needs medicine, but won't take it. Here's his story. Please console him and post advice:
I own a cat that won't eat tuna.
My two overweight cats, Mashu and Sienna, hate being picked up, and most of the time, even touched. To get them to the vet this past weekend, I had to hire a cat sitter to come help. It's a two-person job that involves trapping them in a room and flushing them out from under a bed.
It went quickly this time, only to discover at the vet that Mashu had a cut on her paw that was slightly infected. That meant giving her a dose of medicine twice a day and soaking her paw in a solution three times a day.
I knew right away that was not going to happen.
I managed to soak per paw once when I got her home -- before I took her out of the carrying case. I missed with the medicine and then for two days couldn't catch her and hold her long enough to administer any. I called the vet, got a reprieve from paw soaking and picked up some tablets that I only had to give once a day.
First I tried inserting the pill in a "pocket treat." Mashu simply batted it around for a while but refused to eat it. Then I crushed the pill in some wet food. Mashu removed the ugly clump from her dish, rolled it into a ball and shoved it under the fridge. Then she and her sister refused to eat anything out of the contaminated dish and complained loudly.
Finally, I walked across the street to a corner store and bought a can of tuna. No cat turns tuna down. Right? Right?
I crushed a pill into a teaspoon of tuna, put it on a new dish and put it on the floor. Mashu sniffed, but then walked away. She swung back around but pawed at her little rug as if she was in a litter box, her way of saying absolutely not!
An hour later and very hungry, she took three or four bits of tuna. I wasn't sure if she got any medicine. This morning, I put the dish down again and she ate all of it. I left the house with both cats mad (even though they each had a full dish of food) but happy that Mashu at least got one pill inside her.
Now I'm off to buy more tablets. Thank goodness it's one a day.
Comments
This may be a dicey proposition, but I know it's worked before. When our dog wouldn't swallow a pill, my mom would grind it up, dissolve it in a little water, then squirt it back into his throat with a syringe (sans needle). Gross, but effective. However, I'd be afraid of kitty claws in this case....
Posted by: Shannon | June 18, 2009 1:44 PM
When I had to give my cat pills last year the only way I could get them down her was to get this thing that's like a pen with a plunger on one end and a little grabber at the other end to hold the pill. You can push it back into the cat's throat, push the plunger and then hold the mouth shut until they swallow. I would generally trap her in a corner of the sofa so she couldn't move. As she started to feel better, it did get more difficult. I got mine from the vet, but I think they have them at the pet stores as well. I found the pill pockets and canned food to be useless. She gave me that "You don't really think you're fooling me?" look.
Posted by: Amy | June 18, 2009 2:08 PM
You're gonna need two people for this...But you have two options.
The syringe idea from Shannon is workable. Me and the girlfriend have used that on an unruly cat with success.. Make sure you blow on the lips of the cat right after you administer the medicine so that they will lick their lips and swallow.
Or you can just shove the pill down their throat. We've used that approach on the same unruly cat with success. Again blow on the lips immediately afterwards so that the cat licks his/her lips and swallows (the vet told us this).
Either way you need a towel and an extra person. One person holds the cat wrapped up in the towel, (paws underneath it of course) and then pinches the neck of the cat like you are grabbing it by the scruff. This opens the mouth. Then the second person with the medicine prays and sticks the pill or syringe in. Blow on lips and you are done.
Trust me, it's as bad as it sounds and blood will be drawn. But the medicine will go down.
Posted by: Rob | June 18, 2009 2:13 PM
Okay, Peter, time to get serious. First you need to invest in some hawking gloves--you know the ones that cover your entire arm? Next a leather apron (blacksmith-style should do). Now take a towel that's too worn to give away and, after capturing yon feral feline, wrap her snugly so she has no use of limbs (think kitty straight-jacket). Now try using the pill plunger or other directly into-the-mouth/hold-it-shut medicine insertion method. Too "Young Frankenstein"? Try to get your vet to inject a long-term antibiotic and FORGET pills! Good luck, Hon!
Posted by: Elissa Strati | June 18, 2009 2:22 PM
Ha! What a coincidence. I'm going through this right now with my kitten. All you do is crush the tablet up and put it in a liquid (as long as it's a small pill). Some people use the juice from canned salmon. Then get a small syringe and put the liquid in there. No more than 1 ml.
Then wrap the cat up in a t-shirt or appropriately sized towel making sure she can't move her front paws.
Then tightly hold her upright with your non-dominant hand. Try to get the scruff of her neck a little to secure her head. Insert the syringe into the corner of her mouth and she'll have to open it and then quickly shoot the medicine into the back of her throat. You have be fast! Then hold her mouth shut and gently rub her neck so she'll swallow.
This works very well for me and my kitten.
Posted by: Daniel Plainview | June 18, 2009 4:30 PM
Our dearly departed cat who lived to be 20 required many pills daily for several years. I got to be a whiz with pill-popping. Pick up cat, sit on a stool with pills nearby, gently press the sweet spot on one side of her mouth, and pop pill in when mouth opens. I learned to get the pills well inside the mouth or they came right back out. We never did master any liquid medicines, but the pills were a snap.
Posted by: Dahlink | June 18, 2009 5:16 PM
My dad used to run a laboratory on APG. When they had to give a cat a pill, they used a section of broomstick about an inch or two long, bored out through the center about half its diameter (so, if your broomstick is, what, an inch and a half wide, the hole would be three-quarters of an inch). Similar to suggestions from Amy and Elissa, a helper would force open the cat's mouth. The pill administrator would insert the dowel into the open mouth, park the pill on the end of the hole, and flick it down the cat's throat with his finger. No need to convince the cat to swallow; flicking the pill down its throat took care of that. Of course, the next time the cat sees you coming with the dowel, it might be harder to catch...
Posted by: KM | June 18, 2009 6:18 PM
My beloved Cooper was notoriously non-compliant when it came to pills. As a last resort, we bought a cat bag (ordered online). If we worked quickly, we could get him into the bag with only his head sticking out. This worked better than the t-shirt or towel options. But, boy, was he angry afterwards, but we got the pills down him. Another benefit of the cat bag is the strategically placed zippers for each paw, so you could isolate all but one paw that you might need to attend to for, say, soaking. BTW, we always "made up" with Cooper afterwards by offering to comb him; he could never resist that. Good luck!
Posted by: Tanner's Mom | June 18, 2009 7:27 PM
Try meat flavored baby food. We, too, have a cat that dislikes 99.99% of human food and canned food, but she will take a bit of chicken or turkey baby food. That stuff is pretty stinky, so the cats should like it. It's what my vet used to use for anorexic/sick cats who wouldn't take anything else, years ago.
Posted by: Katrina | June 18, 2009 8:51 PM
Loved this video. The fact is not all cats like tuna. You will simply have to experiment w/other eatable ways to hide medicines or go the direct approach. Initially, the cat will fight the forcefed meds but will eventually realize it's a losing battle and the mauling you will receive will lessen. Either way, it's not easy or pretty. Perservere.
Posted by: ruth | June 19, 2009 7:23 AM
Definitely use the suggestion of turkey baby food. When they use cats in commercials they use turkey baby food to get them to perform certain acts because cats can't resist it!
Posted by: russie | June 20, 2009 12:20 PM
We disguise the pills in fresh chevre (goat cheese). Irresistible, at least to our pampered felines.
Posted by: Celeste in bike-friendly Davis, CA | June 20, 2009 11:37 PM
Rather than torture your cat with all or any of the suggestions thusfar ...
Find a pharmacy that can make up the antibiotic prescription in a cream form that can simply be rubbed on the cat's ear. Cat's ears are remarkably thin and have lots of little veins close to the skin. They readily absorb the compound.
No fuss - you don't have to hold the cat down, no blood - your cat won't try to mangle your arm or other body parts and no freaked out cats from having fingers/syringes/broomsticks, etc, shoved down their throat!
Posted by: Christine | June 22, 2009 8:37 AM