Adopting and raising a pet is equal to raising a child. They need your attention, affection, and proper medication for a healthy and happy life. Compared to dogs, cats can be more difficult when it comes to feeding them medicines. It can be really tasking to get a difficult cat to take its medicine, and if you own a cat, you already know why.
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How To Give Your Cat Its Pill
However, consult your vet regularly to treat your cat medically and closely follow their advice as to how to feed them the prescribed pills or liquid doses of medicine. Thoroughly understand the formulations available for the specific medication, such as a pill, liquid, and transdermal.
While you are at it be careful not to get bitten in the process. Here are a couple of ways to help you out.
Some cats may be easy to pill. Videos are showing how you can hold your cat down with your dominant hand, lift their head while stroking and with your free arm open their upper jaw and place the pill right inside the mouth and quickly stroke under the chin to make it swallow. Unless the cat does not spit it out or you don’t get bitten in the process it is good to go.
Some would suggest wrapping the cat in a towel, so it does not run away. You could try mix the pill with its food or treat the cat with every pill, so it sees it as a reward. If, making your cat eat its pill is difficult perhaps the vet can suggest a liquid medicine if available.
How to feed your cat Liquid Medication
- Many people prefer liquid medication for their cats, and this may be possible with many medications. You could use the same method by opening the cat’s mouth and giving the dropper full of medication but be careful not to choke the cat.
- Never approach a cat from front to feed medication, they are sure to resist. Another way to getting the liquid medicine in is, to hold your cat down and lifting its whiskers, use a dropper or syringe without a needle. Use your fingers to open the mouth on the side right behind the fangs under the whiskers you will find a gap between the molars to squirt the liquid in but slowly release the medicine without choking the cat.
- The cat may spit out the medicine, but there are chances it may have ingested most of it so do not try to feed it the medicine again unless you are certain that it did not ingest any at all.
- Many owners wonder if they could mix the liquid medicine with food. However, a cat or kitten may be able to deter the change in taste and may avert the food and in turn, does not get the dose at all. Besides, you do not want the cat to stop eating at all which can become problematic.
Few important facts to remember:
- Some cats can’t be pilled, it can be very difficult
- Some people are unable to pill a cat physically or emotionally
- Establish a medication routine earlier so the cat gets the meds they need in some form or other in time
- Your bond with your pet is very important and giving medication shouldn’t jeopardize that
- Always consult the vet for the good of your pet
- Never approach cats straight ahead, they don’t like to be approached this way. Instead, envelope the cat in your arms or approach from behind
- Develop a less stressful technique to give them medicines. Figure out what suits you and your cat best and make it a quick routine to feed medicines
- Try to get the cat its medication first and then food or treat, etc.
It may seem quite overwhelming but medicating your cat in time is important for their well-being and your own. They should not be put down because you were afraid to feed them medicines in time. It may not be a success right at the start but keep working on it, try again and again, and build a method to feed your cat, its medicines on time.
