It’s unpleasant, but true: even cats sometimes get sick. At the same time, they do not want to take the medicine themselves, but shift this honorable duty onto the owner. Giving a medicine or a pill to a cat without the help of a veterinarian can be difficult, but there are proven ways.
Note to the hostess
- Choose a time when the animal is calm.
- Calm yourself down. Remember that you are not “torturing the cat,” but helping him.
- Be confident, but don't push too hard.
Preparation
Before reading any further, stop for a moment and consider whether you are definitely going to give the medicine. Check the dosage too. It will be useful to ask your doctor if the drug can be mixed with food and dissolved in water.
Did you know everything? Are you sure you are right? Then let's get down to practice.
Method one: deceiving maneuvers
Try mixing the medicine with food. It is easy to do with canned food, but dilute dry food with water and mix until it becomes mushy.
The trick may not work. Contrary to popular misconception, felines don't have a good sense of smell. However, they are sensitive to the nuances of tastes, so they often refuse food with incomprehensible additives.
In this case, you can spread the mixture of food and medicine on the cat's paws or nose. Some especially purely dense comrades will begin to actively lick, and the drug will go where it should.
If it didn't work out to outwit the cat, nothing can be done - you will have to catch it and hold it.
Method two: catch it if you can
Before chasing a cat, try to come to an agreement with him: choose a time when the pet is calm and does not expect a trick, sit next to the animal or sit in the back, planting it between your knees. If you are right-handed, then hug the cat with your left hand, pressing it to you, hold your head with your palm. Now open the cat's mouth with your free hand and dispense the medicine.
How to open your mouth if your pet resists?
- Pull on the withers (this place is just below the neck), the mouth will open. Beware of possible side effects - vicious hiss and teeth clicking.
- You can just stick your fingers with the pill clamped in them on the side between your teeth, but if you come across a very biting character, it's better not to risk it.
- Spread your jaws with a syringe without a needle. The syringe is convenient for liquid preparations, and for tablets there is or, simply, a tablet dispenser. This is a plastic tube with a piston inside. The tablet or capsule is inserted into the tip, the tube is inserted between the teeth, and the plunger pushes the medicine out.
With highly frightened or angry animals, "negotiations" are likely to come to a standstill. Then find an assistant and ask him to hold the sufferer. It is good if this person is familiar and pleasant to the cat, but in especially neglected cases, do not forget to give the assistant thicker gloves.
When there is no one to help, there is another option - to put a sleeve over the cat's head (take, for example, an old jacket) of a suitable diameter - so that almost the entire cat is in the sleeve, and the head is outside. Then the patient will not twist and run under the sofa, leaving you to heal the wounds from his sharp claws.
If there is no suitable jacket, such a sleeve-cone is easy to sew from scrap materials.
Instead of a homemade fixture, you can use a retainer bag. Veterinarians use it for aggressive animals. However, without experience it is not easy to shove a cat into such a bag: he is usually against it. With a sleeve, perhaps, it's easier.
An option for the strong-willed is to wrap the animal in a thick blanket, towel or blanket so that only the head remains outside. Not the easiest way, but if it didn't work out differently, act quickly and without hesitation: the cat, who managed to realize that he was being caught, dodges many times faster.
Let's be optimistic and imagine that at this stage you have a well-fixed pet that is dutifully (or not so) waiting for its dose of medicine. The following actions depend on the form of the drug: liquid (mixture, suspension) or solid (capsule, tablet). They have slightly different ways of "presenting".
How to give liquid medicine
Draw the mixture into a syringe without a needle. You can attach a piece of silicone dropper tubing instead of a needle, but this is not necessary. Now unclench the cat's jaws by inserting the syringe from the side between the teeth and pour in the medicine.
The pet's head does not need to be lifted up much, keep it slightly at an angle. Inject the contents of the syringe in small portions so that the cat has time to swallow it.
It is advisable that the drug, especially if it has an unpleasant taste, does not get on the tongue. Bitter or acidic medicines can cause increased salivation or vomiting. So aim for the corner behind the cheek, closer to the throat, but not directly into it. Then the liquid will not get on the tongue, swallowing will be reflex, and the cat will not choke.
How to give a pill or capsule
If you have learned to skillfully drink liquid preparations, then the previous option will suit you: grind the tablet, pour out the contents of the capsule. Dissolve the resulting powder, pour into a syringe and feed successfully.
A small, neutral-tasting capsule or tablet may be given whole. Tilt the cat's head back a little, slightly open the jaws with the introducer or with your fingers. Drop the capsule on. Close your mouth, pat your pet's throat, wait for it to swallow the medicine.
Be patient: some especially cunning comrades make "idle" swallowing movements, and spit out the pill when the owner loses vigilance.
In an ideal world, where exceptionally obedient cats live, this is where it all ends: a satisfied pet gets a treat as a reward, the owner pours stress with valerian or something stronger - the job is done. But there are also …
Difficult cases
- The capsule stuck to the palate. Push it with water: pour in a little through the syringe. The same option will help in the case of a pill hidden behind the cheek. It is not necessary, as is sometimes advised, to grease the capsule with butter. If you do this one time, then most likely nothing terrible will happen. But it is better to consult with your veterinarian: oil is not very good for cats, and in some diseases it is even dangerous.
- The medicine is very bitter. Disguise the medication before giving the cat.
An undercover pill
Special "pill pockets" are sold on the Internet. A tablet is placed inside, sealed on top and fed to the pet. These pockets have a pleasant smell and taste for animals. So most likely they will happily swallow the treat without noticing the addition.
At home, you can make "koloboks" from the medicine mixed with forage-pate, bread or dough. A soaked cat treat will work as well. Sometimes butter is used, but remember that this is not always acceptable, consult your veterinarian.
If the drug needs to be taken several times, then prepare a lot of balls at once, freeze and take out as needed.
Another option is to crush the tablet and put the resulting powder in gelatin capsules. They are sold in some pharmacies and online stores (search for “empty gelatin capsules”).
It may not be possible to find empty blanks at once. Then buy capsules with some substance at the pharmacy and replace their contents with your preparation. Moisten the junction of the capsule halves with water for strength.
Hopefully some of the tips above worked: the cat has received the medication and you are not seriously injured. In that case, congratulations. If all else fails, exhale, give your pet a rest and try to start over.
Repeated and failed? Realized that you don’t want to try again? Are you ready to eat this pill yourself? Don't worry - give in to the vet. Because, as you know, "the good doctor Aibolit will heal everyone, heal everyone."
