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How to Give
Your Cat a Pill
These instructions apply to a right-handed person and a
reasonably cooperative
cat:
- Find someplace where you can place the cat about the same level as
your elbows – a countertop or table, perhaps a couch with you kneeling
on the floor.
- Get the pill ready and go find cat. Pet cat.
- Pick up pill with thumb and middle finger of right hand.
- Place palm of left hand on cat’s head and gently grasp with fingers and
thumb. Use index finger of right hand to gently begin opening cat’s
lower jaw. Now, in one smooth sequence, tilt the head back and pull the
lower jaw down.
- When the throat is almost vertical, drop the pill as far
back in the throat as possible, poke it gently with your right index
finger and release cat.
- Gently pet cat. The pill is either down or it isn’t – no point in
stroking throat or holding mouth closed.
- For most cats you will need a helper. Ask the helper to stand or kneel
behind the cat and gently restrain the elbows.
- Some cats are simply impossible to pill. You have two alternatives:
By adding flavors, compounding pharmacists
are able to make most drugs taste good enough that many cats will eat
them voluntarily. Alternatively, some drugs can be administered by
application to your cat’s skin. This transdermal route tends to be much less
effective than oral administration.
Pill Pockets are soft cup-shaped kitty
treats – drop a pill into the open cup and seal it by gently squeezing
the open end. Cat now happily eats Pill Pocket. Will every cat eat Pill Pockets? No, but many cats do
– even some fussy cats. If you are having a tough time, it's certainly worth at try.
Pill Pockets are useful even when you cat won't eat
them voluntarily. Especially when you are giving only half or a
quarter of a pill, first cover it with pill pocket dough. Soft round
good-tasting pills are much more readily accepted than scratchy
bad-tasting pills. The soft slightly greasy Pill Pocket coating also
makes pills slide down the esophagus more easily. Typically, dry pills
hang up in a cat's esophagus for about ten minutes before finally
reaching the stomach. That can't be comfortable, and with
irritating drugs like doxycycline, can be harmful. Look for them
here
order Pill Pockets.
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unless otherwise noted, all material herein is copyrighted by
Placerville Veterinary Clinic 1995 . . .2008
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