Dear Sinéad, Siouxsie and Thomas:
I have to give my cat, Casey, a pill once a day. I'm sure you already know how very difficult this can be! When I do this, Casey's ears will be flat down, and, according to your site, you should leave a cat alone when their ears are flat. But I didn't know this -- I praise him and hug him and tell him how good he is, and eventually his ears perk up. He is 12 years old and has had medical conditions (diabetes and cancerous cysts). Is there any advice you can give to me on how I might be able to give him the pill without upsetting him so much? Thank you so much for your input -- it is appreciated!

Roberta

Sinéad: Well, as you know, Roberta, we cats typically hate taking pills. But sometimes we need to have them so we can stay healthy or recover from sicknesses.

Siouxsie: I hate pills! I won't take them! Ever!!

Thomas: You would if you were sick. I always thought I'd never take pills, either, but then I got really sick when I was at the shelter because I missed my person so much ... [sniffle, weep] ....

Sinéad: It's okay, Thomas. You have a forever home now. Mama will always take good care of you.

Thomas: ... Ahem ... anyway, I took pills there, and the shelter staff were really good at giving them to me so I hardly even noticed.

Siouxsie: The trick to giving pills is to be relaxed yourself. If you're tense and upset, we cats are going to notice that and we're going to get tense, too. That'll make it harder on both of us.

Thomas: That's right.

Sinéad: When I got sick a couple of years back, Mama had to give me pills every day. I thought I'd fight and be mean, because she'd given me worm pills before and I hated it! But somehow Mama got a lot better at giving pills between the time she tried to give us worm pills and the time she had to give me pills every day.

Siouxsie: A lot of that was because Mama was more relaxed about giving the pills.

Thomas: And some of it had to do with timing, too. It's easier to give a cat a pill if the cat is in a relaxed state of mind.

Sinéad: Choose a time when the cat is relaxed, perhaps when he or she is just waking up from a nap, and is on a flat surface. Do not wake the cat up to give him a pill; he won't appreciate this any more than you would.

Siouxsie: Then, take the pill in your dominant hand (your right hand if you're right-handed, and your left hand if you're left-handed).

Thomas: Approach the cat quietly and wrap your non-dominant hand around the cat's body, with its hind end facing you, so that your hand is near the cat's mouth.

Sinéad: Quickly use your non-dominant hand to open the cat's mouth by pressing just in front of the cat's jaw joint. Then use the thumb and index finger of your dominant hand to pop the pill into the side of the cat's mouth, just behind the "bump" of the tongue.

Siouxsie: Gently hold the cat's mouth closed while holding him in place, and stroke his head and throat, giving him lots of praise for being a good, brave kitty. When you feel the cat's Adam's apple move up and down and he licks his nose, that's a good indication that he's swallowed the pill.

Thomas: If you put the pill too close to the front of the cat's mouth, he will spit it out. But if you put the pill behind that "bump," the odds are much higher that the cat will actually swallow the pill..

Sinéad: And if you overshoot or undershoot, and the pill goes into the cat's cheek pocket, the result will be a spit-out, slimy pill.

Siouxsie: We're quite certain you'll have an easy time giving a daily pill, with very little trauma to you or the cat, if you follow these simple instructions.

Thomas: Another helpful thing is to vary the time you give the pill by a little bit, so the cat doesn't start to notice a pattern of "this event happens and then I get a pill." Open the pill bottle and take the medication out some time before you plan to give it so the cat doesn't begin to think "I hear this noise and then I get a pill." That way there will be less risk of your cat hiding on you when it's pill time.

Sinéad: Some pills need to be given at a certain time (like directly after meals), so you might have less room to vary the time with these types of medications. But with most medications, you could go probably up to an hour either way and it would be fine.

Siouxsie: If you need to give your cat more than one pill, ask your vet if it's OK to give the pills at different times of the day. It is very difficult to get most cats to sit still through more than one pill at a time.

Thomas: If you're concerned about being bitten, it's possible to use a "pill shooter," a syringe-like device that holds a pill and then pops it into a cat's mouth with a small burst of air. Mama's never used one of these on us, so we don't know how well they work. If you want to use a pill shooter, ask your veterinarian or one of the techs at your vet's office to show you how to use it properly, so that the pill stays in the cat's mouth and doesn't get lodged in his airway and cause choking.

Sinéad: Some medications come in liquid form as well. I had to take antibiotics for a urinary tract infection once, and Mama got it in liquid. It was nasty and sweet, but at least I swallowed most of it. Personally, I think I'd rather take a pill, now that I know Mama can give them to me without hurting and scaring me.

Siouxsie: Some meds can also be mixed into tasty treat-like substances. This only works for pills that don't have very strong bitter flavors, though.

Thomas: And some medications can even be given transdermally (through the skin). Thyroid medications like Tapazole, and a number of other drugs, can be compounded into a substance you can rub into the skin on your cat's ear flaps. If your cat really can't stand being given pills or you don't have confidence in your ability to give them, and you have to give medications for long-term treatment, this option could make life much easier for both you and your cat.

Sinéad: Good luck, Roberta. Please let us know how things turn out and how Casey is doing. We're sending him lots of purrs to help him get better!

Got a question? Need some advice? E-mail us at advice@paws-and-effect.com. None of the material in this column is meant to be a substitute for regular veterinary care.