Unexpected vet appointment

Should have said, we wrapped her in a towel first then popped her into the boot.

When we had to give our cat a pill, we put her into a wellie boot, head up of course?. No problem!

My dear old friend, Mitten, now long gone, had to take 2 tablets a day for a kidney problem for many years and it took both of us to administer them (one holding and one 'firing') DH used to hold her mouth shut until she licked her nose, which our vet told us was a surefire way of knowing she'd swallowed it - it never failed.

Thank you Anno, that`s the same as was in the post on GN a few years ago, so funny, yet so true!
Chicken, I also despair of getting Mia to drink water, so I give her food in jelly or gravy, but also put a tiny drop of water in the dish before putting the food in. She doesn`t seem dehydrated, so must be getting water somewhere, obviously doesn`t like it fresh from the tap! I`ve never had to give her a tablet, I chickened out and got the vet to give her a worming tablet.

We use an old thick jumper of DH's and put the cat head first down a sleeve so theres just their head showing out of the cuff end. Keeps the claws at bay and makes them easier to handle.

Of course the simple answer is pill pockets, www.amazon.co.uk/FELINE-GREENIES-POCKETS-Treats-Salmon/dp/B000JOE224 wish I had known about these with our previous cats!

Well, the big lad is basking on the sun room windowsill enjoying evening sun. Score 1-me, 0 - cat....pill gone down throat using vet method (thanks shysal)! Will keep all other suggestions in mind though as he's smart and will soon work out what's going on.

I knew he was off colour yesterday as he walked into his box with no fuss. Usually it's the four paws hanging on for grim death round the opening as we try to prod him in.

Thanks for all your suggestions....am loving the vid, so very true!

We only have to think the word "vet" and our cats disappear under the bed and have to be pushed out with the head of a broom! To make sure they drink enough, I add a little water to each meal, although I've often found them drinking out of muddy puddles when there's a bowl of lovely fresh water always available. Perhaps the muddy stuff tastes delicious---but I'm not going to try it! Thanks for the tip about the chicken skin. I'll try that next time.

I suppose a cat can have asthma as my daughter's dachshund has chronic bronchitis. It cost £1000 to diagnose and her two inhalers are hideously expensive. She's had this for about seven years.

???? to your Dear Pusscat. Get well soon xx

Oh forget to say, I give the tablet at mealtimes but I only put a very small spoonful of cat food in the dish with the tablet (wrapped in chicken skin) on the top. Hopefully Puss will be hungry and wolf down that, then you can give the rest of their meal once it has gone! Hard to give tablets if Puss has a full tummy!

My tip for giving a cat a tablet!

If you cook a roast chicken for yourselves, keep the skin and use a little bit to wrap up the tablet. My fussy cat ate it up no problem last time, so I will try it again. Have tried using a little bit of ham but she unrolled that and left the tablet.

Yup. I once found a neat pile of pills behind the sofa. We'd been so proud of our tablet administering skills too.
Cat 1 -Us 0

I had a ginger cat who, no matter how frail he was, blind and with a thyroid condition, was adept at fooling me into thinking his pill had gone down. Cats are crafty.

This is the comedy version of how to give a cat a pill.

I'm laughing at the antics we get up to in order to medicate our cats - marvellous! And your account of a visit to the V-E-T, too, Willow!

Those are gorgeous kittens, RAF. What fun!

Ha Ha ! had to laugh at the motorcycle gauntlets pill giving ! It was the same for our old cat, who lived till he was 24 or more .....you had to put his head back, wrap him in a towel and open his mouth ....and then, like the OP, he promptly spat the pill out as soon as we put him down ! Vet suggested crumbling it into food ....he then refused to eat it ! He was diabetic, and supposed to take med every day .......he was having none of it ! sometimes we held his mouth until he swallowed ,but this always felt cruel ! Vet said what about injections >>>>she must have been delusional bless her ....I think I would have ended up with the injection ! In the end, he passed away naturally from a weak heart and old age ....the vet came to the house and injected him and he just passed peacefully away !

We bought a stray cat from Spain here with us, she had bad asthma, and the vet in Spain said she would not make the journey to France ....that was 13 years ago, and she only just passed away from old age last year ....we think the weather here was better for her ....it may be the heat (if you are in a part of the UK with the heat wave at the moment) that is not helping....even our present (another stray !) cat is finding it difficult in this heat. She is given fresh water every couple of hours, but does not drink it, and I worry she is hot and uncomfortable. Most of our previous cats have gone to lie under a bush in the garden where it is cool and shady, but she prefers to lie in the heat in the conservatory ....and she has a thick coat, she must be so uncomfortable ! I did try a fine mist ....she leapt up and went outside (at least it did make her move to hide under the tree !)

The vet didn't give us any treatment for the asthma ,,,and did not have much to suggest really, but maybe nowadays they may have something they can suggest

Hope she gets better soon !

RAF, what beautiful cats! One of mine jumps up in the kitchen too. I just have to use Dettol wipes on the work surface and have got into the habit of placing a silicone mat on each of the hob burners after use in case she burns her feet.
She does respond to 'No!' but that is no use when I am not watching.

Make a little ball of either fish paste or chicken paste with tablet in the middle then make another smaller one with no tablet. If you give that one first they are lulled into a false sense of security and wolf the tablet one down! Have 6 cats so lots of practice??

Katek, I used to give pills to my next-door neighbour's cat while she was working. She is a vet so taught me a technique which worked well:
Hold the cat firmly by the scruff of his neck (feet still on the floor), tipping the head back.
Stick the pill syringe through the side gap in his teeth and shoot.
Wait until he swallows then release.

As you say, check the floor afterwards. I think there was only one occasion when the pill was spat out.

Good luck, I hope he will soon improve. Love the pic, he is enormous!

sooty, one of my cats, had a kidney condition and had to have pills every day.
i religiously wrapped her up in a towel so she couldn't move while my husband neatly opened her jaw and popped the pill in and massaged her throat so she swallowed.
we put her down and she spat the pill out!!
lo and behold she then sniffed it and ate it off the floor. so every day after we put the pill down on the floor and, bless her, she ate it up without any fuss.
haven't had to dose either of her successors [well not yet] but i think monty might well have been good although lucy would probably run a mile and stay out overnight if i tried!

https://signal-corridor.live/uploads/talk/201608/medium-233861-on-the-stairs.jpg%3C/span%3E https://signal-corridor.live/uploads/talk/201608/medium-51568-d2afe6f6d9f5870809383c919a275c0f.jpg%3C/span%3E https://signal-corridor.live/uploads/talk/201608/medium-897811-matthew1.jpg%3C/span%3E

Giving our old cats pills was achievable as they never bit or scratched, just wriggled frantically, but I hated putting them through the stress.

We have just taken on two Siamese kittens, who are wrecking the place as expected, has anyone found a foolproof way to stop them jumping on the kitchen work surfaces (and hob!)?

thanks brenh34 I will try that with my dog he is on three tablets a day and manages to leave them in his food bowl each time.

When our previous cat developed a thyroid problem which meant two tablets a day (morning and evening), the vet showed me how to do it by myself. When the cat is sitting you very quickly hold his head and tip it right back (so he's looking up at the ceiling). This will force his mouth open so you then throw the tablet right to the back of the throat and massage his neck until it's gone. It looks very painful but the vet assured me it is a foolproof method and so it was. You have to be prepared to do it very quickly to catch the cat offguard but I did it every day for a year until he passed away so it does work.

I know I shouldn't laugh willow500 but I couldn't help it reading about how you have to go about getting your two cats to the vets. Loved the crocodile on her records. Thank goodness I have two retired greyhounds who are happy to jump in the car but not quite so happy to jump out when we get to the vets. So much easier.