Cats are infamously challenging to medicate. Cats are picky and discrete eaters, in contrast to their less refined canine relatives. Normally, you can’t put a medication in a cheese or meatball and expect a cat to eat it on demand. That simply won’t happen. Here are some tips on how to administer medication to cats.
1. Put the tablet in the tuna
Although most cats won’t eat a pill hidden in food, one of the most effective ways to give a cat a pill is to camouflage it in the center of a chunk of tuna. This often works for a while, until the cat expertly learns to eat the tuna and leave a spotless pill behind.
2. For cats, use pill pockets
Pre-packaged soft cat treats with a hole cut in the center are available, designed specifically for administering pills or capsules. Drop the medication into the hole, then pinch the treat closed. Some cats love the treats and will scarf them down — until that day when they bite right into the center and taste the medication. Trust me, they will forever look at these treats with disgust, and they will never eat another one again. You’re back to square one.
3. Place the pill in food that has been crushed
Crushing the pill into a fine powder and mixing it into their wet food sometimes works; however, if the cat decides to only eat 60 percent of her food that day, then she’s only gotten 60 percent of her medication dose. I often tell my clients to mix the powdered medication into a teaspoon of something very palatable (baby food usually works like a charm) and, once they see that the entire dose has been administered, the rest of her breakfast (or dinner) can be given.
This may or may not work. Cats are finicky about their food, and what is caviar to a cat on Monday may become Brussels sprouts on Tuesday. Many pills are bitter, and trying to mask a bitter powder with tuna or sardines often misses the mark. Rather than make the medicine taste better, it only makes the food taste worse.
Clients often ask if they can crush the pill into a powder, and then mix it with a little milk or water and syringe it into the cat’s mouth. In theory, this sounds promising but, again, many medications are bitter, and milk or tuna juice is not enough to mask it.
4. Detailed directions on how to provide medication to a cat
There’s no way around it: At some point in your cat’s life, she is likely going to need to be administered some pills. Here’s the method I prefer (The description below assumes that you’re right-handed. If you’re left-handed, substitute the word “left” for “right”):
- Put your cat on a stable, flat surface, like a table or desk. Ideally, you’ll have someone else to help hold your cat steady. If not, wrapping a towel around your cat’s body often helps to steady her.
- Hold the pill between your right thumb and index finger.
- With your left hand, grasp your cat’s head as if you were holding a ball — your left index, middle and ring fingers are on your cat’s left cheek, and your left thumb is on your cat’s right cheek.
- While gripping your cat’s head, aim her nose upward. Not just up, but waaay up, so that the nose is pointing right at the ceiling. This will cause her mouth to naturally drop open a little bit.
- Use your right middle finger to push her lower jaw open a little wider, then drop the pill (which is between your thumb and index finger) down the back of her throat. This is the most critical step. If the pill lands on your cat’s tongue rather than the back of the throat, she may kick it out with her tongue, and you’ll have to repeat the entire process.
- Keep grasping her head, but let go of her lower jaw as soon as you drop the pill. Gently stroke her neck, and/or blow on her nose. When she licks her lips a little, it usually indicates that she has swallowed the pill. It’s a good idea to syringe a small amount of water into your cat’s mouth right afterward to ensure that the pill has gone down. Some pills, if they adhere to the esophagus, can cause irritation and swallowing problems later on. Water helps alleviate that.