Giving Medication To Cats: Easy Tips

Giving medication to cats is a bit like trying to catch smoke – frustrating and often futile! Your usually cuddly kitty has been presented with a tablet. Suddenly it’s a writhing ball of claws and teeth, and nothing you do can convince them to just swallow the (expensive) medicine. It’s almost as if they don’t even want to get better.

Rather than giving up, here’s a few tips and tricks you can try.

Giving medication to cats – tried and tested methods

There are a few methods you can try to get those meds down your cat’s throat once and for all. Depending on their personality and preference, one will likely work better than all the others. Once you’ve found the path of least resistance, you just need to hone your abilities until you reach Olympic-level skill.

Opening your cat’s mouth and giving them the pill

It’s safe for you to tilt your cat’s head back, which means that their bottom jaw naturally drops a little bit. Unfortunately this isn’t the case when giving medicine to a puppy – so take your wins ????

When you need to get a cat to swallow a pill the “traditional” way you’ll need to move quite swiftly and calmly. If there’s two people, it often helps to have one person holding the cat. But you should be able to easily do this by yourself.

Now, follow these 10 steps for giving medication to cats:

1. Put your cat in your lap or sit with the cat between your legs on the floor.
2. Hold the pill in your dominant hand.
3. Use your other hand to gently hold your cat’s head, ensuring your fingers stay behind the mouth – to avoid bites.
4. Tilt her head back so the nose points upwards. As mentioned, her lower jaw will naturally open slightly in this position.
5. Use this hand to gently open the top of your cat’s mouth further.
6. Then use your pill hand to lower the jaw further from the bottom.
7. Once the mouth is nicely opened, quickly put the pill as far into the throat as you can.
8. Close your cat’s mouth gently and quickly.
9. To encourage your cat to swallow, stroke the throat. You can also gently blow on her nose. Both actions will help to stimulate a swallowing response.
10. It can also help to give the pill a very light coating of butter or margarine to lubricate it and make it easier to swallow.

Need a visual? Here’s a great video to help.

Once your cat has taken the pill, be sure to give a treat and some scratches – hopefully this will make it slightly easier next time!

Giving medication to cats: Don’t be scared of trickery

We’re not above a bit of deceit and disguise when it comes to giving medication to cats. Sometimes, it’s just the easiest way. Unfortunately not all cats will be tricked by our devious ways. But if yours is, then the medicating battle has been won without too much of a fight.

Here are some of our favourite ways to trick your cat into taking their medication without fuss

• If you have a liquid or capsule medication, try mixing it into wet food or their absolute favourite treat. You want to really get the medication nicely hidden by the other food. Preferably opt for something which can’t easily be picked apart. It’s just like hiding carrots in a toddler’s spaghetti bolognaise!
• You can also try putting liquid on your cat’s paw – they will normally go to lick it off.
• Try one of the pill pockets on the market. These are treats which are specially designed to help hide pills.

Avoiding battle scars when giving medication to cats

Let’s face it, even the most placid cats sometimes unleash their inner tigers when faced with the dreaded medicine time. If your cat is getting a bit too free and easy with their claws or teeth, you’ll have to take action to keep everyone safe.

Consider wrapping your cat in a towel or cloth of some sort when giving medication. They don’t love it, but when they’re bundled up, they can’t scratch you.

Don’t pay for your sins twice!

Your cat gets sick or injured, you take it to the vet, and what do you end up with as thanks? An ungrateful cat who subsequently doesn’t want to take their medicine, and a vet bill which makes you cringe. Cat insurance means that you only have to deal with one of those scenarios.

We can’t do anything about your cat refusing to swallow the pills, but we can help to soften the blow of the vet bill a little – get a quick online quote with us now.