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Post by smilesbetter on Sept 14, 2014 11:34:57 GMT
What is your favoured method of giving a cat a tablet?
We have managed to give Rosa and Carlotta their worming tablets easy enough (Carlotta has hardly any teeth so its not really a problem with her hahaha, plus she's so teensie she can't fight my man and i away). However, Mieze, the one who definitely has tapeworm so needs the tablet the most, is a monster!!!
We tried just popping it in her mouth normally, but she wouldn't even open her mouth and would quickly snap it closed any time we did get it open. She is also amazingly strong for a cat and apparently super vicious when it comes to it (She's so chilled out normally haha). So we wrapped her up in a towel with only her head poking out, and eventually managed to get the tablet in. We had her sitting there for at least five minutes with us rubbing her throat to try to get her to swallow, and when we finally relented and let her have her head free, she spat it out then quickly turtled into the towel and we couldn't catch her fast enough as she charged off growling. So we have given up for now but need to get her the tablet soon. Apparently it flushes their whole system and gets rid of the worm in about 2 hours, so it really is in her best interests to have the tablet, it would mean she can rejoin the rest of us (Not that she'll want to now) and be out of confinement.
So what methods have worked best for you fellow cat owners in administering tablets to your wildcats haha? I'm thinking i may need a thick pair of gardening gloves and some sort of long tube just to get the thing into her mouth hahaha.
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Post by zahada on Sept 14, 2014 13:15:00 GMT
For those who find pilling a cat a nightmare, there are some good news. You can worm and flea your cat in one go with Broadline spot on.
I used to just tilt the cat's head back, open mouth wide, pop a pill covered in butter really far in the mouth, closed the mouth and stroked the throat. I found that a lot quicker and less stressful than wrapping cat in a towel, and then doing the above.
I always had the pill ready, so the action of administration was a surprise, no time for the cat to think and object.
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Post by zahada on Sept 14, 2014 13:21:39 GMT
To open the cat's mouth and keep it open you need to squeeze gently but firmly both sides of the mouth near the jaw joint. You can get pill poppers into which you can put a little bit of water so the pill gets flushed down the throat. But you must place the pill far enough for it to only go one way. The pill popper will also protect you from the cat's teeth so you can be more relaxed about the whole thing. LOL.
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Post by smilesbetter on Sept 14, 2014 13:33:33 GMT
Thanks for the reply zahada :0 spot on would have been great but the vet gave us the wrong spot on the other day. Wormers can only be bought direct from a vet here and they usually won't sell it unless they have met the pet in question, so it really depends on what your vet stocks annoyingly. So we now have a Milbemax tablet for her. Will give a slightly modified version of the pill popper a go, I have a syringe for water (No needle of course) so can use that to at least get her mouth open, then can chuck the pill down as far as I can and use a teensie amount of the water to try and help it down. Poor kitty, but it really is the best thing for her! Much better than having tapeworm anyway!
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Post by zahada on Sept 14, 2014 13:45:50 GMT
Wormers that work can only be bought from vets in the UK too. And vets can only prescribe them to 'animals under their care'. LOL.
Would the vet nurse be able to pill the cat for you tomorrow? At my vets that would be done at no extra charge. Unless of course, your cat finds vets stressful.
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Post by zahada on Sept 14, 2014 14:51:48 GMT
Hope your syringe is very thin....
And try to make the pill slippery - oil, butter, cream cheese.
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Post by smilesbetter on Sept 14, 2014 17:18:38 GMT
Haha yep was a thin syringe. We managed it! Mieze was not best pleased but I dribbled a tiny bit of water from the syringe and it made her start licking her lips which resulting in her swallowing the tablet! She managed to growl the whole time, but she should already be rid of the tapeworm by now according to the vets! She hasn't come out from hiding yet though haha.
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Post by zahada on Sept 14, 2014 18:35:22 GMT
Excellent.
By the way, not all tapeworms need fleas as the intermediate host. I am surprised that the vet didn't tell you that, unless this kind of tapeworm is not known in Germany!?
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Post by tonib on Sept 14, 2014 18:46:49 GMT
Glad to hear you got the pill down her smilesbetter. We use tablet wormers for 2 of our cats, gave Roman his Drontal XL tablet today , he spat it out once but I got it much more to the back of his throat on the 2nd attempt & with a quick close of his mouth & held shut with throat stoking & it was gone in a tick. Followed by some treats & he doesn't even run away. Lexie is a wriggler, not the brightest cat so always comes when I call her even for 2nd attempts if she escapes! Again with some treats to distract her we get the tablet down within 3 tries. Osiris & Penny are a different matter they get Profender spot-on (normal for Penny & Osiris has it for large cats). Luckily any pills we've had to give these 2 have been crushable in food. Arden Grange Liver Paste for cats works well for Penny - she has it every day with her Metacam (liquid) in. She's a hisser & clawer, she will bit but its more a gumming as she hasn't many teeth but her gums are hard. Osiris is worse he has not hesitation about biting or more likely clawing (& his claws look like eagle talons with razor edges & feel like it!), but wafer thin ham or chicken work well. We crush the pill & mix it with some Applaws that he likes. If he doesn't finish it then we use pieces of the ham to make a wrap of the food & hand feed him. Before now we've mixed powder in water & syringed it into Roman's mouth - over time we have acquired a selection of various size syringes from different cat medcines! Otherwise the towel wrap is the way to do it - Mark holds the cat in the towel & I dose then clean the blood up later!!! Marks or mine that is
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Post by smilesbetter on Sept 14, 2014 21:43:07 GMT
Excellent. By the way, not all tapeworms need fleas as the intermediate host. I am surprised that the vet didn't tell you that, unless this kind of tapeworm is not known in Germany!? I know, I said to her about it coming from meat too (Mieze absolutely doesn't eat raw though so can't see how she got it) as none of my pets have fleas and the cats are both house cats. The vet nurse didn't even know Stronghold didn't cover Tapeworm (she genuinely said "I will have to google that") and had to keep going back and forward to privately discuss what to do with the vet (who refused to come out and see us despite not having a client in at the time) so it's no surprise that this happened. Hahaha tonib you sound like a seasoned pro when it comes to medicating cats! Thankfully Mieze is now curled up next to me, all is forgiven it seems. My man got a few cuts in his hand today but we managed to avoid anything worse. In the end she was held in a towel, a small blanket and a dressing gown haha, as we realised that her main source of power is her back legs. We had her completely covered so it was just her head poking out and her tail at the other end furiously slapping my man. It would have been quite funny if not for the fact that she could still have easily savaged us both despite all that. It was pie luck that we finally got the tablet in and I dread the day we have to ever give her another tablet. She's not exactly fond of spot on either, but at least with spot on I don't have to try get my fingers in her terrifying panther mouth!
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Post by Deleted on Sept 15, 2014 15:34:57 GMT
I used to be a pro when we fostered the old cats as some would need a pill twice a day for one thing and half a pill for another Thankfully the older cats tended to have fewer teeth to get me with I do my two girls with Drontal every three months and I'll get both pills ready, I'll pick up the cat and plonk them onto my lap (which has a towel folded on it to protect me from claws)and in the same action tip their head back, open their mouth and stick the pill down their throat....only takes seconds. The first time I thought Chilli would be the worst one to do as he's so big but she just opened her mouth no problem....it was Lily who took two goes as her wee mouth was SO narrow! They're due their next dose on 1st October so I'll ask the vet's advice next week as to whether they should be done more frequently once they are both going outdoors.
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