Search...
Home Subscribe
Pie
Home Subscribe
Recent topics Flagged topics Hot topics Best topics
Search...
Search within dogs and cats Search permies
Advance search Google search
Register / Login
Gardening playing cards kickstarter green living book with pie you get 2 thumbs up and 1 thumbs down Oehler complete underground house and green house set PDC ATC vids
  • Post Reply Bookmark Topic Watch Topic
  • New Topic
permaculture forums growies critters building homesteading energy monies kitchen purity ungarbage community wilderness fiber arts art permaculture artisans regional education skip experiences global resources cider press projects digital market permies.com pie forums private forums all forums
Gardening playing cards kickstarter permaculture bootcamp sketch with tools Green Living Book SKIP=SKills to Inherit Property PEP Permaculture Experience According to Paul GMC website
this forum made possible by our volunteer staff, including ...
master stewards:
  • Carla Burke
  • Nancy Reading
  • r ranson
  • John F Dean
  • Timothy Norton
  • paul wheaton
  • Jay Angler
stewards:
  • Pearl Sutton
  • Anne Miller
  • Tereza Okava
master gardeners:
  • Christopher Weeks
gardeners:
  • M Ljin
  • Matt McSpadden
  • Megan Palmer

Best way to give a cat a pill?

 
Anne Miller
steward
Posts: 17825
Location: USDA Zone 8a
4548
I like...
dog hunting food preservation cooking bee greening the desert
posted 2 years ago
  • Likes 3
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
    Send
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Tiny Kitty went missing on Sunday 12/04 afternoon.  She came home this morning for breakfast after being missing for almost a week.

She is limping and has a knot on her front paw.

What is the best way to give her a 1/4  benedryl tablet?

She doesn't seem to want it in wet cat food.

Invasive plants are Earth's way of insisting we notice her medicines. Stephen Herrod Buhner
Everyone learns what works by learning what doesn't work. Stephen Herrod Buhner

 
Douglas Alpenstock
pollinator
Posts: 5520
Location: Canadian Prairies - Zone 3b
1522
posted 2 years ago
  • Likes 10
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
    Send
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Safety first! You'll need this:



I kid, I kid. DW says hold the cat's face in left hand, pry open bottom jaw, squeeze so they can't close the jaw, and shove the pill deep, past the tongue, and hold mouth shut until they swallow. Rubbing their neck encourages them to swallow.
 
Rebecca Norman
gardener
Posts: 2564
Location: Ladakh, Indian Himalayas at 10,500 feet, zone 5
893
I like...
trees food preservation solar greening the desert
posted 2 years ago
  • Likes 6
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
    Send
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Sorry I don't have more useful tips. If it was hard for Hercules...
Hercules-attempting-to-give-his-cat-a-pill.jpeg
Hercules attempting to give his cat a pill
Hercules attempting to give his cat a pill

Works at a residential alternative high school in the Himalayas SECMOL.org . "Back home" is Cape Cod, E Coast USA.

 
Mike Haasl
steward
Posts: 15961
Location: Northern WI (zone 4)
5095
8
I like...
hunting trees books food preservation solar woodworking
posted 2 years ago
  • Likes 3
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
    Send
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
It's not too bad to do.  Here's one of many videos:

SKIP books, get 'em while they're hot!!! Skills to Inherit Property
See me in a movie building a massive wood staircase:Low Tech Lab Movie

 
Carla Burke
Rusticator
Posts: 9316
Location: Missouri Ozarks
5041
7
I like...
personal care gear foraging hunting rabbit chicken cooking food preservation fiber arts medical herbs homestead
posted 2 years ago
  • Likes 1
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
    Send
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
I must admit, I'm curious as to the purpose of the benadryl, for her. Is it to calm her, so you can check her out?

PURPLE CARDS! GET YOUR GARDENING CARDS HERE!! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/paulwheaton/garden-cards?ref=4qylf3. "The only thing...more expensive than education is ignorance."~Ben Franklin. "We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light." ~ Plato

 
thomas rubino
master rocket scientist
Posts: 6824
Location: latitude 47 N.W. montana zone 6A
3753
I like...
cat pig rocket stoves
posted 2 years ago
  • Likes 5
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
    Send
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Hi Anne;
They make a little gizmo called a pill shooter.
This is how Liz pills our cats.   https://www.amazon.com/PETHOUZZ-Shooter-Syringe-Medical-Dispenser/dp/B072BS471Z

For all your Montana Masonry Heater parts (also known as) Rocket Mass heater parts.
Visit me at
dragontechrmh.com Once you go brick you will never go back!

 
Anne Miller
steward
Posts: 17825
Location: USDA Zone 8a
4548
I like...
dog hunting food preservation cooking bee greening the desert
posted 2 years ago
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
    Send
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
I know Benadryl is not for pain.  She is in pain so I just thought it might make her feel a little better.

I think she found a hunter's dump site and has been enjoying feasting on deer.

What happened to her paw, who knows?

I cut a pill into 1/4 tablet with wet cat food.  She just turns up her nose.

I crusted the pill with the same reaction.  I pulverized another pill again the same reaction.

I offered her the whole can of cat food without the pill with same reaction.

So I give up.

We will see how her paw is on Monday when the vet opens if she is still around.

She came home because it is raining.

Invasive plants are Earth's way of insisting we notice her medicines. Stephen Herrod Buhner
Everyone learns what works by learning what doesn't work. Stephen Herrod Buhner

 
Carla Burke
Rusticator
Posts: 9316
Location: Missouri Ozarks
5041
7
I like...
personal care gear foraging hunting rabbit chicken cooking food preservation fiber arts medical herbs homestead
posted 2 years ago
  • Likes 3
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
    Send
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
I can't help thinking a tiny bit (maybe 1/8 to 1/4teaspoon) of willow bark powder sprinkled on/mixed into her wet food might help more than the benadryl, which is a pretty controversial medicine for cats and dogs. Some vets recommend it, others emphatically advocate against it. I'm super wary of it.

PURPLE CARDS! GET YOUR GARDENING CARDS HERE!! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/paulwheaton/garden-cards?ref=4qylf3. "The only thing...more expensive than education is ignorance."~Ben Franklin. "We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light." ~ Plato

 
Joylynn Hardesty
master pollinator
Posts: 5241
Location: Due to winter mortality, I stubbornly state, zone 7a Tennessee
2216
7
I like...
forest garden foraging books food preservation cooking fiber arts bee medical herbs
posted 2 years ago
  • Likes 6
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
    Send
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Whenever our kitties come home injured, we mix some tumeric in with tuna. It helps reduce inflammation, which reduces pain. Of course, if she's not hungry yet... she won't eat anything.

'What we do now echoes in eternity.' Marcus Aurelius
How Permies Works Dr. Redhawk's Epic Soil Series

 
Anne Miller
steward
Posts: 17825
Location: USDA Zone 8a
4548
I like...
dog hunting food preservation cooking bee greening the desert
posted 2 years ago
  • Likes 2
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
    Send
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Thanks, Carla and Joylynn,

I doubt that there is willow with 200 miles, who know?

I have turmeric in my spice rack.

I have lots of tuna so next time she acts like she wants to eat I will open a can of tuna.

I learned about Benadryl when the vet gave the dog a rabies shot and she had a reaction.

It also helps with that reverse sneezing.

Invasive plants are Earth's way of insisting we notice her medicines. Stephen Herrod Buhner
Everyone learns what works by learning what doesn't work. Stephen Herrod Buhner

 
Christopher Weeks
master gardener
Posts: 5082
Location: Carlton County, Minnesota, USA: 3b; Dfb; sandy loam; in the woods
2760
7
I like...
forest garden trees books chicken food preservation cooking fiber arts seed woodworking homestead ungarbage
posted 2 years ago
  • Likes 5
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
    Send
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
I point their muzzle up and press in gently from the sides of the mouth until they open up. Then I press those fingers into their mouth a little more and while the cat is struggling with the obstacle, but before they decide to get angry and bite me, I drop the pill straight down into the middle of their throat. Then I remove my hand, pet them with one hand and rub their throat to help stimulate swallowing with the other hand.

I used to use the fingernail under their lower incisors to get the mouth open, but this gives me more control.
 
Eric Hanson
Steward and Man of Many Mushrooms
Posts: 5755
Location: Southern Illinois
1692
I like...
transportation cat dog fungi trees building writing rocket stoves woodworking
posted 2 years ago
  • Likes 2
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
    Send
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
I have two suggestions that are really a variation on a theme.

Option one:  cook up some bacon and drown that Benadryl in bacon grease.  I have yet to find the cat that can resist bacon.

But if the cat picks the bacon off the pill, crush the pill to dust and mix it in with the bacon, grease and all.  My bet is that the kitty eats the whole thing.

Eric

Some places need to be wild

 
Anne Miller
steward
Posts: 17825
Location: USDA Zone 8a
4548
I like...
dog hunting food preservation cooking bee greening the desert
posted 2 years ago
  • Likes 3
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
    Send
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Eric, I think that might work.

I was first going to use peanut butter as I do for the dog though hubby said he didn't know if cats like peanut butter.

She may decide she wants to be a house cat. She is kind of clinging to me.

She looks out the door though she has not wanted to go out.

Only time will tell.

Invasive plants are Earth's way of insisting we notice her medicines. Stephen Herrod Buhner
Everyone learns what works by learning what doesn't work. Stephen Herrod Buhner

 
Joylynn Hardesty
master pollinator
Posts: 5241
Location: Due to winter mortality, I stubbornly state, zone 7a Tennessee
2216
7
I like...
forest garden foraging books food preservation cooking fiber arts bee medical herbs
posted 2 years ago
  • Likes 3
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
    Send
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Peanut butter? We have one cat that loooves it! One cat that tolerates it cause the first thinks it is a treat. One that can't stand it.

'What we do now echoes in eternity.' Marcus Aurelius
How Permies Works Dr. Redhawk's Epic Soil Series

 
Anne Miller
steward
Posts: 17825
Location: USDA Zone 8a
4548
I like...
dog hunting food preservation cooking bee greening the desert
posted 2 years ago
  • Likes 6
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
    Send
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
We got back from the vet. It appears that she had been bitten by some unknown animal. The vet pulled her hair out exposing the puncture wound.

She was given an antibiotic shot.



Invasive plants are Earth's way of insisting we notice her medicines. Stephen Herrod Buhner
Everyone learns what works by learning what doesn't work. Stephen Herrod Buhner

 
Jane Mulberry
master pollinator
Posts: 1124
Location: East of England/ Northeast Bulgaria
432
6
I like...
cat forest garden trees tiny house books writing
posted 2 years ago
  • Likes 6
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
    Send
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
I hope your cat makes a speedy recovery, Anne.

Some cats are relatively easy to get to take pills, others just won't, no matter what, in my experience. One does need to be confident and firm with the cat, but I've had some who fight like demons and even the vet can't get them to take a pill. Sometimes liquid medicine is easier to give than a pill, though it's important to make sure the cat doesn't inhale a liquid rather than swallow it.

With ours, for routine stuff or long-term meds, we mix it with some food we know the cat is highly likely to eat, tuna or those yoghurt-based creamy cat treats. For short-term prescription things like antibiotics where they're seeing the vet anyway, we ask our vet to give a shot instead.

I'm only 65! That's not to old to learn to be a permie, right?

 
Anne Miller
steward
Posts: 17825
Location: USDA Zone 8a
4548
I like...
dog hunting food preservation cooking bee greening the desert
posted 2 years ago
  • Likes 6
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
    Send
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Thanks, everyone for the advice and wisdom.  I will remember these the next time something happens.

Invasive plants are Earth's way of insisting we notice her medicines. Stephen Herrod Buhner
Everyone learns what works by learning what doesn't work. Stephen Herrod Buhner

 
Take me to the scene of the crime. And bring that tiny ad:
montana community seeking 20 people who are gardeners or want to be gardeners
https://permies.com/t/359868/montana-community-seeking-people-gardeners
reply
reply
    Bookmark Topic Watch Topic
  • New Topic
Boost this thread!
Similar Threads
More...