Ashton just finished fourteen straight days of medication, and she may be the most difficult cat to administer pills ever in the family. I have given literally thousands of pills to all of my hyperthyroid cats over the years, but medicating Ashton without traumatizing her is nearly impossible.
The problem with Ashton is she doesn’t like to be restrained or held in any way. After her recent dental, I brought home liquid medications for her, and wrestling her into taking them traumatized not just her, but the other cats, too. When both Pierre and Ashton hid and didn’t come out for dinner, I knew something had to change.
Ashton needed to take her medication willingly, and that meant hiding from her that she was taking it at all.
The first step was to switch from liquid medication to pills, which are easier to disguise for a food-driven cat like Ashton. Then I had to find something to hide the pill in. There are several products on the market specifically meant to hide pills. For Ashton, I chose chicken flavored Pill Pockets, because Ashton loves chicken, but you can’t hide a pill in actual chicken. If your cat is partial to a flavor that they don’t offer, there are other pill pastes and wraps. They important thing is to find a flavor your cat likes.
The key to successfully pilling a cat while hiding food inside anything is not using too much stuff around the pill. If there is, cats seem to chew it off and spit the pill right out, So for this pill, I broke the pill pocket in half and knead that around the pill so that it wasn’t too thick. Every time I do this, it doesn’t look like it’s going to be enough treat to cover the whole pill, but it is.
Next, I give the empty half of the pill pocket as a treat. Ashton can smell the chicken flavor and waves her paw to ask for it. Since she is eating raw and only gets freeze-dried treats most of the time, this is pretty exciting for her.
After that, I offer the treat wit the pill hidden inside. Can you tell Ashton is right-pawed by the way it’s nearly always her right paw she waves when asking for her treat?
She eats the treat without ever realizing there was a pill in it. I sometimes worry that my sigh of relief will give me away to her when she does eat it!
Once she has eaten her pill, Ashton gets another treat. This is important to make sure she isn’t hiding that pill somewhere in her mouth. Ideally, after you give a cat a pill, you should syringe some water into her mouth to get her to swallow, but since syringing anything into Ashton is so difficult, we make do with additional treats to ensure she swallows.
By this time, Pierre has figured out that Ashton is getting something he isn’t, and he wants treats, too. That’s part of the reason I usually have extra pill pockets on hand for this process!
Does this look like the face of a cat who knows she just got medicine? Not a bit, and that’s exactly the way we want it to stay.
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Summer says
I’m so glad that worked for Ashton! Binga is somehow able to eat the treats and spit out the pills – but then, she’s a tortie! Fortunately, pilling isn’t all that traumatic here (or frequent), so my human just shoves a pill in the back of her mouth, blows on her face, and she gets over it. It would be awful if she was as difficult as Ashton.
Random Felines says
it is SO hard when you have a cat that is VERY sure they aren’t going to cooperate
The Florida Furkids says
We might try this with Ellie. She’s kind of picky about treats but it just MIGHT make medicine time easier.
The Florida Furkids
Connie says
I had to do this with Em at the end of her life. She would chew the first few treats to make sure I hadn’t pulled any hanky panky, but by then other cats had shown up so she was all about the eat first and ask questions later mentality after that, and the pocket with the pill went right down.
She is so freakin cute waving her paw.
da tabbies o trout towne says
guys…paws crossed thiz continmewz ta werk N yur non de wizer…gram paw dude and sauce both figured out afturr a few
treetz that treetz waz knot what they claimed ta be….de food gurl tried bread with butter, cheeze, wet cat food rolled inta a “meatball”…..ewe name it….
🙂 ♥♥
The Island Cats says
Fortunately, I am able to pill my cats pretty easily. Wally is not treat motivated, and pill pockets do not work for him. Glad they work for Ashton. I also use a compounding pharmacy and have some meds (ones that will need to be given daily for an extended period of time) made up into either a flavored treat or liquid. This has worked pretty well. ~Island Cat Mom
Katie isabella says
Pill Ickes worked great for Admiral when I had her, occasionally she spit out the pill but not often. I’d put 3 down. 1 with the pill and one without. If Mark with my fingernail the one with the pill do I’d know if she ate it. Katie Isabella refuses pill pockets with it without pills in all flavors. I gave to take get in it pay a tech to come here and pill her.
Katie isabella says
Pill pockets. Thanks spell correct!
Brian Frum says
Here is only one difficult on to pill here and she will never touch the pill pocket, even without the pill, dang!
Colehaus Cats says
Wow, that does look easy! Our Mom always thought those Greenies pill pocket things looked WAY too big for a cat to swallow (after a very, very brief scare once with a choking Pia). Whenever possible, we get medication in liquid form but yeah, the restraining part isn’t fun. We might rethink pill pockets and we thank you for awesome photos and a good write-up!
Madi and Mom says
Guess what last fall when mom tried to use pill pockets I actually ate around the pill then spit it out…..mom was not impressed with my skills
Hugs madi your bfff
mommakatandherbearcat says
I learned my lesson the hard way. When I started pilling Kitty, I laughed at how easy it was in comparison to all the things I’d heard. Until I found her pill stash. Yep. THREE WEEKS of pills – hidden in between the door and the jamb. After that, I got good at tossing the pill in the back of her throat and holding her mouth shut while I rubbed her throat and her tongue came out. She was brutal to anyone giving her a pill. I didn’t see any evidence she was traumatized – but now I wonder and feel bad. When the other cats start hiding, that’s a problem 🙁
I’m glad you found something that works.
Melissa & Mudpie says
That’s fantastic! Tara had loads of medicine and pills were impossible. We were all about transdermal and liquids. Truffles never needed medicine, and so far *knock on wood* Mudpie either, but when the day comes I don’t know what we’ll do. She’s definitely not treat motivated (or crazy about food at all) so I’m sure it will be a struggle!
Mark's Mews says
I’ve always had good luck crushing pills into cream cheese. All my cats have licked it right off my fingers. ~ TBT
William's Kith & Kin says
OMC, our mom dreads giving us medication of any kind! This is good info just in case we need it.
Ellen Pilch says
I am glad you found a way to get Ashton to take her medicine. I got Phoebe’s thyroid medicine in transdermal gel for her ear, but she squirms from that too now.
Jean Woodward says
Hi kitty lovers: I have a 15 year old calico who has both hyperthyroidism and kidney disease. I was successful with the thyroid cream in the ear for a very short time but then gave up when she was traumatized every time I tried to give it to her. She was just diagnosed with very high blood pressure and MUST have medication (very small pills cut into quarters) which I have been able to get in her by hiding them in chicken. Well, the jig is up – today she ate around them. then put it into the very moist Sheba food and again, the pill was left. AARRGGGH! I will try the cream cheese idea – thanks for that but I am at wits end . Open to any other ideas ………………..thanks.
Cats Herd You says
I’m sorry to hear your kitty is fighting both hyperthyroidism and kidney disease! If your cat is detecting the texture of the pill quarter hiding in the food, you can try crushing it and hiding it in soft food like a cheese, but be careful that you get the entire pill into the food after crushing it so she gets the whole dose. Some pills should never be crushed because their outer coating is important to how they function, but if the pill is already being cut into quarters, it should be safe. Check with your vet to be sure crushing the pill is OK first. Best of luck to you and your kitty.
The Swiss Cats says
We’re glad Ashton is taking her medicine so easily like this. It’s a good trick that would work perfectly with Zorro, but not sure it would work with me : I am not that much food oriented. Purrs, Pixie
Deb Barnes - Zee and Zoey says
Every cat is different – my Jazmine would eat pills in pill pockets like candy if I let her. Peanut, on the other hand, is a nightmare. She doesn’t fall for the pill pocket trick and trying to pop a pill down her throat is a near death experience for me… Luckily my Zoey will eat pills the way Ashton does – I only use a half pocket as well. When it’s too much of a pill pocket it becomes too much for her to chew and then she’s on to my motives!
Cindy Grant says
This is really smart. I had so many difficulties trying to get them drink medicine. I guess it would be different from now on. Thanks for sharing this 🙂
Cathy Keisha says
Whoa! Ashton, I wouldn’t fall for that!
Note from TW: I hide her pill in a tiny bit of food and she eats it. I’ve also put it in a tiny piece of ham steak. I give her a few pieces and then the one with the pill pressed into the center. Ashton might prefer it pushed into some chicken.
@infiniteknot says
thank you so much for this incredibly helpful post. i have an older cat and am on day 7 of 10 days of antibiotic in pill form and i have some pretty good scratches. having him fight so hard is terrible for him and then i feel awful. i am so glad to have found this technique
Bill Ackerman says
Wow, I love you. We dreaded giving Minnie her pill for diarrhea. After reading your method, we put an empty pill pocket on the floor. She scarfed it up. Then the pocket with the pill, likewise. Then another empty pocket, just to make sure it went down. So easy, and no stress for Minnie or her humans. Thanks to much.
Cats Herd You says
That’s great to hear. Hopefully Minnie will be feeling better in no time, with no stress to any of you!