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Try meat flavored baby food if it's just a trick for meds. May also be worth seeing if a compounding pharmacy can flavor it for you - that's what we did with Tigh's heart meds.
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Nov 29, 2021 16:35
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Dienes posted:Try meat flavored baby food if it's just a trick for meds. It is flavored, that's the thing.. we went from the pills with the powder inside which she didn't touch, to soft treats that were flavored which she didn't eat, to flavored liquid which I have been able to fool her into eating more consistently but she still knows something's off and will bolt away from her food dish the moment she notices. At that point she's not touching the food in the bowl and I need to get her a whole new thing for her to eat at all. It's fish flavored so I've been trying to find something fishy I could give her once a day that I could mask it with.
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Nov 29, 2021 16:46
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We had that issue with an elderly cat, she stopped eating foods she traditionally loved because the taste of the medicine was such a bad experience. Hopefully you can find something because in our case the only solution was to go through the daily agony of forcing a pill down her throat. We got pretty good at it but absolutely no one enjoyed the routine.
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Nov 29, 2021 16:50
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I've never bothered trying to hide pills in food. I just grind them up, dissolve them in water, and squirt them in my cats' mouth with a syringe. It's very quick and always works.
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Nov 29, 2021 17:14
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I don't know if it will work but my cats really like the Natural Balance food cups (not the cans, try looking for "sea brulee") which aren't your traditional pate but more of a gravy meat/fish soup thing. I stumbled on them when I was trying to get Sam off of chicken since he's mildly allergic. Might be what you're looking for?explosivo posted:Anyone have any personal recommendations for a particularly stinky brand of wet food, preferably one with some liquid, so that I could hide liquid medication in it?
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Nov 29, 2021 18:47
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Rotten Red Rod posted:I've never bothered trying to hide pills in food. I just grind them up, dissolve them in water, and squirt them in my cats' mouth with a syringe. It's very quick and always works. I'm always worried that this will cause them to absorb the medicine too fast? Isn't the whole point of the pills to delay/extend the release of the chemicals?
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Nov 29, 2021 21:42
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The vet should tell you if the pill is safe to crush/liquefy/whatever. If they don't, learn to ask when getting kitty prescriptions. In my experience they only tell me to not mess with a pill if it's in a capsule.. at least once it was because the medicine was insanely bitter and the capsule was to hide that.
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Nov 29, 2021 21:49
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Ur Getting Fatter posted:I'm always worried that this will cause them to absorb the medicine too fast? Isn't the whole point of the pills to delay/extend the release of the chemicals? I always request the syringe directly from the vet and tell them that's how I plan to do it. I've never had an objection. I've had several cats that will, under no circumstances, swallow a pill by any other fashion, and trust me, I've tried. It's a moot point in this situation anyway, as the medication in question is already liquid. Just squirt it in her mouth - she won't like it, but she will swallow it.
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Nov 29, 2021 22:48
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I recently had extreme difficulty giving my cat medication in pill form. I tried the towel burrito and everything else I could think of, but it was a nightmare and traumatizing to the cat and myself. I told the vet this and they gave me a pill shooter (or pill popper), a pen-looking device with a plunger that you put the pill into and then use the plunger to shoot the pill down the cat's throat. It took a little bit of practice but I've gotten pretty adept at using this thing and can usually get the pill into the cat on my first attempt now. The trick is to grab your cat by the scruff of the neck and lift them up so they can't resist with their front paws, and then wedge the pill shooter into the side of their mouth and then quickly jam it into the back of their mouth at the same time you push the plunger down. Highly recommend giving this little device a try, it's been a game changer for me and my kitty. A quick search turned up several variants and similar items on Amazon. This is the one that looks closest to the one I got from my vet, but there are lots of other versions available. https://www.amazon.com/Pet-Piller-Dogs-Cats/dp/B00061MOGG/
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Nov 29, 2021 23:30
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That's essentially the same as dissolving it in water as far as I'm concerned, and I assume you have to get the thing further into the mouth, which my assholes would NOT abide. And I bet they'd still manage to cough it back up anyway.
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Nov 29, 2021 23:37
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The oral syringe method hasn't worked well for our younger cat, even when we wrap her in a blanket. It's traumatizing for everyone. Luckily her current medicine is a thick paste so if it gets "around" her mouth she just licks it up reflexively anyway, although it's clear that she doesn't like the taste. It also makes her drool for a minute. She did better with a previous medication, a powder that we mixed in her wet food, but the food had to be really wet. Gravy was good, pâté style not so much.explosivo posted:It is flavored, that's the thing.. we went from the pills with the powder inside which she didn't touch, to soft treats that were flavored which she didn't eat, to flavored liquid which I have been able to fool her into eating more consistently but she still knows something's off and will bolt away from her food dish the moment she notices. At that point she's not touching the food in the bowl and I need to get her a whole new thing for her to eat at all. It's fish flavored so I've been trying to find something fishy I could give her once a day that I could mask it with.
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Nov 30, 2021 00:44
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My cat sometimes likes to swish her tail back and forth when she's purring and man it kinda hits kinda hard! She'll absolutely nail the spacebar of my keyboard with it and pause whatever video I'm watching  She's also started to concentrate her affection during feeding times now; she gets very affectionate early morning whenever I wake up to go to the bathroom and in the evening approximately 12 hours later she'll be jumping all over me. 
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Nov 30, 2021 01:49
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gloom posted:Does she otherwise like fish-flavored wet food? Neither of our cats will touch anything fishy, wet food or treats, and they're otherwise total scroungers. As far as they're concerned, it's chicken, turkey, or beef, or bust. She didn't until somewhat recently, we almost exclusively buy seafood flavored wet food for her now but she does cycle around and seemingly gets sick of something until we switch it up. They have other flavors of the medicine, originally we had chicken but moved her to fish when we changed food flavors, maybe it's time to switch back to chicken again since she clearly knows what this stuff tastes like. Thanks for all the help, everyone, I do agree that probably force feeding it to her would in the end be the easiest option with some training but I tried that once and really didn't go well. For her or me 
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Nov 30, 2021 01:59
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My cat takes tablets and I just hide it in a big dollop of Inaba Churu squeezable treats. They have a bunch of different flavors and they all smell horrific but my cats obsessed with them.
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Nov 30, 2021 02:18
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Giving pills to a cat is easy I don't understand what everyone's problem is https://i.imgur.com/fOWRPrc.mp4 thank god Butters doesn't need pills it was hard enough giving her aye ointment twice a day for a couple of weeks she's small and squirmy and impossible
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Nov 30, 2021 02:32
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Excuse me, sir, I believe that's actually a small raccoon.
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Nov 30, 2021 02:46
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Uhhhhhhhhhh why did you not give kiss??
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Nov 30, 2021 02:54
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Raenir Salazar posted:Excuse me, sir, I believe that's actually a small raccoon. She is a Lesser Mid-Atlantic Domestic Gremlin but I completely understand the confusion.  drunken officeparty posted:Uhhhhhhhhhh why did you not give kiss?? She's not a huge fan of kisses. 
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Nov 30, 2021 03:00
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Pill talk reminds me of the few days I had to give my cat meds after dental surgery, and spent two days wrapping her up, prying her mouth open, putting the pill shooter in and hoping I aimed correctly. On the third day, I put the pill down on the table or something while getting the rest of the gear, and she hopped up there and ate it on her own...
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Nov 30, 2021 03:42
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Lychee knows how to open doors, jump up and grab the handle, but the front door was always too heavy duty for her. Until now, she loving figured it out and now I gotta keep all doors locked at all times :/ 
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Nov 30, 2021 05:03
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KariOhki posted:On the third day, I put the pill down on the table or something while getting the rest of the gear, and she hopped up there and ate it on her own... Yeah, a lot of cat pills are made tasty, they're intended to be mixed into food and the cat would eat it intentionally. Personally I do the classic hold mouth open - throw pill in method even for tasty ones, but it is kind of heartbreaking to see the cat's little face all scrunched up in anger, trying to spit out the offending pill. Maybe I'll get a plunger next time.
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Nov 30, 2021 05:10
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BrainDance posted:Lychee knows how to open doors, jump up and grab the handle, but the front door was always too heavy duty for her. My partner has those style door handles in her apartment, but the doors are metal and heavy. Our cats can unlatch and push one open, but if they're on the wrong side and push it closed, they aren't strong enough to pull it open again with a paw, and can get trapped inside. We've taken to wedging the bedroom and study doors open when neither of us is around just in case so they don't cut themselves off from food / water / litter boxes in other rooms.
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Nov 30, 2021 06:03
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explosivo posted:It is flavored, that's the thing.. we went from the pills with the powder inside which she didn't touch, to soft treats that were flavored which she didn't eat, to flavored liquid which I have been able to fool her into eating more consistently but she still knows something's off and will bolt away from her food dish the moment she notices. At that point she's not touching the food in the bowl and I need to get her a whole new thing for her to eat at all. It's fish flavored so I've been trying to find something fishy I could give her once a day that I could mask it with. My compounding pharmacist recommends draining a can of tuna packed in oil, and mixing the meds in with the oil. I've also had luck with squeezing out two of those puree treat tubes onto a plate and either mixing in the liquid meds into the entire plateful, or only into a small section. But I would recommend you either use a type of puree treat your cat is already used to eating, or you introduce her to eating the new treat or tuna oil without meds a few times before mixing the meds in. That way she doesn't immediately associate the treat with the gross tasting meds. My good cat Raphael (  ) was a little devil about taking meds -- pills were an absolute no-go. I once tried crushing up a pill in peanut butter and smearing the peanut butter on his paw, thinking he'd naturally be compelled to lick it all off, and instead he just flung it off his paw and wiped the rest off on the rug. (This may have been the moment when I realized I loved him unconditionally.)
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Nov 30, 2021 16:39
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I keep reading all these cat maintenance horror stories and thinking myself lucky that mine are relatively hands-off with everything, but then I remember that they're both still relatively young and that's probably all just things I have to look forward to in a few years  My torty would protest mightily but I think overall would let me do what needs to be done, my fatty tuxedo is going to fight me I know it.
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Dec 1, 2021 19:30
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So, I felt a small lump at the base of my old girl’s throat when I was petting her today. Also, one of the community cats (who is honestly trying to become an indoor cat, I think) showed up with a gouge in his nose. He seems to be fine in every other aspect (breathing okay, eating like a menace, etc) with only a bit of watery eyes and an adverse reaction to my trying to clean it up a little with a warm wet washcloth. Needless to say it’s going to be an expensive month for me and I’m so scared about that lump in Mischief’s throat. To be fair, it doesn’t seem to be affecting her in any way (also has the appetite of a demon, drinking pretty often, active and bright-eyed) so I think I either caught it early or it’s benign.
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Dec 2, 2021 04:22
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Uhh, anybody have any ideas how I can ease the stress of noise I can't control for my cat? There's a construction going on near my home, and they are exploding rock 1-3 times a day, on random intervals. They use quite a loud siren to announce it, and the explosions can definitely be felt in all the rooms of our condo. Our old man cat is kinda stressed about it.  This is going to continue for quite a while, is there anything I can do?
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Dec 2, 2021 14:20
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There are hearing protection options for cats, but whether having them strapped to his head will be less stressful than the noise really depends on the cat. If it's just a few days, you could consider asking your vet for anti anxiety drugs for that period.
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Dec 2, 2021 14:33
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It's going to continue for way longer than few days, at least a month.
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Dec 2, 2021 15:44
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Maybe give a treat when you hear the siren so he learns to associate it with that. I take Quill in to get spayed in 15 min and I'm dreading it. I feel awful not feeding her this morning.
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Dec 2, 2021 16:32
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VelociBacon posted:Maybe give a treat when you hear the siren so he learns to associate it with that. She'll extra love you when you feed her after. Probably, Maybe
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Dec 2, 2021 16:45
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VelociBacon posted:Maybe give a treat when you hear the siren so he learns to associate it with that. I know that feeling. She'll be fine. Weird and woozy for a couple of days, then happily scooting around uterus-free forever.
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Dec 2, 2021 17:58
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Arsenic Lupin posted:I know that feeling. She'll be fine. Weird and woozy for a couple of days, then happily scooting around uterus-free forever. Unless she pulls at the staples then it's a couple weeks in a onesie and a cone of shame. But after THAT then it's a lifetime of happy.
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Dec 2, 2021 18:00
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Or gets an infection, like my Lena did. We should get the all clear on Saturday, hopefully! She's very tired of being stuck in a crate, with a cone and onesie.
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Dec 2, 2021 18:17
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So I've got a lynx-point Siamese that loves to snug. When I'm lying down, he'll come up and sniff at my face, give me a couple very adorable headbutts, and curl himself right into my chest. Today he must have smelled something exquisite, because he would not stop trying to sniff my face. After a few moments of tolerating it, I decided to give him a few sniffs back and- oh my god, it was like I had offended him so bad. He immediately pulled his head back and let out a hearty Siamese meow. I've done this maybe a couple times in years past, and if he feels particularly ornery he may hit me with a gentle paw swat. Why is it okay for him to sniff my face, but not okay for me to sniff his?  I understand that cats sniff other cats as a way of sussing them out when they're not very familiar with each other. Is he upset that after years of snugs, suddenly I was acting as though I didn't know him, making him say "what the gently caress bro I thought we were tight"? I would never sit there and intentionally try to get all up in his business, but his indignant reaction to my own sniffing was extra adorable  I guess it could be that his sniffs are short and quiet with his tiny little nose, but my sniffs are loud and aggressive with my human sized nose and the extra volume freaks him out
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Dec 2, 2021 19:50
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VelociBacon posted:Maybe give a treat when you hear the siren so he learns to associate it with that. That's a good idea, thanks! He's a very food motivated dude. Here's the chunk himself: 
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Dec 2, 2021 21:03
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We think one of our cats ate an Effexor pill that got left out on the nightstand last night We called poison control as soon as we found the pill missing, and took him to the E-Vet once he started showing possible symptoms (spacey, slightly disoriented and a little touch-sensitive) on their advice. It was extremely difficult to watch both cats trying to distinguish symptoms from normal cats being weird, and cats being weirded out by us staring at them. He’s going through intake now, no real questions I’m just worried and sad and looking to vent somewhere.
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Dec 2, 2021 21:17
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xzzy posted:Unless she pulls at the staples then it's a couple weeks in a onesie and a cone of shame. How essential is the onsie? The vet mentioned it's not a great option because it doesn't let the area breathe.
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Dec 2, 2021 22:58
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Sorry if this is the wrong thread, but are there any recommendations for "budget" level automatic cleaning litter boxes? I pay for pet expenses for the cat and dog I had with my ex as "child support" and my ex has a bad back so moving the litter box, scooping every day, and then moving it back to where the dog can't get tootsie rolls out of it is taking a toll. A friend of mine has one that looks like the Epcot Center that has a slide-out tray but it's like $400-500 and I can't afford it, but I don't know what the price range to expect for a decent one is.
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Dec 2, 2021 22:58
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VelociBacon posted:How essential is the onsie? The vet mentioned it's not a great option because it doesn't let the area breathe. It's mostly an alternative to the cone of shame, that allows the cat to be more normal otherwise, e.g. grooming her feet or curling up. Won't the injured area have a bandage on it anyway?
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Dec 2, 2021 23:01
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pidan posted:It's mostly an alternative to the cone of shame, that allows the cat to be more normal otherwise, e.g. grooming her feet or curling up. Won't the injured area have a bandage on it anyway? Alright, thanks. I thought the onesie wasn't enough by itself. I ordered three sizes of onesie and will try it out. Thanks!
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Dec 2, 2021 23:33
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