Help! My cat won't take his medicine!!

[jengacnm]

One of my cats has asthma and is (supposed to be) taking every other day prednisone. I'm running out of tricks to get him to take it. Everything new works for a little while, then he stops taking it.

First: any solution that involves getting within ten feet of him won't work.

I'm not crazy about liquid because I won't know if he's getting all of it.

Crushing it and mixing it with food doesn't work.

I've been using pill pockets. I used to just put it in front of him, walk away, and watch while he ate it.

That stopped working-he just walked away. Then I shut him into a room until he took it (I have two other cats and one is/was getting interested in taking it herself.) That's when I started to feel like Mommie Dearest.

That stopped working. I tried not feeding him wet food (his preferred) until he took his medicine. That succeeded in him getting alarmingly skinny.

My latest was to put the pill into the pill pocket and put a tiny bit of wet food on it, put it in front of him in his favorite resting spot, and shut the door.

He can be alone with it all night and won't take it.

I'm running out of ideas. He hasn't taken his medicine in over a week. He doesn't seem distressed, but I can see he's breathing rapidly, and can also see his chest and stomach see sawing. He still runs short distances and holds his own with brief "fights" with my spunky and agressive younger kitty.

Any ideas?

TIA!

Jen

[Chamomile Girl]

Well, I have always done the "pop pill into the back of cat's throat" method.  If you get it far enough back the cat will swallow it simply by reflex.  It takes practice, but once you have the trick its pretty much foolproof.  I've done it on lots of cats over the years.

Can you not get ten feet from the cat because he will tear you up, or because he'll smell the pill and hide?

[jengacnm]

He's skittish, so it's more like he can read my mind and know I want to do something-I have a devil of a time clipping his nails for the same reason. I have to wait until I'm on my computer and he approaches me, I reach down to pet him without actually looking at him, and grab him in order to clip his nails.

So it's beyond him smelling the pill and hiding-it's approaching him at all. To catch him and pop the pill in back of his throat every other day would be incredibly distressing for us both. And it's something he's likely going to need for the rest of his life. (He's 7 and a half now).

Thanks! Still listening...

[lonegirl]

We have a few pharmacies here that we use that will compound nearly any drug into a flavoured chew (beef, chicken, fish).

I generally, throughs years and years of practice just open the cat's mouth and pop in the pill. 

[2xy]

To be honest, if you are able to clip this cat's nails, you should be able to put a pill down his throat....skittish or not.

My old girl is on Prednisone, too. I have also taken Prednisone for asthma. It's an extremely bitter, vile tasting medicine. Flavoring it or crushing it into food can't possibly work for a cat; it just tastes too awful and the bitterness is wretched.

Your cat could live a good long time. I think you should try to get him used to being caught and pilled. Once you figure it out, it takes about half a second. Nowhere nearly as long as nail clipping. My cat who takes Prednisone is pretty good about taking pills, but I still approach her when she's sleeping. There's no way she would ever let me cut her nails....lol....

[womenswisdom]

There are compounding pharmacies that can make the medication into a transdermal gel.  You just take a very small amount and smear it on the skin on the inside of the ear and it's absorbed that way.  Much less stressful for you and the cat if you really can't get oral meds in.  If your vet doesn't know of one locally, there are national pharmacies like Wedgewood and Roadrunner.  Your vet just needs to call it in and they will mail it to you.

[jengacnm]

Thanks all, I'll keep the compounding pharmacies in my back pocket. For the moment crushing it and mixing it with tuna juice seems to be working. But if history is a predictor, I'll be needing to contact them in a month or two!

[Otto]

Originally Posted by jengacnm 

Thanks all, I'll keep the compounding pharmacies in my back pocket. For the moment crushing it and mixing it with tuna juice seems to be working. But if history is a predictor, I'll be needing to contact them in a month or two!

Be careful. Prednisone itself isn't very water-soluble, so if there are bits of pill left in or on the bowl, it's going to affect the dose.