I have a do that hates taking her medicine. What works the best for me is to smush the pill between two spoons and mix it with a small amount of wet food.

My cat is the same way and the way I do it is in a forced position with the dropper in his mouth just as you described. ...I sometimes do the wet food trick too if it's a pill...you have my sympathy...I know what a pain it is...I have actually found that holding the cat by myself works better than with two people...he goes ballistic when he realizes he is about to be held and I found if I cradle him in the left arm and hold his head with the left hand and zap the minute he starts to complain the dropper goes into his mouth...of course this is all done in one giant motion....

I have wrapped the cat in a blanket

Poor Princeton!
He's so regal and proud!
I'm sorry he is ill.

Hopefully you will only have to force Princeton to take his medicine a couple of times. In a few days he will start feeling better and then you can mix the meds with a tasty treat. If the high calorie semi-liquid tastes good he might start eating it on his own when he starts feeling better too.

I wish you luck!

Lori

Oh, what a beauty!!!
A Vet gave me this advise when we had to pill my son's skittish cat. If you have a rug with rubberized backing, like some have in the bathroom, wrap the patient with the rubber backing towards the kitty, it is pretty much non-slip and they can't move. Make sure you get all it's legs caught in the rug. Good luck and I hope Princeton is feeling better soon. Dottie

Have you ever tasted Prednisone?????? It may be a small pill but it's taste is AWFULLY YUCKY! I wonder if coating it in butter might work. There are also pill popping devices for cats out there. Princeton is a beautiful cat. I hope he feels better soon.

I feel your pain.

Every cat is different and sometimes you just have to try a variety of methods to see what works for who.

In general, I've found that the more restraint, the more some panic. So my first option is as little restraint as possible. I usually put them up on a towel on the kitchen counter so they are waist height and I can control them with my left arm wrapped around them pulling open the mouth with my left hand. If you pull the mouth open from the top and pull the head pointing to the ceiling, the jaw usually drops down giving you a straight shot down the throat.

That's IF you have a cooperative cat. Other methods I've tried:

Mashing the pill into powder and mixing it in a coffee measure or shot glass with a little canned gravy from a Friskies ground food can. Then syringing it up in a 1 cc syringe and squirting into their mouth. Getting the smaller syringe is usually easier than the 3 cc syringes the vet gives you. Slip it through the side of the mouth and aim towards the back of the throat. You're less likely to get it squirted back out at you if you go in sideways.

Try a pill popper. These are long handled extensions - you pull back the plunger, put the pill into the tip, insert the popper into the side of the mouth and push the plunger which forces the pill in. If you get the popper in far enough the pill can shoot right down the back of the throat.

Mixing the food in a LITTLE (1 tblsp) of canned food or gravy and see if he'll lap it up. I never mix meds in a full food serving because you'll never know if they don't finish it how much of the meds they got.

Try Pill Pockets. These are little treat pockets you can tuck the pill in, make a small ball and drop it down their throat. It's especially good if the pill is bitter.

Mix the crushed pill in a little Petromalt or vaseline and slip it onto the roof of the mouth.

Don't crush pills if they are bitter or enteric coated. Some pills are coated to delay absorbtion until it hits the gut.

If all else fails, I wrap the cat in a towel like a kitty burrito, put him up on the counter with his head pretty much immobilzed by the towel and pull the upper jaw open. But this is a last resort for me, cause they are usually really p!ssed if you restrain them and that makes the next time harder.

But sometimes it's the only way.

Princeton is a beauty. What other kind of Leukemia does he have? I'm only familiar with FeLV which is the virus.

Foxy was also difficult.
I give her the liquid cherry flavored prednesone, mixed in with water and a couple tablespoons of her morning wet food. In the morning, she's really hungry, and she's learning that she gets no more until she licks that bowl clean.

An old country vet taught me how to give a cat a pill over 30 years ago. I've been doing it this way every since--to my cats and other peoples (when they have problems getting the cat to take a pill) and it's never failed.

When you pick up the pill, hold it between your thumb and first finger. Run your other fingers under the faucet to wet them. Holding the cat with your other arm wrapped around it to 'clamp' it to your side, use the hand without the pill in it, to open the cat's mouth. Toss the pill as far back as possible, hold the cat's mouth shut and wipe your wet fingers on their nose. They automatically have to swallow at that point, and the pill goes right down.

I can do that by myself, but if necessary--and with your hand situation you may find this easier--you can have someone else hold the cat and open it's mouth while you toss in the pill and wipe the nose with water.

That's the method the vet taught me. I've actually done it without the water, even. As long as you touch their nose, and they think there's something there, they can't help themselves, they have to lick and swallow.

Hope that helps, and I hope the furbaby is soon feeling much better.

(bet you don't want to hear this--but antibiotics, either liquid or pill, always upset my cat's tummy. If yours starts vomiting shortly after taking the antibiotic, call the vet and see what other options you may have.

Like Waddles, I wrap my cat in a blanket or a towel - papoose style - nice and tight. It works well when pilling or placing into a cat carrier.

Hope your cat feels better soon.

At PetSmart they sell something called "Pill Pockets". It is where the medicine for cats are located. I have just about the same problem with my cat Maxwell, I have to give him 2 pills a day for his hyperthyroidism. One in the morning and one at night. I was so afraid of Maxwell starting to hate me for always shoving something down his throat.
But with these Pill Pockets, I just stick the pill into the "pocket" which is just a tiny hole in a cat threat. Then I squish the treat around the pill and Maxwell eats the whole thing! No more fighting with him to get the pill down!
I have started cutting them into and folding the half around his pill so it isn't such a big treat for him to eat.
If it is pills you need to get into him and can't get them into his mouth then please check out these Pill Pockets. The kitties think they are treats and just swallow them down pill and all!!
Hope your kitty gets better.

Deb

Foxy's hyperthyroid med...methimal-something, comes in a soft chewable chicken flavored pill, from the vet. She literally begs for it, it tastes do good-she thinks it's a treat!

Princeton looks like my Jazz!!

First, it is much easier if you could have help, but it can be done by yourself.
I have a cat that needs pills (thyroid) 2 times a day, so I have gotten pretty good at it.
I sit him on my lap against my left arm,(he is between my body and my arm) then with my left hand, reach up and hold him by the sides of his jaw. Then I have the pill in my right hand, between my thumb, and first 2 fingers, then with my ring finger nail kinda pry open his mouth while holding his head with my left hand. Pop the pill in.
I hope that made some kind of sense!!
Good luck.
Maybe later, I can post a pic.
Rita

We have tried all the tricks and have had no luck. Our vet's office is about a mile away and when it's time to pop pills, we just pop into his office and one of the girls quickly takes care of the problem...
Your fur baby is gorgeous, hope he's feeling better real soon....

My cat Whisper hates pills of any kind. I need to give her three a day. I take small piece of butter, hide the pills in it and put it with her wet food. My only problem is keeping our dog and other cat from eating her pills.

My vet gave me a pill popper that pushes the pill way back in my cat's mouth.

Thank you so much for all the great suggestionsÂand for your understanding! I'll work on putting some of them into pratice. So far I've managed to get the antibiotics into him. I suppose that's progress. Force-feeding the other stuff (which he wouldn't eat on his own) was out of the question, but I mashed up some other canned food with a few drops of fish oil and a few drops of sunflower oil, and he at least lapped at that for a bit.