What is the best way for me to give my cat medication?

That's an excellent question, and it’s one that a lot of people struggle with. It depends on your kitty and what they like. Suppose the kitty is one that just loves treats and is very food-motivated in general, like this little girl here. In that case, we can get medications compounded into a chew—sometimes even into a liquid that's flavored with chicken or tuna or something like that. A lot of those cats will take it right up. Other kitties aren't so easy. Sometimes we have to give pills if that formulation is not an option for cats. We can pill them by holding their head here, opening up, and popping the pill down the hatch. Now, she is a very good kitty, as not all kitties do that. There are other little things that we can do, like transdermal formulations for medications where we can just rub a little bit of a lotion on the inside of the ear. They think they're getting “scritches,” but we're giving them medicine. There are injectable medications. There is a whole list of different options. Again, it depends on that cat.

Miss Thing here is not too keen about the food. She's not one to believe us that it's not going to have medication in it. And so you can try doing some cheese or even doing some canned food for those who are more of a fan of food. But if not, you can certainly use a pill popper, as they will not only prevent your cat from hopefully spitting out the pill, but they could also help you not to have your finger bitten or potentially scratched in the meantime. So you'll just place the pill down in the pill popper, and then you'll open your cat's mouth and pop it down their throat.If your cat is a foodie, the best way to give medicine to a cat is to try and hide it in food. As you can see,

If you have a really food-motivated cat, you may be able to crush certain medications and hide them in canned food. I often recommend that you don't feed them the whole meal with that medication in there. Just give them a little dollop of that. Also, you want to give that to them when they're hungry, not when they're full, obviously, so they're more apt to eat all of it. If they're not food motivated, then you may be able to administer it through a suspension. Certain medications can be in liquid form. If it’s appropriate, we may talk about a prescription food they can eat and not have to give them a pill or medicine.

But we can also help you or teach you how to give your cat medication. If it's a pill, we can show you how to pill a cat. It's always nice to have a partner to help you do that—one to hold and one to give the pill. And you want to do it when they're not paying attention and surprise them. And to save your fingers, they make pillers, which are little extensions. And that would help facilitate getting the pill in the back of the throat.

Giving medications to cats can be challenging. Common types of medications include capsules which can be mixed with pate-style cat food or meat baby food. Tablets can be given using pill pockets or wrapping them in meat. Devices like pill poppers can also be used to help administer medication. Liquid medications can be given by placing them in the cat's cheek pouch. It's important to approach your cat from the side rather than head-on when giving medications. Your veterinarian or pet nurses can provide guidance on how to effectively give your cat medications.

This is a really great question. If you have a cat and you've had to medicate your cat, you're going to know there's no straightforward way. But there are some tips and tricks that I can give you to make it a little bit easier. Cat pain medication comes in a variety of forms and each has its own method of administration.

Some medications are flavored tablets. We have a flavored anti-inflammatory tablet called Onsior that is highly palatable. Most cats will take it like it's a treat, so that makes it easy. You can just squirt liquid into their mouth. Just keep in mind that when cats don't like the taste of something, they will drool or foam. This is legitimately them just being very dramatic. They're not rabid. They're not having an allergic reaction. They're just really wanting you to know that this is terrible, and you can always rinse their mouth out with some water.

There are some transdermal medications that we can use. Whenever we're getting these medications compounded, we just have to be aware that they may not absorb as well as they might orally because absorbing through the gastrointestinal tract or the stomach and the intestines is going to be one of the fastest ways to get in the bloodstream. I don't think I've ever sent home injections for cats, but there are certain injectables that we can teach owners to give. There are certain injectable medications that can absorb through the gums, where you don't have to use a needle, like buprenorphine. If you do have that medication at home and you're having to administer that, then put it onto the gums, unless told to do otherwise, because sometimes it can become pounded into a liquid to be given orally. I like to do it on the gums because it's just a lot easier to squirt something on the gums than to shove it down her throat. When it comes to pilling a cat with capsules, tablets, or pills, I pop it down the back of their throat followed by a little squish of water with a little syringe is another way to give medication. Ultimately, we just have to find out what works best for your cat. If you are struggling, please feel free to give the clinic a call. My entire staff is very well versed and trained in the tips and tricks of how to get our feline patients to take their meds.