# Please help me give my cat a daily pill



## Click-N-Treat (Nov 9, 2015)

Cyclone is taking Chlorambucil, generic Leukeran. It's a chemotherapy drug. I have to wear gloves when I give him his pill. So far, he took one, but he tried to spit out today's dose, and it was a real struggle to get him to swallow it before the capsule burst.

Does anyone have any suggestions? I don't think he can just eat it in his food. It's so toxic I would be worried about him hiding the pill somewhere and another pet eating it. Anyone ever use a pill pusher on a cat? Do they work? Anyone ever use pill pockets on a cat? Do those work? I could use all the suggestions I can get. Thanks everyone.


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

I have used the pill pusher syringe with good results for cats. For the dogs I wouldn't bother since their mouths are big enough that I can get my hand far enough back in their mouths that they have no choice about swallowing when I let go of the pill. I have also ground up cat pills and put the ground up stuff in a bit of plain yogurt or vanilla ice cream or vanilla pudding when it was possible to grind the pill (not doable if it is coated to be slow time release). Good luck.


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## blueroan (Dec 28, 2015)

A pill pusher is a life saver for cat owners! If she's really fighting you, you can always do a kitty burrito and then you can make sure she actually swallowed the thing before you let her go.


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## Click-N-Treat (Nov 9, 2015)

Can I get a pill pusher at Petco do you think?


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## snow0160 (Sep 20, 2016)

Omg I have the same problem when giving my cats their meds. One is easy the other one is demonic. I would burrito him while massaging his throat after dropping the grounded meds in. I drop it down while he is opening his mouth while hissing at me. This technique works quite well. I’ve never used a pill pusher but can’t hurt to try.

Pill pockets do not work on my cat. He is good at finding the pill and spitting that one part out. Good luck. You have my empathy with cats and pills. It is really scary.


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## Click-N-Treat (Nov 9, 2015)

Snow,

Cyclone was fine the first night. I think he was surprised. Tonight, so much DRAMA!!! He's on to us.


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## snow0160 (Sep 20, 2016)

My husband and I dread giving my cat monthly comfortis. Once they know what you are gonna do they have a 6th sense. Key is to catch them by surprise. We’ve actually stopped burritoing him because he knows what the towel means. It is kinda funny how terrified we are of my 6lb cat. 


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## Click-N-Treat (Nov 9, 2015)

I'm going to Petco tomorrow to look for a pill pusher and maybe some pill pockets. Cyclone is, how can I put this nicely, portly? He's fat, let's be honest here. Cyclone is the fattest cat we have ever had. He shoves Noelle out of the way of her bowl and eats her food. Cyclone loves treats. I bet pill pockets would work for him, if he liked how they tasted. Since this is a daily pill for the rest of his life, I don't want to stress him out once a day by wrapping him in a towel. We'll see how this works out and I'll let you know.


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## fjm (Jun 4, 2010)

When I was young I had a Siamese cat who was near impossible to pill. Rolling her in a thick dressing gown and keeping her rolled for at least a minute after it had gone down was the only way that worked - she could eat around the medicine sprinkled on food, leaving a sort of weird geological landscape; she would eat the three untreated pieces of liver, then shake the pill out of the fourth before eating that too; released too soon she would regurgitate it; usually the gentlest creature she became a whirling dervish come medication time.

I took her to the vet for something or other when I was about 16, and when he gave me yet another lot of pills asked him to show me how to administer them, as I found it so tricky. Hugely patronising he said "You simply hold the cat like this, and the tablet like _this_, and..." and then the pill was in one corner of the surgery, the cat in another, and he was sucking a long scratch on his thumb and looking a lot less patronising!

Which is a long winded way of saying sometimes burrito + treats to follow may have to be the way to go!


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## Charmed (Aug 4, 2014)

Cats are so difficult.The last one we had, that had to be on pills for a month, was horrible. I resorted to wrapping him in a towel, and shoving the multiple pills down his throat. It did not improve my relationship with the cat. I had to keep him shut in my end of the house, so he would be easy to capture, too. I never tried the pill pusher, since I had such good luck shoving it down his throat. By the end of the month, the cat would jump on my bed and lay there waiting to be wrapped up.


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## Click-N-Treat (Nov 9, 2015)

As I suspected, our portly greedy cat ate his pill hidden inside a pill pocket treat. Our new plan of attack, start preparing Cylone's dinner, offer him a pill in a treat pocket as an appetizer, feed dinner as expected. I could not find a pill pusher at Petco. I will get one online as a backup plan.


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## Charmed (Aug 4, 2014)

It's always nice when you can find a method that is not traumatic to the cat, or to you. So glad Mr.Greedy likes the Pill Pockets.


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## Skylar (Jul 29, 2016)

I like your plan Click. I always ask if there’s an injectable version of medication. It’s so much easier to inject. I refuse to squirt liquid medication and have trouble with pills too. 

Pill pockets are great until your cat figures them out. It helps to have some different flavors of pill pockets and keep switching flavors. 

Please post how the pill pusher works when you get it. I never heard of them before.


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

I am glad to see you have a plan that is working and hope it stays that way! Good boy Cyclone.


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## Click-N-Treat (Nov 9, 2015)

After his first week of chemotherapy, Cyclone is acting 100% like himself. Today, he tried to raid Noelle's dinner, got very angry when my daughter picked him up and wouldn't let him eat. He growled, which sounds hilarious because no one is afraid of his growling, and it just makes us laugh. She put him down and he hopped along to the window and watched the snow. Then he ran down the hallway yowling, then he tussled with Fresh Air, who was doing nothing. Hissed at Sunshine, who was in his way. Jumped up on the bookshelf, very satisfied with himself, and... begged for a treat. After all that crazy, you want a treat? 
But, I'm purring and you can pet me, Grandma. I'm a good boy. I love you. See?
He got a treat. Well, five, actually. He's such a grouchy cat. 50% love and 50% grouch, and 100% a whirlwind. That's our Cyclone. Stay that way, you silly boy.


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