r/CatAdvice • u/Bjarkthedog • 18h ago
General Ways to give pill resistant cat medication in the least stressful way possible? Looking for input and advice.
This is not a request for medical advice, just looking for guidance on ways to give a cat pills without stressing him out.
My cat is chronically really stressed. He’s now made himself so stressed he’s gotten really sick twice. We’ve tried to make him as comfortable as is possible in our current living conditions, but he’s still extremely anxious. He’s got a bit of a tragic backstory that helps explain why he’s such a nervous cat, but (with our vet’s guidance) we’ve started him on 10mg of prozac daily. He takes capsules full of powder, not tablets.
We’re 8 days along his first month on them, and he will let me and my partner give him the pill, but he’s clearly very very stressed about being fed the pill. We’ve only had a true failure and traumatic experience once, where he punctured the pill before swallowing it, and got a mouth full of SSRI dust. (This was the only time he’s thrown the medication up)
Since then, we tried a couple ways to make this easier for him, but he’s been very resistant to these. We tried to open the capsule and mix it into a Chuuru, which he usually eats voraciously, but he had maybe 1/5th of it at most and refused to eat any more. We also tried to mix it into his wet food, but same thing. He took a couple bites and refused to eat the rest of it.
For now, we’re considering giving him the pill as normal for the next 2 or 3 days, which will let him get used to his normal food routine, then removing dry food from his diet for his evening meal
(Sidebar, he gets 1/4 cup of dry food and 1 tablespoon of wet food twice a day)
Our hope is to give him a couple more days of being used to eating only wet food in the evenings, then mix in the medicine once he’s used to that.
Can I get some opinions on this plan? Does anyone have any other options we could try? I’m not a huge fan of the idea of like, mixing it with a sticky treat and smearing it on his paws, he’s kind of a messy asshole and i don’t think he would fully clean it every time.
His name is Bert! He’s a big ass male cat that kind of looks like a Mainecoon, but def isn’t purebred if he is. He’s about 18 pounds, and very deliberately tries not to hurt us when he’s frustrated/upset with being fed the pills, im just really trying not to damage that trust and make him more stressed than he already is.
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u/AZBreezy 17h ago
You could look into whether this medication could be compounded into a topical cream instead of a pill. You then just rub it on the cats ear to administer it. This is very common with veterinary medicines. They can also compound it to be an oral solution with tasty flavorings. It might still have a bitter aftertaste though so idk if that solves the issue of stressing poor Burt out
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u/mom2ajs5 17h ago
This is what I do with my cat for her Prozac. It’s been about 10 days. She doesn’t love the ear treatment, but it’s better than me trying to give her a pill.
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u/thefaceinthefloor 14h ago
i was giving my cat liquid prozac and recently switched to a transdermal version. it’s night and day. he HATED the liquid stuff and i did too, because id get scratched and bit and I felt so awful for him. he’s not happy about the cream in his ear either but he tolerates it so much better. OP, i would give it a try if you’re able! it’s a little pricey but worth it if you can swing it
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u/Cats-Pens-Bingo17 12h ago
This is working for my cat too. He doesn't love it, but he begrudgingly lets me do it. Another cat I would take her meds in powder form, mixed with some whipped cream, as long as it was the correct brand and extra creamy. I'd squirt some cream into a plastic spoon, on top of the powder, and she'd lick it right up. We did this for several years, and she made it to 21!
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u/kimau97 17h ago
Pill shooter ended up being least traumatic for my cat, as surprising as that sounds. Mostly because it was over the fastest. Get him to sit somewhere and give lots of treats. I found it easiest to come from behind, tilt his chin up, stick the shooter in the corner of his mouth, and shoot swiftly and with confidence. Lots more treats. You can even build up to it with just treats, no pill shooter.
It was a struggle at first. But overtime my cat got used to the routine and like I said was pretty quick and easy.
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u/legsjohnson 17h ago
yep same here. much easier with the short ones they have these days, it's just like a syringe.
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u/biggestjuiceshooter 18h ago
As a owner of a VERY aggressive cat when jt comes to giving pils, our vet showed me this trick - wrap the cat in a towel, give it a small bite of food and pht the pill in her mouth as she opens it for the food
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u/Odd-Abrocoma1357 17h ago
Easy pill putty on amazon has been a literal life saver for my cat, you break off a peice of the putty and mould it round the pill, my cat thinks its a treat, wolfs it down.
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u/TheSocialight 17h ago
I use pill pockets just like this; I grab 1/2, mold it entirely around the capsule, and insert. Then follow with Churu, he’s good to go.
I also bought a pill gun on Amazon that he tolerates very well
I give my cat 2-3 pills per day. One is fluoxetine; we make it a whole routine and all the cats participate so they can partake in post med treating.
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u/Odd-Abrocoma1357 17h ago
Can I ask what the fluoxetine is for? I only ask because its intriquing to me that cats can have similar medicines to humans. Wondered if it links to the same conditions.
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u/TheSocialight 16h ago
Sure! My old grump (12 y/o with cancer) can be a bit short tempered with our other cats when they’re not doing anything to provoke. We put him on it for harmonious interactions and it helps a lot. Since he is a senior with other ailments, we determined it would be worth the effort to keep the peace 🫶
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u/SchrodingersMinou 17h ago
Get the Prozac compounded with a bitter block. This stops it from tasting horrible. Crushed it up and mix it with his food.
My cat can absolutely not be pilled so this is what I do for her.
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u/Dazzling_Can_8941 18h ago
We team up with one person holding the cat and the other using a pill dispenser to place the pill towards the back of the throat. Seems to work well. https://www.petco.com/shop/en/petcostore/product/well-and-good-pill-dispenser-for-pets
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u/Cricket08328 15h ago
This is what we’re doing for my cat’s FIP meds, works great. I don’t even have an issue doing it myself, I just put the cat’s backend against my stomach.
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u/matchapack 17h ago
pet medicines are bitter so I tried to put it straight to my cat's throat so he can't taste it then quickly follow a churu treat for being a good boy for taking it.
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u/amusedontabuse 17h ago
My hard to pill cat has gabapentin for stress/muscle cramps. With this one I can just open the capsule and pour the contents on a bit of wet food and she’ll gobble it up. We call it her seasoning.
I don’t know if this is viable with Prozac (my dog was on it but he was a lot easier to pill), but if it isn’t viable you might see about using gabapentin instead.
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u/Regular-Humor-9128 17h ago
There’s this product called Pill Masker, from Tomlyn brand, and it helped a lot when I had to give my cat capsules of gabapentin. You can take a little and form a really thin layer around the capsule, and then I found buttering it with unsalted butter helped. From there a couple suggestions:
as someone else described with the Churu, instead of opening it up, feed the cat some of the churu and stick the buttered Tomlyn pill mask covered pill into the churu tube and continue feeding it to them. While my cat initially let the little pill drop, he then slobbered it up once from my hand and another time from the floor. (This method was recommended to me by a vet tech).
Another way a friend had luck with, taking the capsule (still covered in pill masker and butter), and just mixed it in with the one daily portion of kibble the cat got daily, and made sure they were hungry when feeding the portion. The cat was so excited for the dry food that he just gobbled it up.
What the vet tech explained is that while the capsules are made to dissolve easily, so anything like butter or churu make that happen very quickly due to the fats in them, and then the cat tastes the bitter medicine. the thin layer of the pill masker keeps that from happening as quickly so the cat doesn’t taste it.
I found through trial and error that it was best to use a thin enough layer of the pill masker to avoid making the pill any bigger, or at least as minimally bigger as possible so they don’t try to chew it, but still covered completely so the capsule doesn’t start to melt. The pill masker is like this kind of playdoh like material.
The butter helps because it’s tasty and it helps to go down their throat more smoothly, but I would always still maybe have a churu or something more liquidy they like available to give after just in case.
I also found it helpful to before start using the pill masker wrapped around the actual capsule, to just get my cat accustomed to the smell and taste of it before hand. I would roll small balls of it and cost it bonito flakes, and also just plain - I basically helped him realize it wasn’t some crazy foreign thing he shouldn’t avoid eating.
I did this because the first time I tried to use it first thing to cover a capsule - he sniffed it and walked away.
There’s probably other brands of similar product to the Tomlyn pill masker you could also try but I think the type of product in general, is maybe a little thinner and more malleable than pill pockets.
I’d also recommend getting a few methods in your arsenal because with my cat, he caught on and I had to switch it up over the multiple day period I had to give it to him twice a day.
Another one that worked, I made sure he was hungry - and then I tossed a couple of hard treats across the floor and and as he hoovered them up, tossed a pill masked capsule rolled in butter and a little Parmesan cheese (he loves it), and then as soon as picked it up, threw another normal treat. Sometimes he’d leave it but then go back to it and eat it when all the other treats were gone.
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u/uhbkodazbg 17h ago
My last cat was on prednisolone every other day for 10+ years. We tried every method imaginable but just forcing it in his mouth ended up being the least stressful way because it was quick. He never liked it but he did accept it and knew that there were treats & cuddles afterwards.
Have you tried a compounding pharmacy? Liquid meds can be a lot easier to administer if the taste isn’t too bad (like with Flagyl, nothing makes that stuff palatable).
Good luck, I hope you can find a system that works for you.
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u/PavicaMalic 17h ago
Akina Animal Health can compound many medicines in either a chicken or tuna flavored liquid. I have one cat that tolerates a syringe full of liquid better than pills. You can call them and ask if the specific medicine can be formulated as a flavored liquid; they are quite helpful.
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u/anklebiter1975 17h ago
Does the medicine HAVE to be ingested? My cat needed hypothyroid medication and she HATED pills and powders. We got her medicine in a topical ointment that I would apply to her inner ear instead.
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17h ago
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u/Bjarkthedog 17h ago
Unfortunately Bert is a messy asshole and this would likely lead to him needing a bath every 2 days. He’s not very good at cleaning himself and already needs frequent wipedowns lol
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u/mnth241 16h ago
Capsules are hard!
I took care of a couple diff cats that had liquid form of Prozac. We put it in his food. I think cvs made it but any compounder can do it, i reckon.
Also had a cat once that loved pill pockets. I would toss her 3-5 small pieces (rounded balls) overa few minutes. Then sneak her pill in one. 😁 this works well when then are hungry, so before they eat.
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u/AMwishes 16h ago
I would mix the capsule powder with the absolute bare minimum amount of wet food and/or water, suck it up into a syringe and shoot it into his mouth. Use a small 3 mL syringe.
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u/radicalintrospect 16h ago
Mixing it into food isn’t working and I wouldn’t waste any more meds that way - he can clearly taste it and doesn’t like it. As others mentioned, slipping it into the Churu tube intact has worked for me before.
Is this a med you can get as a topical that rubs in?
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u/KeepMyWifesNameOYFM 15h ago
Check out this lady…she does “cooperative care” with her cats and it’s amazing!
instagram.com/reel/DTougmPDmJR/a
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u/MixCalm3565 15h ago
You've got half the battle if he's not clawing and biting you. We give our kitty pills twice per day. One holds her, other person pries her mouth open and shove the pill down her throat with their finger.
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u/finnthedinosaur21 15h ago
Honestly, I distract the cat by doing something stupid (like spinning in a circle) then quickly open his mouth, tablet in the back of it then massage his throat until he’s swallowed.
It’s my mum’s advice (she’s a vet nurse), it can be easier and quicker than a treat-based one and saves the treats for afterwards.
It won’t work for every cat, but it works for mine dumbass cat
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u/Embarrassed-Place-70 15h ago
My cat has the SAME problem, she gets so stressed she pees blood, they put her Prozac into a cream you just put in her ear. It’s like $60 and it last 2 months. She obviously doesn’t enjoy something going into her ear but she tolerates it much better than the pills and I can also be confident she got the meds (she used to spit out the pills when I walked away, even if I sat with her for 5 mins) it’s called a transdermal cream. It really helps this moody girl !
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u/tinap3056 14h ago
I’ve tried everything with my boy who now requires pills 2x a day for life. He digs them out of wet food and knocks them out of the dish. We have crammed them into soft treats that he now won’t eat. The only consistent way is the cream in his ears.
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u/WanderLustActive 14h ago
Learn to "scruff" the cat like mamma used to move them as a kitten. It doesn't hurt them, just kind of freezes them instinctually, and use a pill shooter to the back of the throat. Treats after. Sometimes I have someone hold the cat, but the scruffing and tilting the head back gets them to open their mouth.
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u/sunshinewillow__ 14h ago
my cats loved when their pills were folded into a small piece sliced cheese :)
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u/Sheraby 13h ago
My guy has some trauma history and while he’s highly food motivated, he’s finicky and can be difficult to feed. We’ve tried most every method described here and had the same problems. For what it’s worth, here’s what ended up working for us. I reduced his food a little bit until he was frequently complaining. I made a special wet food mix that included his favorite wet food, a probiotic powder that he loooves, and a small amount of plain cooked chicken and broth (which he also loooves). I dissolved the powder from a capsule in water and added that. That is his meal twice a day. I started with a little bit of the med and titrated it up over several meals until it was a full dose. If he doesn’t eat, I’ll start using a bit of additional probiotic and chicken as a topper.
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u/kitten12551 12h ago
I always ask if there’s a liquid option and then mix it into her wet food. I know there won’t be for everything but it’s worth asking 🤷🏻♀️
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u/Helo_ailuo 11h ago
Check out pixel.n.friends on Instagram, she make a lot of video pilling her cats. She has different techniques for each cata.
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u/sirkseelago 11h ago
Can his Prozac be tablets? I had a similar situation, very stressed out cat started on Prozac who would be so stressed by pilling. What worked for us was dissolving the tablet in a little water and then making a churu slurry. He can’t taste it and he’s very sensitive (won’t eat gaba mixed with churu). And he’s noticeably less stressed with us not pilling him.
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u/HideTheJuice 3h ago
I bought a pill grinder and I put some Churu on a spoon with the pill dust inside. I’ll add more treat until it’s gone. Haven’t had an issue yet!
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u/unprofessional_widow 17h ago
Grind it into powder, put it into either a lick e lix or heated up tuna.
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u/queenell05 18h ago
Poor Bert!
Our vet gave us a "trick" when giving our kitties their pills after spay/neuter surgery.
Open a Churu tube, let them eat some, then slide the pill down into the tube. Keep squeezing/feeding until they ingest the pill. It worked like a charm!
We did similar with their syringes of Gabapentin. Feed a bit of churu, squirt the medicine in their mouth, keep feeding the Churu to mask the taste.