Advice for awkward cat that will not take a tablet

Hi,

My cat (Foxy) has been diagnosed with a condition which leaves her with a constantly runny nose, the vet has prescribed an anti-biotic to be taken one a day and an anti-inflammatory to be taken every other day, the condition is not cureable but controllable. The thing is the head vet of the practice tried to give her the tablet in the 'just open the mouth and put it in there' method, but this is not something that proved easy and the vet actually admitted that this was not the way to give Foxy tablets. So decided that the tablets would get crushed in food, noe Foxy is VERY fussy, she does not like treats at any time, and only eats tesco's gravy food and coley fish (expensive tastes!!) she refuses to eat the gravy food with the tablet crushed in, and started to eat the fish with the tablet crushed in.... now she wont even eat the fish, the other problem is I cant just leave her food to eat as we have two cats (the other is Loulou), and she eats anything, so have had to shut foxy in, which isnt fair to her (or our carpet!) as we have had Foxy for 10 years (rehomed her) and Loulou for just over a year (re-home as well), and they dont get on at the best of times. So need a solution for getting the tablets in Foxy without just crushing them in her food and shuting her away, and please do not suggest that we perserver (sorry if thats spelt wrong) with popping it in her mouth, as 3 separate vets have tried this on numerous occasions to try and get her to take worming tablets, and advised that it was too stressfull to try it this way!!

Please I hope someone can help, as she started to get better and is now refusing to take her mediation and is getting worse again.

Thanks

Cherry

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06. Cats

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15 Aug 2009 13:01

lyn jones

I agree with the comments about the vets giving tablet form which wasnt working,this day and age you would have thought that there would be a more suitable form of treatment is stead of tablets. Im glad the vet give foxy injections. xx

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09 Feb 2008 17:05

Cherry Fixter

Hi Everyone, and thanks for your advice. In the end we used the 'starve the cat and she'll eat what I put infront of her coz she will be hungry' technique, this worked a bit, and I could only give her the food when we were home to be sure that Loulou was not sneakily finishing the food off for Foxy, took her back to the vets last week and he listened to her nasal breathing, and he says she has made great progress, which I can confirm as she is now back to her 'waking us up at 3am coz she is bored' routine!!! I did mention that the crushing to the tablets was ok when she was hungry, but at full health Foxy sometimes wouldnt eat a lot for a couple of days, so he gave her an injection of another not as effective anti-biotic that would last for two weeks, yippee!!!! Will keep you posted with any other developments in case anyone else has the same problems as me and needs solutions.

Thanks again

Cherry

Xx

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29 Jan 2008 14:01

Sue Dicker

Hi Cherry,
Have you tried crushing the tablet, adding a drop of water to dilute down the taste and then mixing into the fish or gravy of Foxy's food. If she is still able to smell it, maybe try mixing it with a touch of cod liver oil (obviously making sure that Foxy does like cod liver oil). CLO has quite a strong smell so would probably mask the tablet smell. Worth and try and good luck!

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26 Jan 2008 20:08

The Editor

There may be some useful info on the Forum/cats 22nd November. You'll have to scroll back a few pages to find it.

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26 Jan 2008 18:08

Mary * End B.S.L *

Hi Cherry,
I have read your piece above and can fully appreciate just how desperate and frustrated you are with giving 'Foxy' necessary medication.
You have exhausted the most viable avenue's and obviously these do not work so quite rightly,why recommend that you persevere and beside's which....we do not want to stress out the cat any further,with medicinal application in the ways that you have already tried.
I am most surprised that your vet's (knowing your cat's awkwardness) have prescribed a tabletable form of medication and I would go back to them and ask,if there was an alternative form of the appropiate medication that 'Foxy' require's.There are now injectable types of antibiotics and anti-inflammatories,that last anything from a few days,to two to four weeks even.....my vet's and another that I know,are now using these readily to treat most cats.I cannot obviously say,that maybe there is an injectable form suitable for 'Foxy's' condition BUT it is most certainly well worth asking,because otherwise how else are you going to give her,her medication successfully and easily for the cat??.
If the vet's agree that she isn't not easy to dose either direct orally or by adding to a smelly food stuff..then say to them...."How am I supposed to treat her then ??" and they should in theory come up with a much more suitable and viable option for you both.
Sorry that I cannot give you a more practicle/suitable option but I would definately seek advice from your vets and hope that they can come up with an alternative injectionable form.
Do let me know what happens and all the best with 'Foxy'.

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