Posted on: October 29th, 2013 by Dr. Dale Rubenstein
Below is the second of two blog posts on the often difficult task of medicating your cat. It is a follow-up to our previous post written by Dr. Michael Ray, “Common Human Mistakes with Cat Meds.” This post is also from the Feline Docs website, and was written by Dr. Marcus Brown of the NOVA Cat Clinic in Arlington, VA. If you’ve found any useful tips that work for you and your cat, let us know!

I enjoyed reading Dr Ray’s post on medicating cats. It is always good when a veterinarian has first hand experience with medicating a cat – a task that is often a lesson in humility. My least favorite situation is the “I cannot catch you because you are hiding under the bed or behind the refrigerator.”

I often cringe when I hear “my husband grabs her and wraps her in a towel and after 3 attempts I finally get the pill in her.” I definitely would not want to be the source of that cat’s unhappiness; I would try and get my cat to agree with the medicating – especially critical for chronic medications. Easier said then done, right?

Dr Ray mentioned putting the medication in food but due to their keen sense of taste, and smell, that can prevent them from eating. We definitely don’t want that! Imagine someone putting something bitter in your food – would you eat it?

Pill pockets can be very helpful – until the day your cat says that was great for 8 months, but no thanks, I’m good, how about some of that yummy tuna instead.

The other hardship to consider is cutting tiny pills in quarters. With some of the extremely small medications this can be disastrous. With one pill, instead of 4 doses you get 2.

So when your cat says “no thank you” or you cannot cut the pills small enough, consider having a pharmacist compound the medication. Pretty simple, huh? Compounded medications are made to order only for your cat; it has become controversial since the issues at the New England Pharmacy. Congress is working on legislation to protect both humans and animals.

Medications can be made into such forms as: treats, liquids, or capsules. A very select few can even be made into transdermal gels. Your cat gets to decide what form he/she prefers.

So don’t despair, be sure and tell your veterinarian that you need help getting medications in to your cat. Trust me on this, we are here to help!