How many times have you gone home from the veterinarian's office with a week or so worth of pills or capsules to give you pet? I know I dispensed quite a few in my day. If you have a dog it's usually not that big a deal. You can stuff the pill or capsule in a piece of cheese or lunch meat and woof, it's gone.
Not so with many cats.
Let's face it, cat's can be tough to pill. My fear is that lots of cats might not be getting their medication after a few failed attempts at pilling at home. It may look easy in the vet's office, with the veterinary technician demonstrating the technique. She has probably pilled thousands of cats.
I've
written about the technique over on the pet blog, but as usual, a picture is worth a thousand words and a
video is even better. And I came across another good one on the
Cornell Feline Health Center web site. These are the same folks that collaborated on the diabetes and renal failure videos we've posted about
before.
They go through a couple of techniques and offer up a lot of helpful hints. With animation they show you what's going on inside the cat's mouth, too, and that can be very helpful in understanding why some cats are so good at spitting pills out. They cover restraint ideas and tips on how to do it alone and with an assistant. They also go into what not to do so you avoid making a tough situation even worse.
One final point. If all these tips fail, don't give up. Get in touch with your veterinarian and see if there isn't an alternative to a pill. Some antibiotics come in liquid form and believe it or not it's often much easier and less stressful on a cat to squirt the meds in her mouth.
Oh, and by the way,
PurinaCare covers the medications your veterinarian dispenses under the
terms of your policy. Once you've met the deductible and 20 % co-pay you're home free. That's a lot better than
my bogus coverage for prescription medication. I'm just a human, though.