How to give medicine to your cat      




    Basic info
    Give medications while your cat is facing away from you.  
    If there's any chance your cat will bite or scratch, securely wrap your cat's
    body and limbs in a blanket or towel.  Or, kneel down and straddle the cat to
    restrict your cat's movements.  Or, sit at a table with your cat on your lap and
    tuck its body under the table.  The important thing is to have decided ahead
    of time how you're going to hold the cat.  Having a second person hold the
    cat while you administer medicines is helpful, but not essential.
    If you show fear about the chance of being bitten or scratched, the cat will
    sense it.  Be brave!  Be assertive but gentle.  Speak softly.  Offer a treat or
    catnip afterwards.

    Some people believe in the healing qualities of alternative health techniques,
    including medicines, acupuncture, and chiropractic.  I'm not familiar with
    these.  Some may be OK, but I can't comment on them.  

    Pills
    Put the pill in your dominant hand.  Put your other hand around the front of
    your cat's face, with thumb and fingers reaching around to the corners its
    mouth and your palm over the cat's nose.  Tip the cat's head up.  The mouth
    will start to open.  Open it more with your ring finger and insert the pill as far
    back on the cat's tongue as you can.  Close its mouth securely.  Rub its neck
    downward so as to encourage swallowing.  Give a treat afterward or offer
    catnip.  My trick is to pour a bit of lactose free milk in a bowl for the cat.  Some
    cats have learned how to avoid swallowing the pill, but the milk will dissolve
    it.     
    An alternative is to crush the pill into strongly smelling moist food, such as
    tuna, and offer it to the cat when its hungry.
    A third alternative is to invest in a pill popper or pill gun.  Insert the pill in the
    device. Hold the cat's head as mentioned above, aim the device and push the
    plunger.      
























    Liquid oral medicine
    Hold your cat's head as mentioned in the previous paragraph.  Hold the
    dropper or hypodermic casing between your thumb and forefinger and open
    mouth with your ring finger.  Place the drops slowly in the area between the
    cat's tongue and cheek.  Give the cat time to swallow if you must give more
    than a couple of drops.  
    See the instructions for giving the cat a balm for an alternative method for
    administering just one or two drops of medicine.    

    Eye drops or eye ointment
    Hold your cat's head under the chin with your non-dominant hand, placing
    your thumb by the eyelid.  Put the medicine between your thumb and
    forefinger of your dominant hand and push your cat's forehead back.  Pull the
    lower eyelid down a bit with your thumb and instill drops or ointment in that
    pocket between the eye and the lid.  Do not contaminate the dropper or tube
    by touching the eye.

    Ear drops
    Hold your cat's head under the chin.  Lift back one ear and instill the drops.  
    Massage the outside base of the ear to encourage the drops to go deeper
    into the ear.  Hold onto the ear firmly until you think the drops are deep
    inside.  When you let go, the cat will shake its head.  

    Balm or ointment
    Place the medicine on top of your cat's paw and expect the cat to lick it off.  

    Liquid infusion
    The veterinarian may tell you to give a larger amount of fluid, such as 100 cc.  
    The vet will give you a bag of the fluid and catheter to which a syringe is
    attached.  
    I’m currently doing this with one of my cats, Little Boy, who has kidney
    disease.  The extra fluid will challenge the kidneys to work.  It takes time, so I
    wrap him securely in a blanket, except for his head and the scruff of his neck.  
    When the cat is secure, I hold him on my lap, facing away from me.  I lift up a
    teepee shape of skin at the scruff of his neck.  I insert the needle through the
    skin into the teepee-like space.  Then I loosen the control on the catheter to
    start the fluid dripping into the needle.  I hold Little Boy very firmly and sing to
    him.  It’s not easy to hold the cat and the needle still.  If fluid isn’t dripping
    very quickly, I withdraw the needle a tiny bit.  I want to be infusing into the
    space just under the skin.  When the amount has been infused, I close the
    control on the catheter and withdraw the needle.  My cat happily jumps off my
    lap and licks his neck.  In a few minutes, he’s recovered and is back looking
    for more petting.  
    You can browse through some images of Little Boy by clicking on my page,
    Order Cards and Prints.        

    Shots  
    This information is primarily for administering insulin to diabetic cats.  Close
    the plunger of the syringe, and dip it into the bottle of insulin.  Pull back on
    the plunger until the right amount of insulin is drawn up into the syringe.  
    Remove the syringe and hold it with the needle upright.  Tap on it a bit and
    then push plunger up to remove any air.  Lift the teepee of skin as in the
    above paragraph, and insert the syringe into the space formed.  Push the
    plunger until all the medicine is administered.     
How To Give Medicine