Kneel on floor and put cat between knees (cat facing forwards). Cross your
ankles behind so cat can't escape backwards; press your knees together so
cat can't escape forwards. Make sure your cat's front legs are tucked in
between your knees so it can't claw you. Put the palm of your hand on top
of its head and thumb and index finger on either side of its mouth; the
mouth will fall open as you tilt the head back. If it doesn't, gently push
down on the cat's lower front teeth eith your middle finger of your other
hand (the first two fingers are to hold the pill). You may wish to stop at
this point and use a flashlight to examine the cat's mouth to see what you
are doing. You want to drop the pill in on *top* of the tongue as far
*back* as you can. Keep the head tilted back and stroke its throat until
pill is swallowed. Then let your cat escape.
Another trick is to buy a bottle of gelatin capsules. Take the capsule
apart, dump the contents, put the pill in the empty capsule (in pieces if
it won't otherwise fit) and reassemble the two capsule halves. Some places,
especially natural food stores, will sell empty gelatin capsules, try and
get size "00". This makes the administration of small pills much easier,
and can also allow you to give more than one pill at one time, if they're
sufficiently small. The capsule itself just dissolves away harmlessly. Do
NOT use capsules which have been filled with any other substance but plain
gelatin, since the residue may not agree with your pet!
You can try babyfood as a deception: get some pureed baby food meat, dip
your finger in the jar, and sort of nestle the pill in the baby food. Offer
it to your cat and it may lick it up. Be warned, some cats are very good at
licking up everything BUT the pill.
You can get a pill plunger from your vet. This is a syringe-like tool that
takes the pill on one end and lets you "inject" the pill. You can insert
the pill deep down the cat's throat this way.
To administer liquid medication if the cat will not lick it up: use the
same procedure for pilling, but (using a needle-less syringe that you can
obtain from your vet) squirt the medicine down its throat instead of
dropping the pill. Cats do not choke on inhaled liquids like humans because
they rarely breath through their mouths.
Cats can vomit easily, so keep an eye on them for a while after they've
been dosed: it's not impossible that they'll run off to a corner and
upchuck the medicine. Giving them a pet treat after dosage may help prevent
this.
If your cat has an affected area that you must clean or swab or otherwise
handle, try this strategy, especially if the cat is uncooperative:
Start with lots of handling. At first don't handle the affected area, at
all or for long. Gradually increase the amount of handling of the affected
area. Move closer to it day by day, spend more time near it or on it. Talk
to the cat while you're handling it. At the same time you're handling the
affected area, pet the cat in an area it likes to be handled. After
handling the affected area, praise the cat, pet the cat, give the cat a
food treat, do things the cat likes.
As long as the medical problem you're treating isn't acute, don't restrain
the cat to apply treatment. Gradually working up to a tolerable if not
pleasant approach is much better in the long run.
If you must restrain the cat, grab the fur on the back of the neck with one
hand, holding the head down, and clean/medicate with the other hand. Have
your vet show you how. Sometimes wrapping the cat in a towel helps too.