6 thoughts on “I will be spending MY evening smearing baby food on a cat’s mouth”

  1. The foolproof technique: sneak up behind your cat (preferably while he’s sitting) and wrap a towel around him, completely enveloping all of his sharp extremities and leaving only his head exposed. Then hold his jaw on either side until he opens his mouth. Upside: sometimes it works. Downside: he still won’t necessarily swallow, and you’ll all be traumatized for life.

    The alternative for when the foolproof technique doesn’t work: If it’s liquid medicine (looks like it?), try mixing it with something else and letting him lick it off a spoon. Anchovy paste works well, in my experience.

    The ridiculously expensive last resort: some compounding pharmacies can make fish-flavored liquid medicine for cats. Not that I’d know this from experience or anything.

  2. I had an extremely violent cat and when I used the towel on him he shredded it. In place of this I was told of a wondrous ninja technique that worked on him: basically you bring your knees down on either side of the cat and make sure the cats front shoulders are between your knees and you hold the rest of the cat between your calves and bring your butt bow on their back. Thus you can have both of your hands free to administer meds etc. I would have to say the real secret is to develop a smooth motion of whipping their mouths open and cramping whatever in, b/c the second time it’s neigh impossible.
    Good luck.

  3. I second Jess’s method. My cat has a hyperactive thyroid and i have to give her two oral injections a day.
    I would add, don’t bother trying to force the cat’s mouth open, just hold his head firm with one hand and jam the syringe in his mouth with the other. If he can’t move his head he’ll have no choice but to bite on the syringe, giving you a chance to shot it in.
    Our cat was upset the first couple of times we did this, but she soon got used to it. I’m sure it didn’t hurt that the medicine was mixed with chicken broth.

  4. Here’s what a vet once recommended when I had a cat that wouldn’t take pills: mix it up into some peanut butter. Also good if you’re just trying to get some nutrition into him because you’re worried about him losing weight. It’s full of fat and protein, plus you can just swipe a fingerful of it onto the roof of his mouth and it’s too sticky for him to just spit it out.

  5. my friend had a shitty cat that would lick the pills clean of peanut butter then leave’em on the floor. You had to crush it and mix it with food, usually something tasty. worst if you placed your fingers near its mouth and it couldnt claw at you it would bite you.

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