Pills and Cats: the Adventure Continues

After almost three months of taking her pill hidden in one form of treat or another, this morning my kitty, Samantha, decided she was having none of it.

You can look back in my blog posts to read about my early adventures with getting Sammie to eat her pill. The effort has evolved over time as she has grown bored with her treats. At first she happily wolfed down the pill hidden in a pill pocket and mixed with other treats. Eventually, she decided she didn’t like her treats or the pill pockets, so in recent weeks, I’ve wrapped the pill pocket with small strips of smoked turkey lunchmeat. Not healthy, to be sure, but if it entices Miss Persnickety to eat the pill, hey, I’ll do it. Lately, I’ve used only pieces of the pill pocket, leaving a thin film of the sticky material on the pill. Just enough to act as glue for the turkey.

Then we get to this morning. The turkey just didn’t have the allure for Sammie that it usually does. My worst fear come to fruition. Okay, maybe it’s not my WORSE fear, but it’s considerable. I think I’ve run out of foods to bribe her with. She’s tired of all of them.

There’s still KFC, which I understand cats LOVE, but I’m saving that as my last option when the cancer takes away her appetite and she refuses to eat anything else. I have to keep something in reserve, you know.

After fifteen minutes of coaxing and coddling and begging her to eat her little ball of turkey, I was forced to peel the turkey and pill pocket goo from the capsule, pry Sammie’s mouth open and plunk the pill down her throat. This was followed by several long minutes of me holding her while she glared at me with big angry eyes and refused to swallow.

I’ve been through this before with other pills. Sam can go for what seems like hours without swallowing. She’ll drool. She’ll glare. But she won’t swallow. Knowing that this pill is vital to keeping her cancer at bay and keeping her feeling as well as possible for as long as possible, I was armed with more determination than in past episodes. It took a while. And she tried to gag it back up, but I had stuck it far enough back on her tongue that it did eventually go down.

Done for today. But what about Thursday? I need a new treat. Something decadent to a cat. Something irresistible to my finicky Princess Samantha. Something in which I can hide a pill.

Any ideas???

Oh, by the way…AFTER I force fed her the pill, she ate all the remaining turkey. Go figure.

Comments

Anonymous said…
My brother and I were never great pill-swallowers. My mom used to crush the pill and sprinkle it onto a spoonful of Jello or mix it into a tiny glass of Kool-ade. Any chance your Sammie would go for the taste of imitation strawberry? (Can you tell I don't have pets? Sorry I couldn't be more helpful!)

Good luck, Annette! Sammie sounds delightfully stubborn and independent -- it's a parent's worst nightmare and biggest blessing, all wrapped into one!
4/24/07, 10:02 AM
Annette said…
Unfortunately, I can't open the capsule and sprinkle the contents on food. I was told the stuff is very bitter (blegh) and she needs to get the exact dosage, which doesn't always happen if she would decide half-way through her meal that she was done, thank you very much. So it's the entire capsule.

I did buy some ground turkey at the store this morning and will try cooking up a little bit of it. Hopefully, the pill will stay hidden in it. I'll let you know.
4/24/07, 1:03 PM
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