Forcing the pill

You’ve probably heard this before: a dog can be fooled into taking a pill mixed with food, but a cat cannot. It’s true, which means you have to take an active role in the medicating if your cat has to take a medicine in pill form.

It isn’t fun (for either you or the cat), and it requires you to force open the cat’s mouth, push the pill far to the back of the throat and then hold the head back until the pill has gone down. It has to be done quickly, otherwise the cat coughs up the pill and you begin all over again. It helps the process the next time around if you end each session with some stroking and soft words.