We’ve all been there — you notice something is off, whisk your cat to the vet, and come home with medication that Fluffy would rather not take at this time, thank-you-very-much. Fortunately, we help a ton of cats overcoming illness at Cat Town, and have compiled a number of sneaky tricks to get them to take their medication without trouble.
Bookmark these tips to help you the next time your cat needs some encouragement taking their medicine!
Tools:
Dried minnows (or other freeze dried treats)
Party Mix (or other “junk food” treats)
Meat Tube (Inaba Churu, Nulo Freestyle, Catit, etc)
Techniques for Disguising Medication
Treat sandwich method: Wrap the pill with either pill masker or a pill pocket. Take a treat, and break it in half. Then, stick the halves to either side of the pill covered in masker and give it to your cat. You can also add the sandwich to a small bowl with other treats and some meat tube purée to disguise it. If regular treats aren’t working, try freeze dried minnows or another novelty treat!
Syringe: If a medication needs to be syringed, you can improve the taste (and the experience for your cat) by mixing the medication in the syringe with a small amount of water and baby food, or the juice from a can of tuna.
The varied textures of a treat sandwich can help disguise a pill.
Meat tube method:
For a pill — insert it into a gel cap, then drop it into an open meat tube, squeezing the pill down to the middle of the tube. Squeeze the meat purée into your cat's mouth, holding it from above so your cat is looking up at you. When the pill falls in your cat's mouth, they will typically swallow, and having their head tilted up helps it go down their throat easier! Then, give them the rest of the meat tube as a reward. For liquid medication — if it doesn’t taste bad, you can just squeeze the medication into the tube, and squish the meat purée around to mix it up. Give it to your cat as you would a normal meat tube.
A bitter pill goes down easier with a gel cap to hide the taste.
Gel cap method: If a pill tastes very bad or dissolves easily (often the case if it needs to be cut in half), you can try the gelcap method. Take the smallest size gel cap possible that the pill fits in, coat the gelcap with some pill masker, then give it to your cat. You can also coat this in meat tube purée to make it more irresistible!
FortiFlora: Fortiflora is a probiotic supplement in powder form, typically added to wet food. Cats enjoy the smell and taste of FortiFlora, so it can be used to mask the flavor of a medication or make it more appetizing. Mix it into a dose of their liquid medication or meat tube purée, or sprinkle it over the medication.
Tricky Loaf method: This approach works well for a difficult-to-medicate or highly suspicious cat. Wrap the pill in some pill masker or a pill pocket, then add one or more extra bits of the pill masker, treats, and meat tube purée. Combine everything into a loaf in a shallow bowl. This will make it hard for your cat to tell which part of the loaf has the pill.
A cat investigates a bowl of Tricky Loaf. With plenty of tempting flavors and different textures, cats find it tricky to eat around the medicine hidden inside.
Additional Strategies for Wary Cats
Does your cat seem to know when your “treat” is secretly medicine? Here are some extra sneaky tips to help lower their guard.
Stay calm. If you feel anxious about your cat taking their medication — after all, they need it to get better! — try taking some deep, calming breaths to get your mind into the same headspace you have when you’re just giving them treats.
A cat happily eats meat purée out of a meat tube.
Rapid fire approach! If your cat is suspicious of their pill, don’t give them the chance to realize it’s there. Hide the pill in a gel cap, coat the gel cap in pill masker, and grab a meat tube and treats to use as decoys. First, quickly give your cat several meat tube purée-covered treats, one after another. Then, give them the disguised pill, also covered in meat tube purée. Be sure to follow up with a few more tasty treats afterward.
Random treats. For especially suspicious cats, you can try offering them treats or meat tubes without medication at random times throughout the day to show them that not every treat has medicine in it. For example, give them a treat sandwich or a tricky loaf with no pill.
Try decoys! Give them “decoy” treats with the pill masker (or whatever you are using) to throw them off. They just might eat their medication while thinking they’ve outsmarted you by avoiding your decoy.
Switch it up! Some cats can become more avoidant of medication if you use the same method over and over. Switch up the supplies you use, or the method you take, to keep things fresh.
A cat eats out of a stainless steel bowl.
Step away. If there is only one animal in the house (and thus no one else to gobble up their food), you can try stepping away or leaving the room. This can help lower their suspicions if your cat doesn’t like to be watched while they’re taking their medication. Be sure to confirm afterwards that they consumed their medication.
Never underestimate tuna! Tuna juice from the can (or the tuna itself) can be a great motivator. When all else fails, turn to tuna!
When it comes to medicating cats, convincing them to eat their medicine on their own, rather than forcing it on them, is less stressful for everyone involved — and can transform an unpleasant experience into another way to bond with your cat companion!