One Smart Cat

I may have mentioned before that my Max is one smart cat (he sews, he types, he plays fetch with the orange pom pom). The good news is, he is taking some new medication for his recently diagnosed inflammatory bowel disease that seems to be solving his frequent vomiting problem. The bad news is, after just five days, he has figured out there is a pill inside the salmon flavoured pill pocket and now he just licks the outside or chews it just enough to eat the yummy outside part and spits out the pill in the middle.

I've tried the old-fashioned way to give a cat a pill - hold their jaw, pry open their teeth, drop the pill to the back of their throat, hold the mouth closed until they swallow. Except as soon as I hold his head, he starts squirming around like crazy, the back feet come up and he's ready to do some kangaroo kickboxing! However, he's smart enough to know not to use his back claws on me, for which I am most grateful.

I just got back from visiting the vet's office. I went to get a new supply of the pill pockets, hoping that a new flavour (chicken this time) might help. They also gave me some very good advice on some alternate methods to try. One is to grind the pill up and mix it with a very small portion of wet food - I tried this when I got home and it actually worked - yay! I was sure he would turn his nose up at it, seeing as how it would taste like a bitter ground up pill but apparently not.

The other method they recommended is to swaddle the cat in a towel, hold him stomach up in your arms and repeat the above noted steps with the jaws and dropping the pill in their mouth. Apparently, this method works because they can't get away and they can't use their feet. They even demonstrated exactly how to do it using the clinic cat Alfie, who was most tolerant but immediately ran quickly away once he was unwrapped from the towel (another smart cat!) I shall resort to this method as needed.

In the meantime, for tonight, success!

P.S. Want to know what Max did during Earth Hour, when all the lights were out and everything was quiet? See photo on the right. Like I said, smart! :)