Anyone have cats that are on Thyroid Meds...those chewy things?

[KoKo]

One of my Siamese was just diagnosed and I'm having a terrible time getting her to eat the chewy medication.

Anyone have any tips...It's awful dealing with this. She started off okay but now won't eat it mixed in with her food. I have two Siamese who always ate from the same dish but now I have to segregate poor little Yum-Yum...lock her in a room until she eats. And, she refuses to...and is getting thinner and thinner. I'm at my wits end.

She spits it out if I cut the "chewy" in pieces and try to force it in her mouth...so I can't do that anymore...besides it seems cruel. So mixing it with food or cutting it in little pieces and leaving it on a dish is all I've been able to come up with. :-(

[MidwestMomma]

1. I have to give my cat pills twice a day

I have to sneak up on her, open her mouth and stick them down her throat. Some days I get away with it and some days she gets her claw in me. :)

I don't have the chewy medicine. I know with the regular pills they have pill pockets you can use but I'm not sure if they would work.

It sucks giving them meds because they start to hold it against you and you wonder if it's worth it.

Does your cat have a hyper or hypothyroid? If hyper, I might have a few suggestions from what my vet told me. Sorry not more help.

[KoKo]

2. She is "hyperthyroid." Only on one pill

a day to start..but it's a square chicken chewable. Supposedly they come in flavors in a mixed pack...but they gave me the chicken to start out with.

I think she is resenting me...and it's causing problems with my other cat. He doesn't know what's up with his sister and why she's locked away.

I did see on a website that there's a liquid you can put on their ears that they lick off. But the website said the medication is very bitter in taste...so I don't know if that would work or if ny vet even has it. It was a British Cat site...and often their stuff is different.

[MidwestMomma]

3. My cat is hyperthyroid too

How old is your cat? If she's not very old, did your vet talk to you about the radioactive iodine treatment? It's costly but over the lifetime of your cat not so much. I thought about it for my cat but they have to be isolated at the clinic for 2 weeks and I'm not sure how traumitizing that would be for her. They only do the treatments at certain places.

My vet told me about the liquid stuff too. I'm just sticking the pills down her throat for now. I think we're both getting used to it. She's put weight back on and seems much happier....except for pill time.

And I literally have to sneak up on her. If she sees or hears me getting the pills out of the bottle, she runs down the hall :)

[KoKo]

4. 13 years...but vet says she's in good health otherwise and we caught

it in time. There is a place here that will zap her thyroid but from what I read online...sometimes they can zap it and it's too much and they need to go on Meds to replace some of what they zapped. You have to deal with radioactive litter and keep them isolated for two weeks. The place here keeps them for two days..but then you have to isolate them at home and do stuff to dispose of their waste and not allow them within three feet of you. UGH! Plus it's 1,200.00! And, to do that and have the possibility she will be the small percent who have to be on pills afterwards makes me think I ought to wait on that.

How long was your cat on the pills before she seemed to be in better health? Mine is drinking alot of water and throwing up. That was supposed to stop with the pills but she's only been on them two weeks and I'm not getting a whole chewy down her every day...so the dose hasn't been consistent.

[MidwestMomma]

5. Don't worry, it can take 4-6 weeks for the levels to get better

Funny story...I have hyperthyroid dz myself. Anytime they change my meds they would not recheck for 4-6 weeks.

My cat pre-meds threw up all the time too. I just thought it was hairballs. I didn't even know she was sick...I just thought she was losing weight cause she was getting older. I took her to the vet finally cause her eyes got really gunky and I thought she had an eye infection.

About the radiation, that's kind of the thought process I went through too and decided on the pills. You should check on the regular pills and just get good at sticking them down her throat. It gets easier over time.

You can always have another person hold her paws while you do it, then you just have to worry about the teeth :)

Good luck. I love my cat but sometimes they sure are a lot of work. sb

[KoKo]

9. Thanks....I had the same thing...thought she was just getting older and

took her in for a teeth cleaning and they discovered she was down a pound. So they tested her... Glad to know that she can recover in around 6 weeks. If I can ever get the medicine down her.

[Samurai_Writer]

6. My cat takes a pill, not chewy things

The pills are TINY, and he only takes one a day. No problem, he's a very mellow cat. If she's hyperthyroid, you could ask your vet if it would be better to change her meds to Methimazole, 5mg.

[KoKo]

8. How do you get the pill in your cats mouth? Is there a trick.

Even if I cut up the chewey in little pieces she finds a way to spit it out. :shrug: Her brother was on a medication that was a pill and he foamed it out of his mouth. I was worried that she might have the same problem. There's no way a pill will work with a foamer.

She's on the Methimazole, 5mg. btw...it's just in a square chicken chewable...

[crispini]

10. Foolproof method: how to pill a cat.

My vet showed me this. It really works.

Catch the cat and kneel on the floor. Put the cat between your legs and keep your feet together so that she can't "back out" on you. So you have the cat trapped on three sides with your legs and you are sort of "sitting" on the cat although not putting any weight on her.

Keep your left forearm on the cat's chest and pry her mouth open with left hand, the pill in your right hand. Toss the pill down her throat, waaaay back, and then take your right forefinger and poke it down. Then keep hold of her and stroke her throat until you are sure she swallows it. Voila! All done!

The trick is that since you're restraining her with your legs, you should have both hands free to deal with her front and mouth, mostly. It's always worked on mine, even the most pill-hating cats. Good luck!

[KoKo]

12. Thanks.....if I have to go to the pills

I will try that. I'm not so sure about taking the right finger and poking it down :D...but the rest sounds doable. I can't do it with the square chewable because she would choke on it.. But since that isn't working maybe I'll have to give the pills a try.

[crispini]

13. Yeah, probably not good for the chewie.

And the whole poking it down with your finger is hard, because they WILL try to bite you, but otherwise they might very well just spit it out. Now if you get good and can just toss it in the very back of their throat, then that's just as good if not better. :)

[KT2000]

19. A trick I learned

is when you try to open their mouth, go to their back teeth on the side of their mouth. It is easy to open their mouth there and you are closer to the back of the mouth. If you ever have to give liquids in a dropper or something, just pushing the dropper between the back teeth is pretty easy

As for the rest of it, I do what Crispini said to do. Can't say I have 100% success but most of the go down. It is a nerve-wracking thing to have to do though.

[crispini]

7. My cat went through the radiation therapy for thyroid.

One thing you might look into is any vet schools that would do the procedure near you. I drove her down to the vet school at A&M. It was a three hour drive one way, but they took care of her for the whole two weeks and it was way way cheaper than having it done locally. I did have to give her pills anyway afterwards though.

Why not go to pills? They are easier.

[KoKo]

11. There is a vet school...but my vet suggested another special radiation

place thats about a half hour from here. Maybe the vet school would be cheaper .. She, said I should see how she does with the chewable before I did the radiation...she might be okay without it.

I was worried when I read that some cats need to stay on pills after the radiation... Sorry that happened with your cat.. :-(

[crispini]

14. She was fine, though.

She lived for many years after that. So it was good. :)

[KoKo]

16. that's encouraging. Did you miss days of the medication?

Any time during giving her the pills. My worry is that if we have to leave her for a day or two with food she will keel over or something. Vet said it would be okay...but still..even now I'm worried she isn't getting a consistent dose because I'm chopping up the chewies and mixing with food and she doesn't eat all of it...so might be missing a piece or two.

[crispini]

17. Sometimes I'd miss a day, but no more than a day.

Honestly she was pretty good with the pills after she got used to it so it was easy enought to teach someone how to pill her. We'd get the neighbors to do it if we were going to be gone for awhile. :shrug:

[flamingyouth]

15. I had a cat with hyperthyroidism.

She took pills twice a day, but she was pretty good (well, okay...) at taking them.

Honestly, at times it was a struggle, but I managed. She was on the pills for years.

Try putting it in chicken or turkey baby food. Tiffany loved that. I would grind it up and she loved it. She lived to be almost 18.

[gkdmaths]

18. I have an epiliptic

dog on phenobarb and KBr. I pill up her pheno in saltfree peanutbutter, which she takes well. I'm a chemist so I compound her KBr myself and had to train her to take it via syringe. I wonder if there is a way you could encapsulate it in something cat-tasty, such as tuna? meat puree?

I've found that, for cats, the method described by crispini works the best.


gkd

[KoKo]

20. Another day and another "chewy" gone. She's gonna die if I don't

get this medication down her. I think maybe I better try to switch from "chewy squares" to pill or My Vet now says there's liquid drops I can place in her food.

Problem is...I have two cats used to eating from the same dish of food. Now that I've segregated their food dishes...Neither one "trusts me" anymore. They both have "shaved paws" from having "tests" and both had their teeth cleanings...and so finding that one is "hyperthyroid" doesn't mean that they understand why one of them has to be on "Meds" that has disrupted their whole routine...plus the anesthesia and the "shaved paws" from their blood tests.

I'm in the "Dog House" with my kitties. They blame me for their shaved fur and horrible experience...even though my vet is really the best person and loves them....:-(

Thanks for all the replies. I'm going to have to change the routine and you all have given me good tips...since the chewables aren't working.