How to give ear medicine to a cat and rebuild trust after struggles?

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. This one is really hard and common among cat owners. A few tips: - If Gurl is food motivated, use treats or her food. example: give a treat, give the meds, give more treats or dinner. In time, she'll hopefully associate the medication with the treats/food. - Use the gabapentin to your advantage. Gabapentin has mild sedating and anti-anxiety effects (along with pain control) in cats. If you can get that down her, you may find that an hour or two later, the metronidazole goes dow easier. - Consider having the pharmacy add in some flavoring. -try mixing them into wet food, tuna juice, chicken broth, etc. get creative - try the pills - it may seem counter-intuitive but some cats you can pill easier than you can get liquids down. -Talk with your vet about other options. Depending on her underlying issue, maybe a diet change, steroid injection, or other medication or supplement can help. Best wishes to you and Gurl!

I have 3 cats and they generally hate their medication as well. The easiest way to go about this is to grab a towel and burrito wrap the kitten in there to trap his legs and prevent him from scratching you, then scruff him (grab the back of his neck with one hand). Here is a youtube link on how to burrito wrap your cat --> https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=how+to+burrito+wrap+a+cat Then I would give the medication in the side of the mouth --> https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=how+to+medicate+your+cat I hope that this helps! Best of luck with your new rescue kitten Pistachio moving forward. Take care!

Hi. I am sorry miss jewels has an ear infection. If you are unable to Medicare topically in to the ears, you can discuss with your veterinarian doing all oral treatment instead of topical. Oral antibiotics if bacterial, and antifungal if it's a yeast infection. If it is painful, you can get a pain medication as well. They can give you some pointers on giving oral medications and restraining w one person. Also, try pill pockets. They are soft treats with a hole for the pill. Then the hole squeezes closed. I hope this helps. Good luck.

I'm sorry to hear that Gabriel is so scared! Try coaxing him out of the closet with tempting canned cat food or a small amount of chicken or tuna. Warming the foods slightly will make their odor more prominent, which is often more tempting to cats. Once he comes out, you should be able to administer his medication. If he doesn't come out with temptation, you may have to go into the closet to catch him for the medication. You can give his medication by using your non dominant hand to grasp the top of Gabriel's jaw and point his nose towards the ceiling. Then, using your dominant hand, gently open his lower jaw with your ring finger and put the pill down the back of his throat with your index finger and thumb, or put a syringe in his mouth relatively far back if it is a liquid medication. Pill poppers are useful tools for putting a pill back relatively far in a cat's mouth so that you don't have to put your fingers in his mouth. If Gabriel becomes aggressive, stop your medication attempt and contact your vet about other medication options. I hope that all goes well!

Hello. You will need to get just a little bit tough with Pookie. You need to scruff her & tilt her head back so that her nose is pointed straight up. This will actually relax her jaw a bit where you can introduce the syringe into the side of her mouth. Drip the Metacam in & then praise her well. This is sometimes the only way I can medicate my own cats. Hope this helps & thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

I understand! Medicating cats can be very challenging in some cases. I'm not sure what type of medication he is taking, but some options would include mixing in some canned food, tuna, or other special treat. If he won't eat it this way and won't allow you to medicate him by putting the medication directly in his mouth, you could ask your vet about having it compounded into a tasty treat or liquid suspension that might be easier to give.

I'm sorry to hear that Cassie isn't feeling well. The fact that she is showing interest in her food, yet dropping it, makes me question if she has some degree of dental disease causing pain in her mouth. That said, if she has a mass in her stomach, this could also be impacting her appetite and ability to comfortably eat. Getting cats to take medication can be tricky, but this article has some good tips for giving medication: https://www.petcoach.co/article/how-to-give-your-dog-a-pill/. If you have liquid medications, follow the steps for giving a pill, but squirt the liquid to the back of the mouth instead of placing the pill there. If this issue persists, I recommend taking Cassie back to her vet for further evaluation. I hope that she's feeling better soon!