The photo you’re looking at is, indeed, blurry.
Petey has absolutely no time for anything but play, food, and mayhem these days.
Giving him his daily Prednisone has turned into a battle of the wills. I can catch him easily enough, but then all bets are off.
Petey thrashes like a shark in the midst of a feeding frenzy. And that pretty Bengal fur? It’s slick, like black ice.
Let’s not even get started on his ability to clamp his jaws shut. Or his special pill spitting talent. So far, his maximum distance is 5 ft. We’re hoping he can be competitive at the Beijing Olympics.
I’ve won every battle. So far. And I haven’t started drinking heavily, either.
Once again, you make me laugh
Have you searched for any of the pilling tips over in the group posts? (Sorry, I don’t have time to give you mine; heading to a client’s site in minutes.) Also, there are pill-giving videos, if you need help on technique.
The biggest tip I can give right now, is to remember that water chaser, tuna juice (Kalysta’s fave right now) or food directly after the pilling. Those suckers can get stuck in their throat. Pred is bitter too, and appetite stimulants even more so, so I put them into empty gel caps that I bought online. No more taste!
Have a great day!
Bob
My loving yet vicious Simon took liquid Pred for a while.
We had the pharmacy flavor it with some extract. They offered tuna, beef and chicken flavors.
While Simon didn’t find it tasty, it was much better than straight up.
I am going to have to explore pilling techniques in greater depth. My old cat was such a gentleman, I could tell him “It’s time for your pill,” and he’d just sit there and wait for it.
I hate to switch to a liquid, since he’s doing so well on the pill form. I know they’re probably exactly the same, performance-wise, but I’m superstitious that way.
Your description of the battle of the wills at pilling time describes exactly what I am experiencing with Midnight – it is quite amazing how he can jerk his head to the side with lightning speed, or how he can twist his tongue to spit the pill back out, or how tightly he can clamp his jaws shut…
I would second Bob’s tip about making sure you chase the pill with a syringe full of water or perhaps tuna juice – that’s what I do too. Then Midnight gets a treat of butter (“it’s better with butter”) which he loves, and I also offer some food immediately after that, all in an effort to make sure the pill goes down and stays down.
Pred can be also compounded into chewables, liquid, or transdermal. It is bitter, though, and I am not sure how well that bitter taste can be masked in a chewable or liquid. Since Midnight (unlike the other family cats) is not very food-motivated, I haven’t dared try a liquid suspension or a chewable for fear of not getting the entire dose into him. We did do the transdermal for a while, but ultrasound images suggest that the transdermal pred may not have been reaching its intended target, and he has in fact been doing better on the pills – in spite of the daily struggle involved in getting said pill into him.
Riki, I was just going to tell Gayle that someone I knew had done transdermal and I was going to mail you and see if you had any advice! Small world, isn’t it? (This is Nyssa’s human, Jenny, from the VAS group!)
Gayle, I really feel for you, it’s like you’re trying to pill lightning! A treat immediately following a pilling can work, but it takes a while for them to make the connection.
The problem with Petey (besides that whole cancer thing)is that he doesn’t care about food. Except bacon. Little weirdo.
If Petey fights being given Prednisone then he is far smarter than you had led me to believe.
Poor Petey. Poor Alfa.
Poor Petey my eye. The boy is totally spoiled.