A new veterinary practice

[bellinghman]

We've just realised an exciting new way of getting cats to swallow pills.

Feed the pills to the local mice.

Comments

[artela.livejournal.com]

Don't the pills then just end up in the green wobbly bit that the cat won't eat?

[bellinghman.livejournal.com]

You mean the garnish?

(At least, our moggies seem to consume the lot. OK, feathers may get left, but beaks? Claws?)

[artela.livejournal.com]

Ours seem to leave little furry skulls, and green wobbly bits (just as described in "Maurice"... I suspect the green wobbly bit is where nasty stuff ends up, the rest gets eaten if they're in the mood, although they seem to catch far more than they require for between meals snacks, so we also get a lot of full dead bodies too :-)

[ottah.livejournal.com]

The green wobbly bit is the gall bladder.

[liasbluestone.livejournal.com]

Your local mice have beaks?

[oldbloke.livejournal.com]

I stumbled downstairs early one morning to witness the legs of a small bird disappearing down Felix's throat. Swallowed the bird whole. I didn't really need that before my first pint of coffee.

[perdita-fysh.livejournal.com]

As part of the raw meat thingy, I give ours some 'chicken wings' every few days. I had been expecting the small things you get when you order buffalo wings in a restaurant, but these are actually the full shebang about half the size of a cat, with the odd feather still attached as well.

It still amazes me that I return the following morning to about a half inch of the bone that had been exposed at the end where it joined the body and was obviously rejected due to not tasting nice rather than any inability to eat. I keep meaning to sit and watch them eat one some time!

[aardvark179.livejournal.com]

This sounds too much like reindeer and mushrooms. I predict you'll either end up with no effect or a bunch of berserker cats ready to go looting and pillaging the neighbourhood.

[dan-golem.livejournal.com]

Many years ago, my land lady had daily wrestling matches with her cat as she tried to feed it a pill. One day, one of her daughters went up to the animal with a pill balanced on a finger tip. The cat gave it a sniff, poked out its tongue hesitantly, gave it a quick lick, and snaffled it up! End of problem.

[jemck.livejournal.com]

In the past we have had cats who
a)would invariably eat a pill wrapped in a cursory bit of ham or similar without noticing.
b)required two adults in gardening gloves to wrap her in an old towel, open her mouth, shove it down hard and clamp her mouth and nose shut until it was a choice of swallow or smother. Though when faced with a vet, you'd think she had a flip-top head. Open my mouth, why sure, how wide would you like it?
c)would deign to eat a pill if it came in a dollop of anchovy paste. Until the fine day when he worked out that he could suck the anchovy paste off and spit the tablet back at you. When he'd done this five times in a row, we resorted to the gardening gloves and old towel routine. The next time, he didn't do the sucking and spitting.

spoonful of sugar

[kelvix.livejournal.com]

Nothing will make our cats consume pills (or even liquid medicine) willingly - the "conveyor-belt tongue" approach means that all pills come back up, even when they seem to have gone down,and out through the side of a mouth filled with sharp teeth.

The only solution that we have managed is to grind up the pill to powder, mix it with small amounts of butter, and smear mixture on paws.