Max, the cat, has to take 1/2 a thyroid pill twice daily. Giving a pill to a cat, especially our mean ole Max, can be daunting at best. When boobalah was getting her meds at the vet's office, he noticed Pill Pockets.

Boy or boy! Those things are great! They are soft. You just put the pill in and mash it closed. Max loves her pill time.

If you have cats who need meds, you might consider them. I've also found them at Pet Food Express. The Pets Smart near my home doesn't carry them for cats.

When I was giving allergy meds to one of my cats, I used them... I was in the vet's office and she asked, "Do you think you can make him take a pill?" I jokingly replied, "Maybe if it tastes like salmon!" And the Dr goes, well, actually...

Turns out even the pill pocket doesn't taste good enough for him I think he can tell I'm up to something. What I ended up doing to make him take his meds was to take half a Pill Pocket, a cat treat, and a pill, and use the Pill Pocket as glue to make the pill stick to the treat.

He ate them that way.

We humans are pretty tricky people...

Mare, that's great that they work for you! I wish! My cat doesn't like them. We have a pill syringe we give her meds with. Thankfully we only have to medicate her when we travel.

If only they had something to make giving LIQUID medicines easier...my cats will let me get away with a pill, but NOT a squirt of liquid antibiotics.

cb....if your cat ever gets tired of taking the mes in the pill pocket...talk to your vet about having the Tapazole/methamazole compounded. Its one of the few meds that works transdermal. you apply a once a day liquid (you have to wear a glove) to the cats ear and it will absorb systemically and it works...very few other drugs work transdermal. Its saved a few of my clients who's cats are difficult to pill and won't eat pill pockets. Something to think about for future need.

and mandalinn - talk to your vet next time about the ab's. Most ab's come in pill form...and we as vets just have a tendency to give liquid to cats because the majority of cats can't be pilled. Clavamox, amoxicilling and clindamycin all come in pill form. Just ask your vet.

Gatorgal, see why we need you?! We're very fortunate that Max loves her pill pockets. She nags us every day at 7 AM and PM. We follow it up with 4 little pieces of Greenies. I'm concerned about how much weight she's put on but the vet wasn't. She get's another check up in March. She's 13, so we opted to not have the surgery.

I've been having to give my cat 2 pills of clindamycin twice daily for 2 weeks total and she's been really good about it. I offered her treats afterwards and she doesn't want them (probably because she thinks they're yet another horrible thing I want her to ingest) so I've decided to pet her and reward her that way. I just pop her mouth open and kinda toss the pill back as far as I can and then massage her throat to get it swallowed. I guess I'm lucky to have a well-behaved cat... haha.

lindsey - be thiankful. I have a cat that won't even let me put eye drops in her eyes....and i'm the vet...how stupid do you thinik i feel. My cat has a cosmetic eye issue that will resolve with pred drops but she won't let me get near her...so i just gave up and told her she'll just have an ugly eye...oh well. She a bit of a freak cat..but i still love her

This topic also came up on the Straight Dope and somebody offered this link:

http://www.xs4all.nl/~josvg/pets/cat-pill.html