This article is aimed at you animal lovers out there who have ever had to give your pet pills. My cat Jinx developed a UTI (urinary tract infection) requiring an antibiotic pill every 12 hours. If you have ever tried to give a cat pills, you know this is as easy as trying to train one to go out and fetch the newspaper. It can also require chain mail armor! She has been on a medication for her thyroid for over a year, which also had to be given every 12 hours. That pill is tiny, so with the aid of pill pockets, all goes down without much ado. That was before the addition of the antibiotic pill which is the size of a button battery. The pill pockets I was using were too small for the pill, so I bought some larger ones for dogs made of duck and peas. That sort of worked; she ate the pocket and spit out the pill. I thought maybe if I crushed the pill and mixed it with some irresistible food, she wouldn’t know the difference; WRONG! I even bought those Fancy Feast Creamy Treats (2 oz. for $1.29) hoping this would entice her. It became apparent that I was working against the smell of the pill, and even a shrimp cocktail wasn’t going to hide the aroma.
I made some gravy out of the jellied collagen that forms on the bottom of chicken when it sits in the refrigerator. I used a pill crusher and mashed both pills to a fine powder and added a syringe full of gravy to the powder. I squirted a little at a time between Jinx’s teeth, and Eureka! It worked!
Cats are such marvelous creatures. Unlike dogs, they’re picky and finicky about everything. A dog will eat just about anything; not so a cat. My dad used to tell the story of a hound dog he had when he was a kid. He said he’d wad up newspaper, dip it in gravy and feed it to the dog that never chewed or tasted anything, just gulped it down. He said he wanted to see if the dog would later “pass” confetti. Now you know where I got my sense of humor.
As for me, I’m feeling very pleased with myself indeed. I fought the cat and (for a change) the cat didn’t win!
***
Anatole France said, “Until one has loved an animal, part of their soul remains unawakened.” Let us know the circumstances under which your soul was awakened, so that others might decide to have a soul awakening as well. Enlighten us at allie4katz@gmail.com ASAP. Allie
