help on giving medication to cat

[Amandasmom]

I’m giving my cat Tylan. It’s a bitter tasting powder. He gets a dose twice a day, if I can get it into him. Does anyone have any recommendations on how to give a cat something he really doesn’t want? Currently I mix it with water and shoot it into his mouth. As you can imagine, this is not an easy task. He knows its coming, is getting more feisty and I’m getting more frustrated. I tried putting it in his food but he can taste it and won’t eat the food. I tried mixing it with food and rubbing it on his coat. That put cat food all over my walls. I thought of mixing it with my other cat’s hairball goop but the tylan is for his colitis so I don’t want to introduce foreign foods to him.

Is there anything cats really like that would cancel out the bitter taste? Maybe sprinkle garlic powder on the food?

[Cleo]

No garlic powder, onion or anything of the sort. It's toxic. Maybe tuna water, not tuna oil, just the water from a can of tuna in water.

What are you shooting the meds with? A dropper or syringe? Whenever I have to give my cats anything liquid, I opt for the syringe (minus the needle of course) over the dropper the bottle comes with. It makes for a quick and easier squirt.

[Traci]

As Cleo said, absolutely NO garlic, onion etc salts or powders, they cause heinz-body anemias!

Can I just ask, did your vet diagnose this specifically, is it acute or chronic and was testing done (fecal exams, etc) to isolate the problem? What food are you feeding?

I would first try using it in a needle-less syringe with the juice from tuna in spring water (not oil), and if worse comes to worse, ask your vet to compound it if possible. As a last resort, you could have the vet place the powder in small capsules, BUT, the problem with capsules in cats there is a high risk of capsules lodging in throat or esophagus causing choking, non-dissolving of the capsule, or ineffective distribution of the medication. Before you consider capsules, consider another medication to address the colitis (preferrably be specific testing). Remember, colitis is a very vague term in vet med and in cats, there is generally an underlying cause that with persistence and patience, can usually be identified.

[Amandasmom]

I am using a syringe. I grab him by the scruff of the neck and shoot the liquid into the side of his mouth. I thought any type of fish was bad for a cat with stomach problems. If he even gets a taste of fish, it goes through him at the speed of light. The colitis is sort of a guess, the fecal showed no parasites or giardia. He has had bloody stool his entire life, all 6 yrs of it. He eats science diet sensitive stomach. That seems to help. With the tylan, he has stopped peeing and pooping in the kitchen sink so I think the tylan is working. When he doesn't feel well, he makes sure you know. The vet did mention having it made up in a compound. I'll talk to her about that.

When I was research Tylan, I found a lot of articles on its use for cats with colitis. They also mentioned that the hairball cat food helps. I'm going to transition him to that and see if it works. He does seem to feel better. After he poops, he runs around the house doing his poop dance. You know the one, he is lighter on his feet and goes bouncing around and bothers everyone else. I guess that's a boy thing.

I was making his food for a long time, rice with boiled chicken but I didn't see any significate improvement over the bagged food.

[Traci]

How many fecals were done, and was a fecal culture ever done? Sometimes you have to get these done subsequently because sproadic tests won't pick up what you're looking for. Clostridium for example.

I'd also rule out food allergies or sensitivities to certain ingredients (beef and dairy are the number one allergies for cats, but any ingredient could be culprit)...Also ask about Hill's Z/D as opposed to hairball diets, since it may be he needs a diet with a novel protein.

Blood in the stool could be indicative of many things, stress amoung them. Slow GI transit, inflammation, parasites, bacterias, straining/constipation, strictures, IBD or megacolon or other inflammatory conditions are also possible. Having had this for 6 years is concerning, have you ever sought a second opinion and opted for further testing?

BTW, we do not advocate frequent feeding of any fish types, but in moderation, such as using tuna juice to administer meds, this wouldn't cause too much of a problem, unless of course, the cat is sensitive to fish (GI tract problems) or has a primary health condition where a more appropriate food is necessary.

[Amandasmom]

Thanks Traci for the info, I've been through 4 different vets with him, they didn't help much. He defiantly has food sensitivity. If he steals a piece of dog food, look out. Currently we are trying the less invasive approach. He did try hills I/d that didn't really make a difference. He hasn't lost any weight and is a very active energetic cat. Its just this one little problem. I think I'm on the right track because his stool is not watery or bloody anymore and he isn't pooping and peeing on things like in the dog bowl, the kitchen sink, the bathroom sink, the closet. He is lucky that he has a good mom. I think other people would have given up. I like to be conservative, but its still early and this is the first time the new vet has tackled the problem.

[Traci]

Well, I'm not sure you can totaly contribute this to just the tylan, and, you don't want to give this long term, since it is a sort of antibiotic, as well as acts like an antiinflammatory.

Personally, I would test further, at least start with subsequent fecals, test for salmonella, toxo, ecoli, etc etc, and try a hypoallergenic diet with a novel protein (like the Z/D)...if it doesn't resolve, I would rule out inflammatory conditions (i.e., IBD), malabsorption, GI bacterial overgrowth, etc.