Last Updated on September 19, 2023
Do you know how to give a cat a pill? If you’ve ever needed to feed your cat medicines, you probably know that there’s no one-fits-all recipe for success.
Now I know how to feed my cat tablets without any fuss, but it took me some good practice before managing to do it without spending hours and nerves. There’s a funny side to persuading a stubborn cat to swallow big pills, but you can rest assured that having to give a cat medicine three times a day when you know that his life depends on it is nothing to laugh about.
I want to share this with you. I’m sure there are so many people out there trying to find out how to pill a difficult cat, so my article will probably help some.
The Best Method To Give My Cat Pills
After searching the web, asking friends and cat breeders, and a lot of practice with small pieces of food, here it is the best solution to feed your cat a pill:
1. Grab the cat from behind the face
Make sure that your thumb and index are positioned on the maxillary joint. It is good if you can do this with the cat sitting on a high place, so you do not need to bend over.
2. Slowly, shift the cat’s head backwards, gently raising his mouth.
He does not like it, but he does not object, either. Apply a slight pressure on the joint of the jaws, with your thumb and index (or middle finger). The mouth will still be closed.
3. Gently sneak your middle or ring finger between his front teeth, and push down the bottom jaw.
The cat has no power in it when her head is bent backwards, so he won’t bite back. Before attempting this, take the pill and hold it with your thumb and your index finger.
4. Now, as the cat’s mouth is wide open, throw the pill as fast and as deep as you can inside.
Try to aim the bottom of the throat, in order to avoid the contact of the pill with the tongue. Thus, the cat cannot detect the unpleasant taste, so she won’t spit the pill (yet!).
5. Keep his mouth closed and gently rub his neck, until you feel the swallowing of the pill.
6. Release the cat and watch him closely for about 10 seconds:
if he licks her mouth, it means that he swallowed the tablet. Nevertheless, look around, because some cats are tricky: they pretend they swallowed, and when you don’t watch, they spit the pill which was all the time in their mouth (my cat tried this trick with me, when I did not manage to throw the pill deep down his throat).
7. Give him a nice treat, so he gets used that this is part of the cat pilling ritual.
He might even give you a smile at the end 😉
What a Cat Would Do When You Want To Give Him a Pill
When it comes to swallowing pills, cats are like children: they would not gladly open their mouth, in spite of your greatest efforts.
Unlike children, though, cats have fangs and claws, and I can tell you they use them if needed. The situation in which someone shoves a pill down their throat is maximum emergency, so you’ll surely get some nasty scratches and bites.
I remember the first time I had to give my cat medicine three times a day for a few months. I experimented several methods, such as:
- Asking somebody to hold the cat, while I tried to sneak the pill into her mouth. This was a complete failure, we got scratched all over and wasted several pills in order to make her swallow one.
- Crushing the pill, mixing the obtained powder with a sticky food (such as butter or processed cheese) and putting the mixture on the cat’s fur; she could not stand to be so dirty, so she licked the mixture. This worked fine, but she made such a sad face while cleaning herself, that I felt really bad for doing that to her.
- Wait until she yawns, then throw the pill in her mouth. This would have worked, but the cat could not be convinced to yawn at fixed hours (the pill was supposed to be taken at exactly the same hours every day).
The Cat Pilling Troubleshooting guide:
- Problem: What to do if the cat manages to run away before you immobilize him?
- Solution: Show him a toy, so he gets out from behind the sofa, and try again.
- Problem: You caught the cat and placed him into position, but you cannot sneak your finger between his teeth.
- Solution: Try to sneak your fingernail first, but be very gentle (long nails help a lot here).
- Problem: You managed to open the cat’s mouth, but you threw the pill directly on his tongue, so he spat it and ran away.
- Solution: Give your cat a nice treat, take another pill and repeat the procedure.
- Problem: You aimed at the throat, but the cat scratched you when you tried to rub his neck, he spat the pill and ran away.
- Solution: Try again, but try not to position yourself in front of the cat. Stay behind him, so he cannot reach you with her claws.
Don’t forget that practice makes perfect.
I managed to give my cat a pill without incidents only after five or six trials.
Good luck, and happy cats to all of you!
I don’t know if its all that necessary 🙂 what I do is that I grind the pill and add it to her favorite meal, she didn’t push it aside as of now 🙂
I tried to grind it, but I suppose it had a horrible taste, as she did not touch the food.
Thanks for the tutorial 🙂
Garry, it was my pleasure. I hope it will work for you. I managed to pill the little monster about 4 times in 5. The pictures were taken after 15 days of chasing, pilling, scratching, and similar stuff 🙂
This worked like a charm. Thank you so much for the post! So much easier than grinding or trying to hide the darn thing in food that she might decided it eat and might not.
Dear Corinna, I’m glad it worked also for you. Thank you for stopping by here.
I can’t beleive I only now found this article. I actually have been having problems with my dog and iron pills, but this worlked for her as well. I LOVE the after pic.
Thank you Angie! I’m happy this was helpful for you.
I had to come back and tell you I send this link to my mom. 🙂 Anotehr cat is now happily injecting her pills. Funny how something that should be so simple needs a tutorial, but it sure does.
Welcome back Angie! This needed a tutorial for sure. I was desperate for a few day, before discovering what works.
How do you keep the little cat from using those paws. I’m dealing with a foster cat who is declawed, but he still uses everything he’s got to fight being restrained. I have to give heart meds for the rest of his life–and fear I’m going to be the one having a heart attack!!
I meant to add—you did a wonderful job with the pictures…but also…wanna trade cats? 🙂
Hi Ravenna, thanks for stopping by. You need to practice a lot – I got scratched all over in the beginning. Try to stay behind the cat and bend his head firmly, while also pushing it a little bit. I also used treats instead of pills several times a day, so the cat associated this exercise with something good.
🙂 I don’t wanna trade cats, thank you for asking. I’ll get a second one when I’ll move to a bigger house.
We gave your process another quick review before setting out to give the meds today and —yea!—-we really had pretty good success with your method! (COMMENTS: Two of us did it for now. Step #5 is very important.)
Little Max also seemed less stressed than when I’ve held him by the scruff, which I HATED to do. Sadly, he threw up about 5 minutes after we gave the pills (arghhhh!) but I think it was because of a little hairball and not the meds. Hoping for an even better day tomorrow. I really am grateful for your site.
Max is EXACTLY the4 same color as your little one, by the wa, but a bigger cat. MANY THANKS TO YOU BOTH!
You are welcome, Ravenna. I’m sorry for your little Max – maybe he’ll be better. My little one was about 6-7 months when we took the pictures. Now she’s turned one year and she’s a little bit bigger.
My cat said that if I ever do that again to her, she’s going to chase me all around the house until I die 😉
Thank you for the tips. I managed to pill my beasts after some 20 trials.
Now the only thing is how to apologize to the cat after giving him the pill. Thanks for the tips and suggestions, this should come in handy with my sweet Tabby.
Apologizing is the most difficult part. You have to make him a big favor after pilling. Some treats and kisses would do just fine.
What if he chokes on the pill?
I’m scared to try this method because I’m afraid it will hurt him or make him choke on the pill…
I don’t think he will choke, Jade. However, there is another method, which I saw at the vet, but I was afraid to try: hold the pill with some very long tweezers, ask somebody to keep the cat tight, and you insert the pill deep into his mouth with the tweezers. This seemed more dangerous, because if the cat moved suddently, he might have got hurt by the tweezers.
I’m back! Wanted to tell you again how much your method and instructions have changed our lives. Since I wrote you in Aug, we’ve had 2 1/2 more months of great success giving daily meds to little Max. We use pill shooters that give a squirt of water (recommended by studies to increase the liklihood of the pill clearing the throad)— and have them “loaded”s before we start. Then my husband guickly gets them in—and he has it down to a science. It goes so quick and easy–it just took a little practice, and referring back to this site when we need to check out that we were doing it right. So I just had to come back and thank you again. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS METHOD. I’m pretty sure this is the same thing vets do. My cat is thriving, but by all reports, without his meds, he wouldn’t be alive.
Thanks and God Bless you for helping us! We think good thoughts of you a lot! Hope your kitty is great!
Hi Ravenna, thanks for the tip. I did not know about the pill shooters. I hope I won’t need to pill my kitty very soon (she’s in good health for the moment).
My cat had been sick for a few days. Loss of appetite, lethargic etc. Took her to the vet and on teh second visit she was admitted. Long story short, she was released to go home with three pills and a liquid medication, most of which needed to be administered twice daily.
After following the standard pilling instructions my cat, which was getting better, seemed worse for the process.
Tried adding meds to food, but she ate reluctantly and concern arose about getting her the correct dosage in a timely fashion.
At my wits end, I stopped trying to med her and observed her for a couple of hours. My cat is fond of using her paw to drink water. She dips a paw in and licks it off. If a stray droplet finds its way onto the top of her paw, she would lick that off too.
The proverbial lightbulb moment ensued. I got the liquid med out and dripped a dosage ont her paw. . . . she didnt like the taste but she hated the overt moisture there more. She licked it all off. Then I crushed the pills and mixed them in a pat or two of room temperature butter. I smeared the medicated butter on her paw and forearm, again, she didnt like it, but couldnt shake it off but couldn’t stand the idea of it being there, so after 45 minutes, she had licked it all off.
Try it. You will have success as this plays on a cat’s general nature so be clean.
Hey, Scott,thanks for sharing your experience. I also used this in the beginning, and it worked fine, but I felt so sorry when seeing my cat’s face while licking all that bitter stuff! That’s why I kept trying the other method. But what you described really works like magic.
Such a cute kitty. Pilling a dog is so much easier. See tips here
Great post! I have a very sick 13 year old Chihuahua right now and getting him to swallow his pills is an ardous task. He is very tricky and hiding the pills in food doesn’t work becuase he will just eat around it. I will have to try the technique you describe of tipping his head back because despite that fact that his pill is flavored like liver he will still try with all his might to spit it out. P.S. Great step-by-step pictures.
My 13 year old Chihuahua has been sick for about a week and a half and getting him to take his antibiotics has been an ardous task to say the least. He is a bit smaller than your cat in the picture, but I think this technique will make it a bit easier on him. Unfortunately, crushing up pills and putting it on his fur won’t work because he would be just fine with it on his fur. Also, we tried “hiding” the pills in food, but he is too smart for that and will eat around it. Thanks for the great tips and awesome pictures.
Markus, if you don’t succeed, go ask your vet to show you how they do it: my vet uses some long tweezers to insert the pill deep in the pet’s mouth. He could show you the procedure. I’ve seen it, but I was afraid to try, because I feared that I might have harmed the little kitty.
How do you pill a Maine Coon cat that has an attitude even before you start, and is smart enough to figure out that when he is picked up and put on the back of my couch; it is “pill” time? He scratched me so bad this morning that he got his little hinney spanked and did not even like that at all. I live alone and I have to give the glucosamine pills to my Max every day, for early onset arthritis in his rt. front leg, so how do I do this correctly, so neither one of us end up with a bad feeling about this experience?
Wow, Michelle, this is quite a challenge for you. Ask your vet, there are some special pill feeders. Maybe he can show you how to use them. My cat was young when I wrote this article, and anyway she got upset each time after giving her the pill – I always gave her treats after that, and a few times a day I repeated the procedure, but instead of pills I gave her small pieces of food.
Your pics are great,BUT,my little Bowie,is refusing to open her mouth at all now & runs whenever I try! I tryed the mixing the pill with a sticky tuna paste and putting on her paws and mouth,but she then spat it alll out,with alot of foam….I am so distressed and at my wits end,and really dont know what to do!!!????…….it continues ; (
Mia, I’m sorry to hear that. Indeed, if Bowie realized what you want to do to her, she will run – I think cats have a special detector for human intentions. If you have a vet nearby, he may want to show you how they are doing it.
Or, you can try a few more times to open her mouth, like in the photos, but don’t throw anything into Bowie’s mouth, just give her some treats each time she lets you open her mouth. You need to make her associate your gesture with the nice treats coming, then when you (hopefully) see that she accepts what you’re doing to her, you throw the pill in her throat. You’ll need a lot of patience. I had a few crazy moments, also, when I literally burst into tears, seeing I’m not able to give her the pill at the required time. Most of the times, I was starting the process about one hour before the time for the pill came.
Another tip: attempt pilling when she’s sleeping – if your reactions are faster than hers, you may succeed before she realizes what’s happening. Pet her in her sleep, make her purr, then… try giving her the pill.
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NO-FAIL Method for pilling a kitty:
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Buy some soft/moist treats. Use a little water and mush the treat into a pancake shape. Let it dry a bit.
Take the cat’s pill and put it on the treat-pancake. Mush up another treat and put the gush over the pill. Now you can mold the treats into a ball, and the center is the cat pill.
I do this when my cat has to take Drontil worm medicine, it’s a big pill, but the kitty just gobbles up the treat as she would any other time.
[[…Make sure that your wet fingers don’t touch the pill and then the treat, because the bitter taste will transfer over and the kitty wont eat it.]]
Works every time!
I was scared at first that my cat would choke on the pill…but it only took like 3 seconds. Before he realized what was going on I was already rubbing his neck. He swallowed the pill drank some milk and went right along cleaning himself. Thank you so much. This was easier than I thought.
If you are having trouble with the cat scratching you, you can wrap the cat up in a towel, like a fajita or burrito wrap, making sure you wrap their front legs up. That way, they cannot scratch you!
I’m so glad I found these 7 easy steps (7 days ago). I was on day 3 of a 12 day run of antibiotics and giving him meds was going so poorly that my kitty was hiding every time I so much as looked in his direction. I had been trying to give him his pill in my arms. What a mistake!! I have the scratch marks to prove it! Simone’s seven steps really works. My cat seemed horrified by the taste of the pill. To help the process I place a little canned food on my finger tip, then placed the pill on the cat food and topped the pill with a little more wet food (tiny amounts). Administering pills now takes 30 seconds and my cat and I are buds again!!
Thanks for the advice. Will let you know how it went. Grateful that there are places to go for help at times like these!
Thanks for the great directions. And thanks for mentioning that you had to try and fail several times – that REALLY helps.
He, he! Kate, I know what you mean! I had to buy lots of extra pills before managing to give them to the cat from the first attempt 🙂
Yes, pills and cats – is something amazing! Depending on cat’s breed – it’s may be either entertainment either battle. Big smart cats (like Maine Coon) usually the same as children (here you right) and will make everyting to avoid pill to get into throat.
Just hide the pill in a small ball of cheddar cheese! This worked like a charm today and all parties involved were happy!