BTW as an elder cat caretaker, if he stops eating hit meds willingly (which can easily happen if his condition flares up), we have had amazing success with cutting the tip off a syringe, loading it with canned food and front loading the tip with their pills.

When cutting the tip, leave a tiny bit of material so the plunger still stops, but not so much that the pill gets jammed.

3/4 of our cats actually open their mouths willingly to be pilled because they only taste the food, the pill is swallowed without them noticing.

[–] potate@lemmy.ca 4 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (1 children)

I LOVE that idea! One of our resident cats is a pain to give meds to so I'll give it a try!

And yes, Bo is half (or so) Bengal. He came to us completely feral but needed those meds so he didn't go the TNR route. He's turned into a super friendly guy who craves getting pets - just took a bit to get there. He's also basically vocal chords on four legs - sings all day long.

If anyone is interested in adopting, he's listed with MEOW in Calgary, Canada!

[–] Wrench@lemmy.world 3 points 3 months ago

Sounds like a Bengal to me!

When modding the syringe, I find it easiest to remove the plunger, and using a drill bit from the inside that is slightly smaller than this inside diameter of the syringe. 1/32" leaves enough of a lip to still stop the plunger in my experience, but YMMV depending on the plunger style.

We had a 5ml syringe with a fully plastic plunger (no rubber) that was amazing. Eventually lost it and haven't been able to find a replacement yet, but rubber tipped plunger are fine too, just wear out faster.