giving a cat a pill (revised)
1. Order medicine in capsule form specifically so you can open the capsules and mix the powder into attractive food.
2. Observe that cat is totally uninterested in attractive food.
3. Place cat on counter (at convenient height), get cat into a hold (looping pinky through collar as an anchor), gently press jaws open, and attempt to insert pill.
4. Retrieve pill from counter.
5. Repeat 3 more forcefully. Insert pill and quickly press jaws shut.
6. Retrieve pill from space between cat's gum and lip and try again.
7. After several variations on this theme, get pill solidly into cat's mouth. Hold jaws shut while massaging throat to get cat to swallow.
8. Observe cat swallow. Remove hand from mouth and retrieve soggy pill (with small puncture, leaking powder) from counter a few nannoseconds later.
9. Repeat 7, waiting a really long time and observing multiple swallows.
10. Remove hand and observe half of pill in cat's mouth. Replace hand in an attempt to get the cat to swallow some of the powder.
11. After cat wriggles free, clean up spilled powder from counter and hope enough got into cat to do some good.
That was this morning and tonight he ate some food (with the next dose in it), so that's a good sign. The apparent fever he had this morning seems to be gone, which might be related. (I don't think the antibiotic would have done that all on its own, so that's just lucky timing, I expect.)
2. Observe that cat is totally uninterested in attractive food.
3. Place cat on counter (at convenient height), get cat into a hold (looping pinky through collar as an anchor), gently press jaws open, and attempt to insert pill.
4. Retrieve pill from counter.
5. Repeat 3 more forcefully. Insert pill and quickly press jaws shut.
6. Retrieve pill from space between cat's gum and lip and try again.
7. After several variations on this theme, get pill solidly into cat's mouth. Hold jaws shut while massaging throat to get cat to swallow.
8. Observe cat swallow. Remove hand from mouth and retrieve soggy pill (with small puncture, leaking powder) from counter a few nannoseconds later.
9. Repeat 7, waiting a really long time and observing multiple swallows.
10. Remove hand and observe half of pill in cat's mouth. Replace hand in an attempt to get the cat to swallow some of the powder.
11. After cat wriggles free, clean up spilled powder from counter and hope enough got into cat to do some good.
That was this morning and tonight he ate some food (with the next dose in it), so that's a good sign. The apparent fever he had this morning seems to be gone, which might be related. (I don't think the antibiotic would have done that all on its own, so that's just lucky timing, I expect.)