ION, my fucking cat has decided to stop taking his pills. And I can't make him! Even when I shoved it into his mouth, he spit it back out. ARGH. Maybe I'll get one of those syringes next.

Uncle Bud is pretty great at taking pills. He has two now and will eat them up in a little cream cheese. His brother Swifty was way more stubborn about pill taking and he had to take way more of them. He'd take them in creamcheese most of the time but not consistently. Pill pockets wouldn't work for him or using a syringe. I had to resort to holding him and shoving pills down his maw on occasion. And holding his mouth shut until he swallowed. Not fun for either of us! But it usually worked. My sympathies!

I had to resort to holding him and shoving pills down his maw on occasion. And holding his mouth shut until he swallowed.

I tried that! And hated it. We had a good run going, where I'd shove it in a treat, and he'd eat it, but he gave that up. Maybe I'll just try all the various people-foods I have in the house that he might be into. (I don't have any cream cheese at the mo.)

Dogs are so much easier. Shove a pill into any kind of food and they inhale it before they even know the difference.

He will fully eat the treat around the pill! But I just went to check in his bowl, and I think he actually ate the important one (I stuck in a treat, tried to stick it in his mouth and put it in his food bowl when I gave up). So maybe I'll try that for a while?

I am so traumatized by this whole stupid thing! Sorry for going on about it, people-who-don't-care.

It's really hard, Jesse. We've had to give Switch pills once, and I couldn't have done it without Stephen's help. I think I'd rather inject a cat than give it a pill.

I think I would, too! Without having done it. But Homer is such an easygoing guy, I'm pretty confident he'd just take it. He's not scratching or biting or anything, I just can't figure out how to get his mouth open AND the pill all the way in, with just the two hands.

I only have experience sticking myself, from the insulin during pregnancy, but it's really pretty easy and quick.

I wonder what Cortez would be like if I had to give him a pill. He is the politest, most docile cat I've ever met, but I don't think he would like pills, either.

Jesse, what the vet taught me for one-person cat medicating was to put the cat on a table or counter facing away from you and to use your upper body and arms to gently pin him down. I then reach under his jaw and press at the corners with thumb and forefinger to open the mouth and hold it open. I then use the other hand to administer the pill. It's traumatic, but I can't get pills or a syringe into him any other way. With a few very odd exceptions (arugula, gorgonzola, parmesan, olive oil, spanakopita), he won't eat anything other than dry kibble.

Right now, I'm having to give Jeeves liquid meds. Poor guy is chronically constipated, probably due to his refusal to eat anything but the dry kibble.

I had a dog that could eat around pills in any disguise and could hold a pill in her mouth for 10 minutes and spit it out just when I finally thought I'd successfully gotten a pill down her.

The late great departed Toshiro could actually spit a pill across the room. I suspect he could also have tied knots in cherry stems if he'd wanted to.