Down the furry hatch
Don’t bend down to pick up either a stray dog or cat without definitely being able to read those bodylanguage signs
Be wary of putting it on a teaspoon to feed them, as we have had one large-breed dog eat the whole teaspoon in its haste to eat the piece of dog roll. I have even had one lady make special little chocolate moulds with the tablet in the middle. This was fine as there was only a small amount of chocolate.
For cats: Some tablets are more palatable than others and we do honestly try to use the palatable one as often as we can. Our new tinyliver flavoured ones are so much better nowadays.
And truly, a lot of cats will actually eat it quite happily in a small amount of wet food.
Other tablets and some cats require the ‘‘Steve Irwin crocodile technique’’: Grasp their head from over their forehead with your left hand, if right handed, and squeeze their cheeks in gently while tilting their head back so that their little nose points towards the ceiling. Just like wrestling a croc really.
Their mouth should be reasonably easily opened now with the tip of the least-used finger of your other hand. Drop said pill over their tongue and close their mouth while gently massaging their neck until they swallow. The trick is the bending of their head back to get that nose up. We also have special soft rubber-tipped pill poppers that save my fingers everyday and make life a lot easier for everyone involved.
We can get medications prepared in a transdermal form now, which means that you just apply it on their ear and it is absorbed.
The cost at present is a bit prohibitive for general use, but hopefully this will change.
For the true feline shredding machines, we keep them in the hospital at very little extra charge and inject them every day for several days until they no longer require medication, which saves a lot of anguish and skin.
I hope that helps. The pill poppers are great. Give us a call or let us know if you need one or any other help. Have an awesome week.
PS, please check on the outside pets like the rabbits and guinea pigs. They need a dry area and should be checked every day for possible fly problems in damp, warm weather.