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Cats know when you want to give them medication. How, I don’t know, but it might have something to do with the fact that they have nine lives. You just touch that yellow container, or even just think about doing it, and the cat is out the window and up the tree for the rest of the day. Exactly like when you are planning to take the cat to the vet.

If you’re really desperate, the tablet can always be dissolved or powdered into food. Cats are not like dogs, that will wolf down a ball of mincemeat that conceals a whole white tablet that is visible at twenty paces to everyone else. Cats will lick everything around it and leave the tablet lying high and dry in the food bowl. They are not to be duped - or doped - in this manner.

Cats are also very aware of any foreign substances you might try to introduce into their food. If the food smells funny, chances are they simply won’t eat it.

There is also a new device on the market which works a bit like a mixture between a syringe and a water pistol. It shoots the tablet into the back of the cat’s throat and follows it up with a squirt of water. Those in the know swear by it. This is sold by veterinary shops.

But should you not want to go down this road, you might have no option but to take the route outlined below.

Here’s how to go about getting a tablet down kitty’s throat. And I know it is easier said than done, but it worked for me. On a large tomcat.

• Catch the cat.
• Put the cat on the table and stand alongside it.
• Hold the cat tightly under your left arm, with its head facing the same way as yours.
• With your left hand, press hard in the corners of its mouth. Its natural reaction to your doing this is to open its mouth.
• With your right hand, place the tablet at the back of the cat’s mouth.
• Cats swallow by reflex if they have something in their mouths.
• Hold the cat for a few seconds to make sure that the tablet is not spat out.
• If you have managed to do this without being scratched, or even bitten, you’re doing very well.
• Prepare yourself for a few days of severe unpopularity with your cat.

(Susan Erasmus, Health24)

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