Just so ya know, if you go with crushing up the pill, check with your vet to make sure its not extended release or something. Sometimes the pill is meant to slowly dissolve over time and crushing it up frontloads the dose and can cause problems. The prescriber/your vet will know if its safe.

Press your index finger and thumb into the back end side of the cats mouth, this will open it, shove the pill towards the back of their mouth against her throat with the other hand and then let go. If it was far enough back they will swallow it.

Use your fingers to open their mouth/jaw. Place pill as far back as you can reach. Hold their mouth shut. Lift their head slightly and semi-aggressively stroke their neck which will force them to swallow. Double check they didn’t houdini the pill at any point along the way.

We used a two person system.

One held the cat close to their body, securing the front paws against the cat with one hand and securing the head with the other hand. You have to secure the back hips against you with your arm or elbow.

The other pushed the pill into the cat’s mouth, held it shut and stroked the throat.

After a few months the cat realized struggling wasn’t worth the effort and only tried to claw our faces off if we got complacent.

We miss her very much.

My cat has a fungal infection in his brain and requires one pill twice a day. Been doing this for sevenish years. He’s the only cat I’ve ever had, so take this with a grain of salt, but I just get him on my chest and pet him until he starts purring. Then I use a finger to open his mouth and push the pill to the back of his throat, and immediately go back to petting him. He swallows it, and sometimes gags for a second. But, I do it really quickly, and usually it’s over quick enough that he doesn’t even stop purring. YMMV

I give my cats malt paste regularly. They lick it from my fingers and like it a lot. When they need pills from the vet I simply put them into the paste. They don’t even really notice and there is no struggle at all.

That’s the neat part: you don’t.

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I use a pill gun like this one then immediately follow up with a treat. He hates the pill but the sooner that’s over with the sooner he gets the treat, and we have to do it again if he manages to spit the pill out. Treat doesn’t come until the pill is swallowed.

Why don’t they make cat (and dog) pills taste like a treat? It can’t be that hard!

With middle finger and thumb, gently press them on opposite sides of cats mouth. They will tilt their head back and start licking to move u and in that moment fling the pill with your pointer finger in their mouth and gently hold their head back and up until they swallow it.

My cat doesn’t fuck with pill pockets or crushed up on their food and this way works great.

Depends on your cat. My cat, I kind of cradle the back of her head, behind her ears in one hand, (think scruffing but not scruffing bc that’s not nice). With my dominant hand (the hand to the front of her, I come at her from the side), I lift her chin, open her mouth with a finger, and with my index finger push the pill to the back of her tongue.

She’s had to take a lot of pills in her life so we have it down pat. But it’s mostly about being firm but not scaring them.

Towel roll.

If you want to try the stick a pill down their throat method, this site has a video showing you how

Edit: I usually try the pill wrapped in some cheese first, if he catches on to that then I have to use the above method

I had a friend claim that once someone else was sitting on the floor holding the cat, he would use a straw like a dart blowgun, and shoot it right into the cats mouth.

Last time we gave my gf’s cat a deworming tablet it was a team effort. I held him down with his legs in my hands, her dad held his head still and his jaw open and her mum put the tablet in his mouth (it took her four or five tries because the dumb moggy loves to spit them out).