How To Pill An Impossible Cat

So to start, I wanted to explain how one can pill a cat that will not, and I mean, will not take a pill with a pill popper, no matter how well you follow all of the so called tricks with towels, lifting the head up, etc.  About 4 days ago or so, we just about gave up completely on any hope of getting pain relief capsules into Weasel, but then a miracle occurred in the guise of 'pill pockets' by Greenies.  We purchased the chicken flavoured ones to start - as shown below:

What you'll require next to have on hand is an empty #4 capsule, which can be purchased from Amazon or other online retailers such as 'Thriving Pets'.

Then you will need a dropper that looks like the one below (the back plunger piece has been pulled out).

Pour the powder from the Yunnan Baiyao capsule (or other pain relief substance) into the back of the dropper (you may want to block the hole with your palm or a counter surface).  After this has been done, add one of the sides of the empty capsule over the end and gently tap the side so that the powder falls into the capsule that you're holding in place.  If it's not falling through the hole, breath lightly into the back end of the dropper to push the powder through into the capsule.  Try to not breath as you're doing that in case a puff of the Yunnan dust blows back out.  It's harmless if it does but doesn't smell or taste very good (it's not as harmless though if it's medication you're blowing into).  Once this end of the capsule has been filled, place it into a pair of tweezers as a holder.  I used a pair that we no longer bother with that were sitting in the cupboard so that it can permanently stay next to the herbal remedies.

Repeat the above process for the other end of the empty capsule.  Once both ends are filled, put them together and use a tissue to remove any of the dust off the outside.

Next, pull out two pill pockets and place the capsule into one of the ends.

As you can see, one isn't going to hold it so you'll need to jam the two ends together.  Unfortunately they almost immediately start crumbling and falling apart when you do this, so what I've had to do is use a small amount of Omega 3 oil and water if necessary to smooth out the crumbly bits.  I pinch any weak points to give spots of extra strength against chewing.  Then I leave the pill to dry a bit - minimum 20 minutes, as it seems to strengthen it's walls by doing so.  

Here is the end result:

The key to administering is making sure you have an eager cat awaiting his treat.  He'll chew it quickly, frantically searching for the next delicious serving of it.  I had about 4 days of heaven with this process and the cat was pain free.  Although it's only half a capsule of Yunnan, it's still enough to get him through the day in good spirits.

Today, we encountered another issue though which I will write about as a warning to others.  Weasel was having a really off day - took a massive decline and was vomiting.  I could see he was in quite a bit of pain, sitting around in a ball so I wanted to help him.  I thought I needed something far more potent than the Yunnan so I pulled out the Tramadol.  I wrenched apart the two sides on the capsule, which although is a perfect #4 size, is too potent a dose for my kitty.  The last time he had it, his eyes were dilated and he was acting a bit strange all day, so I halved the dosage and placed it in the empty capsules I have, following the regime outlined above.  The issue was that his pain made it so that he wasn't interested in food, only curious at best.  I went against my inner voice telling me, 'don't give him one of these in this state, you'll regret it!', as I was so worried about his discomfort.  He bit in and slowly started chewing.  

This, I knew was the end of a wonderful situation and sure enough, not only did the walls of the pill pockets break apart, but the capsule opened up too.  If the capsule had stayed closed, it would have been a non-issue.  I could have grabbed it and let him finish the pill pocket.  Ironically, the original capsule is built out of armour and would have stayed closed.  Weasel's mouth filled with the fowl taste of Tramadol and he instantly started foaming, confused as to what just happened and looking at me with a bit of fear to top it off.  My heart sank 100 feet or so.  Although he received enough of the medication to remain partially pain free for the remainder of the day, the trust was broken.  

Later this evening I tried feeding him his dinner and he barely touched it.  He didn't touch his hard treats and he sure as heck didn't touch the other pill pocket I had put together with the Yunnan.  I even covered it with a thick layer of delicious peanut butter and he sniffed and walked away.  I'm beside myself as to what to do next.  I fear that this is the beginning of the end.  With the pain, he won't eat.  If he doesn't eat, all of our efforts and hopes are gone.

On another note, yesterday we had a promising visit at the Holistic Vet in Newmarket.  Dr. Haghighat gave Weasel his treatment using acupuncture points to administer beneficial remedies into his blood stream.  We also received the good news that the mass is now soft, and not hard.  Dr. H also gave us a package of Naltrexone which thankfully can be administered by rubbing it on the cat's ears.  I've never felt so much relief in hearing that.  Naltrexone has had some success in treating cancerous tumors.  This website I came across was very interesting in a study that was conducted using Naltrexone for treating cancer:
http://www.lowdosenaltrexone.org/ldn_and_cancer.htm
Naltrexone may, just may, stop the growth of Weasel's tumor.  Unfortunately, it's arriving a bit late in that Weasel is now in discomfort.  If he's in pain, he won't eat.  If he doesn't eat, we're going to lose him fast, not allowing the Naltrexone to work its magic.  It's incredibly frustrating to have a cat that's so unnecessarily and absurdly difficult as well as suspicious, to give anything to.  

Today is also the first day that I wasn't able to give him the Essiac tea, Amino B-Plex and Life Gold remedies.  

I'm down to smearing vitamin C on his paw which takes an entire day to clean off and gets everywhere, and applying the Naltrexone.  Nothing else is holding up.   If I could afford it, I would have a feeding tube inserted into Weasel to give all of these treatments a fighting chance.  If we could stop the spread of the cancer and reduce the size of the tumor, that would be monumental.