20 facts on giving medicine to a cat

  1. The information comes from a survey of 2,507 participants from 57 countries of which 1,724 were cat owners and 783 were participants with cat experience including veterinary professionals.
  2. 50.7% of the participants were either never provided with information or were sometimes provided with information and advice on how to give medicine to their cat at home.
  3. 91.8% of the participants said that when given information they found it very or somewhat useful.
  4. 53.6% of the participants used the Internet to find information on how to administer medication to their cat.
  5. 61.3% gave medicine in the form of a liquid to their cat
  6. 45.3% administered pastes and
  7. 39.5% administered tablets…all directly into the mouth.
  8. 26.6% to 24.1% administered medicine to their cat by putting it into food.
  9. The most typical way of administering medicine to a cat is with tablets. For the participants it was much harder to give tablets than liquids.
  10. 53.0% chose liquids as their first choice method.
  11. 29.3% chose tablets.
  12. The participants found that the spot-on treatments that you commonly find for flea treatments and insulin injections to be significantly easier to administer than oral medications.
  13. 51.6% of cat owners reported that medicating their cat had altered their relationship with their cat (negatively I guess).
  14. 77% reported that their cat had tried to bite or scratch them when administering medication.
  15. 78.7% said that their cats spat the tablet out of their mouth.
  16. 71.7% said that the cat refused to eat food that had been medicated.
  17. 52.7% said that their cat ran away when an attempt was made to administer medication.
  18. 35.4% of participants said that they failed to complete a course of medication for their cat.
  19. Of the 35.4% mentioned above, 27.8% stopped near the end of the course.
  20. Of the 35.4% mentioned above, 19.3% stopped after a few doses. In both instances stopping medication occurred because it was too difficult.

Study/survey: 1.Taylor S, Caney S, Bessant C, Gunn-Moore D. Online survey of owners’ experiences of medicating their cats at home. Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery. 2022;24(12):1283-1293. doi:10.1177/1098612X221083752.

Why can't cat pills be tasty?
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