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We had to wrap Suze in 4 bath towels to protect us from the claws, the very sharp claws and I put on disposable gloves, a little butter on the pill and shoved it down her throat. I forgot how sharp those teeth of hers are though.
Cailleach is a different procedure all together, she has no claws so I put her on her back, put the pill in her mouth as far down as I can then turn her upright and but it has to be tiny and have butter on it.
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I put the cat on the kitchen counter with the head facing toward my right. Wrap my left arm around the cat so that the upper shoulder area is in my armpit. Use the fingers of my left hand to open the mouth, insert pill far down throat with right hand and clamp jaws shut while rubbing throat in a downward motion. This causes the cat to swallow. Done.
If liquid, I use the same position and just squirt.
Any of you can too. But you need to develop a sense of self confidence about handling your cats when they need treatment. Your posts show you do not have that. If you did, you would not have a problem.
Pills are much much easier than liquids.
I have had two cats who required life time medications and a number of them who required medications or other not so pleasant handling regularly in later years.
Geesh, I need one of those. I'm giving my cats suppliments since the are flea sensitive don't tolerate the treatments either too well. It's a just in case, but several love the taste and would eat the bottle gladly, but the ones with the problem turn into five pound ninjas with claws if I pick it up. At least is squirtable. Putting it on food just means the problem children won't eat the food either.
But you need to develop a sense of self confidence about handling your cats when they need treatment. Your posts show you do not have that. If you did, you would not have a problem.
Lose the holier-than-thou attitude, if you please. Who are you to assess anyone else's confidence, or say any of us have "a problem" with our cats?
Catsmom, that method makes sense. I can almost see myself having success with it. Haven't had to test that yet, thank god.
If you don't mind, send me your phone number just in case I do need to pill my Keyser cat. He's insane, he only eats certain flavors, and will bite your head off if given the chance.
So if in future I need to pill him, I'll send for you, is that ok?
To the OP: I cannot recommend holding the cat enough; at my vet's office, they call it "wrapping" and they just use a towel with my "fractious" cat. I use a blanket and call it "the burrito" (:
I also empathize with you re: the meds, especially the liquid meds; all the cat needs to do is fling his or her head and it flies everywhere, resulting in an undosed cat and a mess! I have also remarked to vets that pharma companies really need to rethink the taste of pet meds; it's actually quite idiotic that pet owners (and their pets) have been grappling with this issue for so long and I don't understand why they cannot do for pets what they have done for human children (and adults, for that matter!)
In terms of pills, I have never used the pill pockets. However, I happened to be in Wegman's a couple of weeks ago and, as I have issues dosing my cats as well, I spotted this in the pet aisle:
It is very easy to use: you just wrap it around the pill. I was so skeptical at first but my cats LOVE it (I don't even have to burrito the really fractious one any more!), mostly b/c it tastes good. And there is a lot of it in the jar, so it is economical for someone who is dosing on a daily basis. Good luck!
catsmom21 - yup, I use the same process as you except with the cat between my thighs (more "encased"). Dry pills do stick, so I also "coat" them with something tasty depending on what I have (CheezWhiz also works well). It initially took some practice to find the right spot to open the mouth and the
And it is all about MY state of mind during the process. My cats can't read my mind and mimic jumpiness or stress or anxiety if I have no thoughts going on in my gray matter. Ha - it confuses them when I'm not thinking nor feeling anything.
Use the holding position. Kneel on the floor with your feet crossed behind you, hold kitty between your knees facing out. S/he will try to back away and will not be able to.
With cat in holding position (as described above), put a dot of the yogurt (or whatever) on kitty's mouth to keep her busy and to get the saliva flowing (so the pill doesn't stick).
While kitty is licking her mouth, hold pill in one hand, pry open mouth with other, poke pill in, toward side of mouth and as far back as you can.
This is great advice. I've regularly pilled cats using this method - no special pill syringe or sneaking it in food (which my cats will not eat).
The only difference is I use butter AND after pilling I gently hold my kitties head up, with his/her mouth closed (not tightly, but only giving them a little leeway to make swallowing motions) all while massaging their throat.
Afterwards they get more butter for a job well done.
Also, make sure your cat's nails are clipped before doing this OR consider wrapping them in a blanket like a burrito to keep their front paws from scratching you.
Catsmom--I've come across your advice in my searching for all things cat pilling related. Maggie doesn't like yogurt and doesn't seem to care for butter either (unlike our other kitty, The Foodie), but I tried it with clam juice, and she didn't take the bait when I smeared my wet finger on her upper lip/nose. I've used the position before with my previous, ancient cat who was hard to pill and I could manage to get it down her throat most times, but it wasn't a foul tasting med either. AND, I tried to do it with Maggie on the first few pills we had to give her (which is how I knew to crush the clavamox into her food). I knew that until I had the whole pill-shooting thing down pat and felt comfortable with just that portion, there's no doing it alone....yet.
This one is just a strong-willed, iron-clamp jawed kitty. And a squirmer.
We got the pill in her last night about 8:30 (we shoot for 8/8, but we'd been out and I needed to decompress about it), but I didn't feel good about it because I couldn't get her to eat afterwards, not even her fav treat. I was worried about the pill being stuck. Finally, I opened a can of tuna. It bothered me when she didn't go for the juice, but I finally managed to get a few chunks of actual tuna down her by offering one-by-one. She was lethargic (I was warned the med could do that) and un-interested in anything still when I went to bed at 1 am, so she didn't get her later meal with probiotic mixed in.
Anyway, this morning she was really hungry, so I fed her before the pill just to make sure she'd get food in her--not knowing if she'd react this morning the way she did last night. I stuck the pill deeper into the pill shooter and it really popped into her mouth and was a total success--AND she ate another spoonful of food right afterwards. I guess I need to stop being a wimp about it and just let it fly off the end. I guess I was worried about the "force" of it.
I 100% agree that MY attitude is the biggest contributor to at least the failed attempts.
Thanks for all the comments. It helps to know I'm not alone. We had dinner with friends last night--dog people, all of them. No advice in the kitty department, so it gets lonely, ha.
I stuck the pill deeper into the pill shooter and it really popped into her mouth and was a total success--AND she ate another spoonful of food right afterwards.
Nothing breeds success like success. You're going to be great at this.
Know that cats are quick learners, be prepared for that and you'll do just fine!
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I have pilled many "unpillable" cats for friends. 
Who are you to assess anyone else's confidence, or say any of us have "a problem" with our cats?
