# Advice on giving Baytril pills?



## lolakitty23 (Aug 17, 2004)

Skeeter vomited 3 times this morning and had a fever of 105. Took him to the vet right away this morning. Vet said that blood work came back normal and, after some I.V. hydration, the fever came down quickly. Because she couldn't figure out what was wrong, she put him on Baytril just to be safe. The boy will NOT take these pills willingly. Does anyone know if I can crush these pills and slip them into tuna or something? I know that there are other forms of the medicine, but I'd rather give the pill form a go first. Please let us know! Thanks!


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## OsnobunnieO (Jun 28, 2004)

have you tried pill pockets? in my experience, they work a lot better in dogs (most of which will eat ANYTHING!) and cats are a little more weary of them... but a lot eat them no problems.

how are you trying to pill him? If you kind of scruff him and roll him on his back, open his mouth and drop it as far back as possible, he has no physical choice but to swallow. Following it with a squirt of water helps too


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## lolakitty23 (Aug 17, 2004)

We are pilling him by one of us holding him, and the other holding the pill between the thumb and index fingers while coaxing the mouth open with the middle finger of one hand and preparing to hold his mouth closed with the other hand (does that make sense). He's not "down" with the pills, though. That why I was asking if anyone knew if we could crush the pill. That way we could (hopefully) hide it in his food and it won't be so traumatic for him. He was pretty upset at us this evening! Would the pill still be as affective if we crushed it?


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## Lori (Jun 8, 2003)

I googled Baytril to see if it can be crushed and it appeared that it is effective if crushed. Some meds lose their effectiveness if crushed, so I wanted to double-check. 
When I had to give Velvet a pill, I crushed it and mixed it with a cat treat (I think I smooshed it into a Pouce treat). Velvet ate it right down. She refuses to eat anything like that now, I am not sure how I would get a pill down her today. 
I would think a if the crushed pill were mixed with some wet food you may fool him. Good luck!


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## BamMcg (Apr 25, 2005)

We use pill shooters from the feed store for our farm animals unwilling to take pills. I think they make them small enough for cats... try the feed store... You put the pill it the end, coax the pill shooter to the back of the tongue and release the pill. They automatically swallow them.


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## lotocats (May 5, 2003)

There is a flavored Baytril tablet. If so, crushing it and putting it in wet food would be fine. Even putting in it baby food or tuna water. Baytril is a very strong drug to put an animal on initially. Usually they only use it after other less potent antibiots fail because it hase side affects and some cats can't tolerate it. I had a cat who threw it up every time I tried to give him a pill.


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## wilburcat (Mar 21, 2005)

Hi there,

I'm giving my cat Baytril right now for crystals and when it's pilling time, I just slip on a thick bathrobe, and fill a little syringe with about 1 tsp of water. Then I grab the 1/2 pill, "sit" on him so he can't squirm away, firmly open his mouth as wide as possible, slip it down the back of his throat, and then follow that with a squirt of water. 

I think this is easier than crushing and dissolving the pill in water because most of the liquid would probably end up on the floor and I'd think it would taste pretty terrible to your cat! Good luck with the Baytril + sending get well vibes to your kitty


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## Gudewife (Jun 27, 2004)

I tried crushing the Baytril "Flavor-tabs" once and putting it in food. Assumpta just looked at me and stalked off...I had to resort to pilling her in the end. If you're using the coated (purple) tablets, don't try crushing them, as they taste terrible (the coating is to mask the bitterness)...ask your vet if you can get the "flavor-tabs" and give it a try...give a little dollop of canned food first to get the cat eating without suspicion, then offer a small dollop with the flavor-tab crushed into it.

With some medicines, you can crush the tablet, dissolve it in water, and syringe it into the mouth...but I wouldn't attempt it with Baytril because it tastes so bad. I honestly don't know if Baytril comes in a liquid, but even if it did, I'd be leery of it...IME, trying to give a cat liquid meds that are intensely bitter is more traumatic than pilling.

For me, the easiest solution was to just tackle Assumpta and pill her once a day, then give her a nice treat. The pill gun didn't do much for us...the thing that worked was to have my husband wrap his arm around her butt so she couldn't get away, and I did the pilling...some nights, it took two or three tries to get the thing down, but all in all, she wasn't too traumatized (but she's still a two-person cat to pill).

Also wondering why your vet went right for the Baytril (it's pretty heavy-duty stuff, especially on a "just-to-be-safe" basis).


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