This page is about hiding bad tasting cat medication inside practically tasteless
substance of gelatin, the main
ingridient of yello and gummi bears. By having
the medication inside a small, rubbery and tasteless gelatin blob, it may
be easier to trick a cat to eat the medication
along, for example with favourite treat crumbs or other food.
In case tricking a cat to
voluntarily eat the medication fails, gelatin coating
however
makes traditional pilling
(with pill gun for example)
easier because the coating seals the taste inside and gelating coating
stays on
better than for example layer of butter, cheese or soft cat food.
Quickly dip the bit of medication into a warm liquid mixture of water and gelatin and set the drop aside on a nonsticky surface to cool down into a gummy blob (with medication stuck inside). Wait, until the blob has become cool, rubbery and stiff. (From 15 minutes to couple of hours.)
Try making the blobs small enough so that the cat is able to swallow without chewing. However, at the same time try to ensure that the medication is surrounded (on each side) with sufficiently thick gelatin layer. Re-dip the blob to make the layer thicker. Excess gelatin can be cut off with scissors or sharp knife. Feed finished gelatin blob to your cat. Practise coating with treat crumbs or similar.
In medical industry, gelatin is used to coat medication. The sophisticated thick layer that surrounds pills is in many times made of gelatin. Empty gelatin capsules or shells are sold in pharmacies and natural food stores with purpose of being filled with medication for easier pilling. (I first considered these gel caps myself but found them often to be so unpractically large that tricking a cat to eat one would be difficult.)
I'm no pharmacist nor a vet. I'm just a plain simple guy who likes cats. Gelatin dissolves in
acidic environment of gastro-intestinal tract.
However, the thicker and harder the gelatin coating, the longer the dissolving takes. Some medication is
very precise on how fast it should dissolve and absorb in order to take effect. Additional gelatin coating could easily
disrupt this.
IMPORTANT: Discuss with your vet about the suitability of this method to a particular medication before starting
to coat your pet's medication with gelatin.
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1) Mix one tablespoon of unflavored gelatin powder with one tablespoon of water
in a small metal cup.
2) Stir (for example with a fork) until you have a doe like mixture.
3) Warm the mixture in oven that is preheated to 75 Celcius (or 167 Fahrenheit)
for about 5 minutes so that all the gelatin gets dissolved. (You can also warm it on stove with low temperature, but this way the
mixture very easily burns.)
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4) With tweezers, dip a fragment of medication into gelatin.
(In picture: 1/8 pill fragment of Periactin (cyproheptadine), an appetite stimulant for cats).
5) Place the gelatin blob (with pill inside) into freezer on a
nonsticky surface (for example on aluminum foil) to harden and cool down
for about 15 minutes.
6) Check that the medication is surrounded (on each side) with sufficiently thick gelatin layer.
If necessary, dip the blob again into gelatin
in order to make the gelatin layer thicker. (Repeat steps 5-6 as many times
as necessary.)
7) Put the gelatin drop into refridgerator for about 3-4 hours. While in contact with air,
the more time passes, the harder the gelatin gets.
8) Before giving to a cat, cut off excess gelatin with scissors or sharp knife. To help it go down smoother, I usually also squeeze a few drops of fish oil on the gelatin drop just before feeding it.
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