Coughing , Possible Asthma , Doxycycline Pill? Videos included

[ChelseaKaupp]

Hi team!

Some of you may be aware of our beautiful little girl, Umami, who has had health issues the whole 9 months we've had her.

She was previously on a 10 day course of doxycline to treat mycoplasma, and a cough which may or may not have been related. Unfortunately the cough persisted after treatment so they started her on prednisolone for asthma (lung xrays showed a small grey spot in one lung, but it was hard to tell if it was infection or asthma). The cough persisted, and even worsened on the steroid so we're currently weaning her off it as recommended by the vet, and now we're back to a full month course of doxycline, for a suspected secondary infection, which we'll start tomorrow.

My question, for those of you who have given this medicine, is how best to administer the pill form to a cat? Her last course was liquid and I just mixed with her food. I know the pill form is quite harsh and can damage their throat. Any tips? Crushing and mixing with food, or better to just give as is and follow with water/food/treats? Luckily, I'm an old hand with giving cat's meds, so no issue getting it in her, just wondering the best way to do it without hurting her!

Thanks so much everyone

 

[Toa and Ross]

Umami is such a stunning girl! I have to give my boy Toa a prenison pill every day. I give it as a whole pill cause it’s not allowed to crush it. I know there are pill popers. If I’m correct @Yoda mom uses them

 

[ChelseaKaupp]

Umami is such a stunning girl! I have to give my boy Toa a prenison pill every day. I give it as a whole pill cause it’s not allowed to crush it. I know there are pill popers. If I’m correct @Yoda mom uses them

Hey! Oh, thank you so much. She's such a sweetheart!

The prednisone pill is no problem to give her, she just swallows it with a treat. I wish that were the pill we need to give her, but it's the doxycycline pill she needs for the next month. I read it can cause burning in the throat if not administered correctly, so was wondering how others tackled that issue

 

[Sheldon13]

I sometimes use a pill gun. Usually though, Ellie eats her pills wrapped in pill pockets.


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[Yoda mom]

@ChelseaKaupp awhhhh Hugs n head smooches -
I asked my vet for a pill popper and a liquid medication small plunger I filled with water to wash it down when I gave my boy doxycycline
Amd ordered extra pill poppers on line

Your vet amd or techs can show you how to use it properly

He go to the point he didn’t even need the water wash down
Just the pill popper - I straddled him on the bed when he was sleeping
Amd down the doxycycline went easily

 

[ChelseaKaupp]

@ChelseaKaupp awhhhh Hugs n head smooches -
I asked my vet for a pill popper and a liquid medication small plunger I filled with water to wash it down when I gave my boy doxycycline
Amd ordered extra pill poppers on line

Your vet amd or techs can show you how to use it properly

He go to the point he didn’t even need the water wash down
Just the pill popper - I straddled him on the bed when he was sleeping
Amd down the doxycycline went easily

Hey! Thanks so much for your reply - that's good to know your boy took it well and eventually didn't need it washed down with water. That makes me feel relieved! We've been filled with horror stories of the doxy pill scarring the esophagus, so wasn't looking forward to a month of this pill twice daily.

Luckily Umami is a champ with pills, and doesn't require a pill popper. I was more concerned that something about this particular pill made it stick in the throat. Her first dose went well and I just followed it up with a treat to make sure everything moved down properly.

Seriously hoping this course holds positive results. It's hard not to lose hope when she's been near constantly on medication for her whole life with little to no relief of her symptoms. In fact she tends to feel worse on these intense medications. We're trying everything for her, and while she's not yet close to us having to make this decision and it breaks my heart to even think of it, at some point her welfare long term will need to be considered.

 

[Sheldon13]

If you are concerned for it sticking, why not use some olive oil to help it wash down? I used to have to do that for mine.


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[ChelseaKaupp]

If you are concerned for it sticking, why not use some olive oil to help it wash down? I used to have to do that for mine.


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That's a great idea! Thank you

 

[meandmytwo]

Anytime I’ve given pills I dip the end of it in coconut oil and use my finger as a pill popper to slide it very far back on their tongue. Slides right down from there..

 

[Yoda mom]

@ChelseaKaupp awwh hugs to you and sweet Umami
A Lair full of posiitive vibes

Both my boy Had doxy for two different things for quite sometime
No problmes at all

Big head smooch for Umami!
What a sweetheart

 

[Cinderstar95]

That's a great idea! Thank you

I would caution you doing that with oils of any sort. While unsaturated, oils are very fatty molecules. Antibiotics like Doxycycline and other tetracyclines are absorbed predominately in the stomach and if the person or animal has something fatty in the stomach at the same time (milk or other high fatty liquids count as well) they could see about a 20% decrease in absorbance (Thats in the human model, I no longer have access to the plumbs veterinary manual to check for the cat percentage but I imagine its not that much different. the same principles apply.)
Doxy is a good drug for respiratory illnesses, but if she's been sick this long, don't risk lowering the absorption rate of the medication in the stomach.
Same goes for coconut oils. those are fatty and high in cholesterol. Will it kill the cat? no, but its not really all that good for them. nor is it as good as people think it is for humans either. the coconut oil info came from one of my professors - a residency trained pharmacist who practices in a major hospital helping to manage cholesterol and stroke risks. the other information was pulled from Lexi-drugs, a very reliable resource used by all pharmacists, veterinary or not.
If it were me (I've given doxy before, I've had to give ciprofloxacin before, as well as famciclovir for Mr. Shazam and his amazing amount of medical issues, lots of pills, so many pills -shudders-) I wouldn't dip it in oils. i'd just pill the cat and let them sort it out. The medical term for the side effect you are worried about is esophagitis. its rare, and according to the FDA's information on the drug, it happened rarely and most cases of it resulted from the patient taking the medication right before bed. So, pretty easy to prevent as long as after you give her the pill, she gets some water and it isn't right before she lays down. maybe hold her up for a minute or two afterwards, just to make sure. Also if she gets vomity or has diarrhea, those are really common side effects... just give her a meal that is lower in fat while taking the pill.
as for crushing the pill, it depends on the formulation of it. is it extended release? what is it coforumlated with? you can look on the bottle and see if there were any auxiliary labels that say not to crush it.
and honestly, its a question to ask your vet. They study this stuff and what they don't know, they have the resources and clinical data to find out. If anything I said here is confusing or I used medical terminology where I didn't mean to, let me know! I forget sometimes that other people haven't made the same poor life decisions as I have that landed me in the medical field.
Best of luck with your baby! I hope she gets better soon, such a beautiful girl.

 

[ChelseaKaupp]

I would caution you doing that with oils of any sort. While unsaturated, oils are very fatty molecules. Antibiotics like Doxycycline and other tetracyclines are absorbed predominately in the stomach and if the person or animal has something fatty in the stomach at the same time (milk or other high fatty liquids count as well) they could see about a 20% decrease in absorbance (Thats in the human model, I no longer have access to the plumbs veterinary manual to check for the cat percentage but I imagine its not that much different. the same principles apply.)
Doxy is a good drug for respiratory illnesses, but if she's been sick this long, don't risk lowering the absorption rate of the medication in the stomach.
Same goes for coconut oils. those are fatty and high in cholesterol. Will it kill the cat? no, but its not really all that good for them. nor is it as good as people think it is for humans either. the coconut oil info came from one of my professors - a residency trained pharmacist who practices in a major hospital helping to manage cholesterol and stroke risks. the other information was pulled from Lexi-drugs, a very reliable resource used by all pharmacists, veterinary or not.
If it were me (I've given doxy before, I've had to give ciprofloxacin before, as well as famciclovir for Mr. Shazam and his amazing amount of medical issues, lots of pills, so many pills -shudders-) I wouldn't dip it in oils. i'd just pill the cat and let them sort it out. The medical term for the side effect you are worried about is esophagitis. its rare, and according to the FDA's information on the drug, it happened rarely and most cases of it resulted from the patient taking the medication right before bed. So, pretty easy to prevent as long as after you give her the pill, she gets some water and it isn't right before she lays down. maybe hold her up for a minute or two afterwards, just to make sure. Also if she gets vomity or has diarrhea, those are really common side effects... just give her a meal that is lower in fat while taking the pill.
as for crushing the pill, it depends on the formulation of it. is it extended release? what is it coforumlated with? you can look on the bottle and see if there were any auxiliary labels that say not to crush it.
and honestly, its a question to ask your vet. They study this stuff and what they don't know, they have the resources and clinical data to find out. If anything I said here is confusing or I used medical terminology where I didn't mean to, let me know! I forget sometimes that other people haven't made the same poor life decisions as I have that landed me in the medical field.
Best of luck with your baby! I hope she gets better soon, such a beautiful girl.

That is some brilliant information! Thank you While I'm not in the medical field, I am a zoo keeper so have a lot of experience with medicating various animals. Just this particular form of pill had me worried. Glad to know thats a rare side effect! So far she's had 3 doses and she's taken them all beautifully. I hide it in a treat and she swallows it whole, then I follow it up with another treat and then get her to lick her lysine paste supplement off my hand. Let's see how long I can trick her with that for ;-) Her other pills are easily popped into the side of her mouth, but I'll err on the side of caution with this one.

It's not a slow release, as we cut the pill up into 1/4s so can potentially crush into food like we did with the liquid version, but that will be a last resort. Like you said, it's best she gets the full effect of the pill - her illnesses have been lingering for far too long. 13 months old and sick practically her whole life, thanks to her shocking breeder. We have hope for this longer course - all the other cats from that cattery had mycoplasma. The ones who unfortunately needed to be euthanized by their owners due to the severity of the illness were all younger than Umami. So she is older and stronger and has that going for her We're doing everything we can, and hope she gets some relief soon!

Thanks again, I massively appreciate it!

 

[Cinderstar95]

That is some brilliant information! Thank you While I'm not in the medical field, I am a zoo keeper so have a lot of experience with medicating various animals. Just this particular form of pill had me worried. Glad to know thats a rare side effect! So far she's had 3 doses and she's taken them all beautifully. I hide it in a treat and she swallows it whole, then I follow it up with another treat and then get her to lick her lysine paste supplement off my hand. Let's see how long I can trick her with that for ;-) Her other pills are easily popped into the side of her mouth, but I'll err on the side of caution with this one.

It's not a slow release, as we cut the pill up into 1/4s so can potentially crush into food like we did with the liquid version, but that will be a last resort. Like you said, it's best she gets the full effect of the pill - her illnesses have been lingering for far too long. 13 months old and sick practically her whole life, thanks to her shocking breeder. We have hope for this longer course - all the other cats from that cattery had mycoplasma. The ones who unfortunately needed to be euthanized by their owners due to the severity of the illness were all younger than Umami. So she is older and stronger and has that going for her We're doing everything we can, and hope she gets some relief soon!

Thanks again, I massively appreciate it!

Oo, a zookeeper, that sounds super exciting! I must admit that i'm a tad bit jealous.
I'm going into veterinary pharmacy if all things go my way (Fingers crossed) but if that doesn't work i'll still have my pharmD in a year and can work with people. I just think the animal side is so underutilized and so small that i could make a world of difference there.
I'm so sorry to hear about all that with the breeder. I've had similar experiences and my boy Shazam was near death sick as a kitten as well. Didn't play until he was six months old, just sat in front of the space heater with his face in the air because he couldn't breathe very well. poor thing had to be on Cipro to knock out the stubborn respiratory infection. but he's got feline herpes courtesy of his breeder and will have issues off and on his whole life. He's five now and has to be on a special diet for his urinary issues and had to have surgery on his eye a few years ago. So I understand your frustration and your pain. Its horrible to watch them go through with this, but Umami is so lucky she landed with someone who is going to not only go the extra mile to get her well but to also love her through it.
i'm glad you figured out the pill trick! mine were to clever for their own good. I once had a girl that, whenever I tried to hide the capsule in her food, would pick it out, eat all the food off the plate and off the pill and leave me a clean plate with the pill in the center. I used to have to resort to kitty burrito and praying I didn't get my fingers bit. but Shazam is a good boy and doesn't bite no matter how many times I made him take the medicine that saved his life, just mumbled pitifully.
I really do hope the best for you guys. She's gorgeous and in the pic, her eyes are so expressive and full of life. I hope she gets better. She certainly has the best person to go to bat for her.

 

[ChelseaKaupp]

Oo, a zookeeper, that sounds super exciting! I must admit that i'm a tad bit jealous.
I'm going into veterinary pharmacy if all things go my way (Fingers crossed) but if that doesn't work i'll still have my pharmD in a year and can work with people. I just think the animal side is so underutilized and so small that i could make a world of difference there.
I'm so sorry to hear about all that with the breeder. I've had similar experiences and my boy Shazam was near death sick as a kitten as well. Didn't play until he was six months old, just sat in front of the space heater with his face in the air because he couldn't breathe very well. poor thing had to be on Cipro to knock out the stubborn respiratory infection. but he's got feline herpes courtesy of his breeder and will have issues off and on his whole life. He's five now and has to be on a special diet for his urinary issues and had to have surgery on his eye a few years ago. So I understand your frustration and your pain. Its horrible to watch them go through with this, but Umami is so lucky she landed with someone who is going to not only go the extra mile to get her well but to also love her through it.
i'm glad you figured out the pill trick! mine were to clever for their own good. I once had a girl that, whenever I tried to hide the capsule in her food, would pick it out, eat all the food off the plate and off the pill and leave me a clean plate with the pill in the center. I used to have to resort to kitty burrito and praying I didn't get my fingers bit. but Shazam is a good boy and doesn't bite no matter how many times I made him take the medicine that saved his life, just mumbled pitifully.
I really do hope the best for you guys. She's gorgeous and in the pic, her eyes are so expressive and full of life. I hope she gets better. She certainly has the best person to go to bat for her.

Thank you so much for your kind words! It really means a lot to me to hear those, as I've been struggling recently, feeling hopeless about her health issues and that I cant alleviate her suffering. She means the absolute world to us, and I just want her to have as healthy and happy a life as possible. She has her good days, but then she has bad ones and they aren't nice for anyone.

Sorry to hear you went through something similar with your boy! So glad to hear he is good now!! This gives me so much hope. Umami was very similar - didn't play until she was 6 or 7 months old, and didn't start meowing until she was 8 months old. We just thought she was a quiet kitten, not that she was in too much pain to meow. We welcome all the meows now, even the 3am ones!

I think you'd be an absolute asset to veterinary pharmacy! I will keep my fingers crossed that everything goes well for you What a fantastic thing to study and get into!
The zoo keeping is great, although a tough industry to crack into, and stay in. I have learnt a few tricks along the way in tricking animals to take medicine though haha! Primates and elephants for example aren't the easiest to trick into things

Anyway, thank you again for your kind words and for the advice. It was just the reassurance I needed

 

[Cinafina]

@ChelseaKaupp I've had to give doxycycline tablets as well, and was told not to crush them as they can still be abrasive. I used a pill popper at first, but found it was not working for us and just gave the pills far back in the mouth by hand. I would then check Butchie had swallowed it, and then give him a liquid treat straight after to be sure it couldn't possible get stuck in the esophagus!

 

[Sheldon13]

That’s a good idea too. Rinse it down.


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[gojira14]

I would caution you doing that with oils of any sort. While unsaturated, oils are very fatty molecules. Antibiotics like Doxycycline and other tetracyclines are absorbed predominately in the stomach and if the person or animal has something fatty in the stomach at the same time (milk or other high fatty liquids count as well) they could see about a 20% decrease in absorbance (Thats in the human model, I no longer have access to the plumbs veterinary manual to check for the cat percentage but I imagine its not that much different. the same principles apply.)
Doxy is a good drug for respiratory illnesses, but if she's been sick this long, don't risk lowering the absorption rate of the medication in the stomach.
Same goes for coconut oils. those are fatty and high in cholesterol. Will it kill the cat? no, but its not really all that good for them. nor is it as good as people think it is for humans either. the coconut oil info came from one of my professors - a residency trained pharmacist who practices in a major hospital helping to manage cholesterol and stroke risks. the other information was pulled from Lexi-drugs, a very reliable resource used by all pharmacists, veterinary or not.
If it were me (I've given doxy before, I've had to give ciprofloxacin before, as well as famciclovir for Mr. Shazam and his amazing amount of medical issues, lots of pills, so many pills -shudders-) I wouldn't dip it in oils. i'd just pill the cat and let them sort it out. The medical term for the side effect you are worried about is esophagitis. its rare, and according to the FDA's information on the drug, it happened rarely and most cases of it resulted from the patient taking the medication right before bed. So, pretty easy to prevent as long as after you give her the pill, she gets some water and it isn't right before she lays down. maybe hold her up for a minute or two afterwards, just to make sure. Also if she gets vomity or has diarrhea, those are really common side effects... just give her a meal that is lower in fat while taking the pill.
as for crushing the pill, it depends on the formulation of it. is it extended release? what is it coforumlated with? you can look on the bottle and see if there were any auxiliary labels that say not to crush it.
and honestly, its a question to ask your vet. They study this stuff and what they don't know, they have the resources and clinical data to find out. If anything I said here is confusing or I used medical terminology where I didn't mean to, let me know! I forget sometimes that other people haven't made the same poor life decisions as I have that landed me in the medical field.
Best of luck with your baby! I hope she gets better soon, such a beautiful girl.

Well stated and thank you for your input and advice


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[Yoda mom]

@ChelseaKaupp hello checking in on sweet Umami
Positive vibes and head smooches continue

 

[ChelseaKaupp]

@ChelseaKaupp hello checking in on sweet Umami
Positive vibes and head smooches continue

Hey! We're almost there weaning her off the prednisone - one more dose to go. It's affecting her immune system and she's got a URI we're trying to get on top of. Doxy is going well, and she's still taking it hidden in a treat like a little legend. We've had 2 coughing fits in the week she's been on it, so that's a bit better than before and if she does have a lung infection, it will take a while to sort it anyway
She's very sleepy, but appetite is good and we still get her to play at night so this is as good as we can hope for for now!

I'm off to the hospital on Thursday to get induced as I'm 2 weeks overdue, so will have a little human sister for Umami to meet this weekend latest!
Thanks for checking in!

 

[Yoda mom]

((((Hugs ))))
a lair full of positive vibes for you on Thursday

Keep us updated ! Head smooches !

 

[Sheldon13]

Good luck with having the baby!


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[Yoda mom]

@ChelseaKaupp hello ! Checking in on you for updates ..Hope all went well at the hospital.
Head smooches to Umami hope she is feeling better and you Are home with her human baby sister

 

[ChelseaKaupp]

@ChelseaKaupp hello ! Checking in on you for updates ..Hope all went well at the hospital.
Head smooches to Umami hope she is feeling better and you Are home with her human baby sister

Hey there! Still at the birthing unit but should go home tomorrow - baby girl is quite small so she needa a few things to check out un order for us to go home, but she seems to be on track so far! Can't wait for her and Umami to meet.
Umami has been a bit upset at home, desperately wanting attention and for us to come back. Not long now!

 

[Yoda mom]

@ChelseaKaupp Congratulations! Adorable ! Love her bonnet ! What is her name ?
Head smooches to Umami when you get her new sister home !

Look forward to pics amd tales

 

[Toa and Ross]

Congratulations @ChelseaKaupp . What a beautiful girl! A precious gift. I'm sure Umami will be a very lovibg sister to her. What a lucky girl your daughter is to grow up with a naked to love her.
Hope you can take your girl home soon!