The trick is to be gentle and use a little technique. I sit behind them and tuck them between my legs so they don't try to back up.

First, I show them the tablet in my hand so they can see what they're eating, then use the magic word "eat" as I point at it in my hand a couple of times to make it clear. I always use the same command "open your mouth" as I open my mouth too, as I pry theirs open, and place it as far back as I can without making them gag. Once it's in, I close their mouth and hold their head up while I gently stroke their throat until they swallow. And, of course, praise them for doing a great job, no treats necessary.

The way I see it is that I'd also be freaked out if a giant forced me to swallow something without knowing what it is. They get it and get used to the drill. You only have to be nice and clear about it!

Cat pillers are amazing for anyone who doesn't know

I’ll share my technique

1. Control the back of the head with your off hand. At first by gripping a handful of the scruff of their neck, later just by cupping the back of their head once they’re used to it
2. With your main hand, get a little slippery on your index and thumb and grip the pill between them
3. Put your main hand palm up under their jaw and tip their head back with it.
4. Use your middle finger to press on the side of the mouth, near the corner. Their mouth will open.
5. Your thumb and index should be in position to flip into their mouth with a twist of the wrist while keeping that middle finger in place.
6. Squirt the pill from your slippery fingers with a pinching action. This will shoot the pill back into their throat if executed well.
7. Use your palm to close their mouth, keeping their head tilted back until they swallow.

This should all be done in a pretty smooth quick motion. Cats can understand some human language if you talk to them regularly, so I talk them through what I’m doing each time. If they spit it out, I just pick it up and repeat while telling them they have to swallow. My cats are all used to it now and take their pills without incident.

I had a dog several years back who was difficult to give medicine to. Wet peanut butter mostly worked (wet so it doesn’t stick to your fingers), but there were times he would spit the pill back out, and I’d have to push it down his throat. It was always a wrestling match like the meme, except I’m not ripped or have hair.

My current dog doesn’t care and will just eat it without thinking about it. Ironically, she is not food motivated. 🤷‍♂️

Thanks for the reminder. It’s heartworm pill day for my pup.

I'm bigger than my cat. Stronger than him. Smarter than him. But giving him a pill is a test of sheer willpower, and in that I am completely outmatched.

It's like every cell in his body is repurposed into a perfect machine, the singular goal of which is not taking a pill. He becomes liquid when I try to hold him down, then instantly transforms into a spring-loaded pill shooter once I get his mouth open. One time, through incredible effort, I managed to do it without losing any blood. I watched the pill go down his throat. The next day I found it caked in his neck fluff, as though his body detected its presence and morphed around it, rejecting it at a cellular level.

He doesn't need a lot of pills, but after years of blissful cat ownership punctuated by epic, disastrous pill-giving, the vet finally revealed that he could take liquid medicine from a little dropper. So that's much better.

For anyone out there struggling with their cat during pill session:

• wrap it in a towel, like a cat burrito;
• hold the pill with your thumb and index fingers and use the middle one to open the corner of the cat's mouth;
• it'll open its mouth very briefly, during that time you'll have to aim and let the pill go towards the back side of its tongue, near its throat

If you do it right, it'll swallow the pill reflexively.

"Yees, yees, good nom, veery good nom, boiled chicken, mmm! Ignore the pill I stuck inside it, just eat it, yees! No! Nonono, don't spit it o-oh, god damn it..."