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Rating:  -
So glad I got these. My cat is on a motility agent and I dreaded giving him the pills remembering the nightmare it was last year when I had to give him antibiotics for a month. With these it's no sweat. He gobbles it up. So much so that he begs for them. Today I got home and he'd managed to get the whole bag off the shelf he normally doesn't reach and tore up the bag and ate them all (more than 30 of them were left). I cringed at the thought of what would have happened if I'd decided to prefill the pockets with the meds. It would have been a tragedy - he would have overdosed and died. Thank goodness I had the instinct not to do that. So word of advice is do never prefill the treats in bulk. No matter how safe you think your storage place is.
Rating:  -
My sister recommended that I try these. She has been giving her cat thyroid pills for years and swears by the pill pockets. When my cat was in a bad cat fight, and required surgery, I had to give him antibiotics. So my sister gave me some of her pill pockets to try on my cat. They worked great. The vet then told me that I would need to start my cat on thyroid meds as well, so I went ahead and ordered more of the pill pockets. Well the day after I ordered 4 bags of them, my cat figured out that he could eat the treat from the outside of the pill, and leave the pill. I tried a few more times, and he always ate the treat and left the pill. So the 4 packs of pill pockets that I bought will be given to my sister now.
So yes they are great unless your pet figures out that there is a pill inside. My sister has been using them for a very long time and has no problem with them.
Rating: -
I've had years of experience pilling my various cats. I always swore by a combination pill gun and fill-em-yourself #3 gelcaps. Never had a problem. It turns out that this was not due to my technique as much as my dear departed cats were very good patients.
Last month I was fostering a cat from the ASPCA who needed thyroid meds twice a day. Well, this poor thing would barely let me pat her without hissing, much less allow her jaw to be pryed open to put a pill down her throat. I bought a bag of Pill Pockets. They worked for exactly 3 doses. I could actually hear her growling as she hit the part that had the pill...and Tapizole is not known to be a terrible tasting med. As someone suggested, I gave her an empty one right before the 'loaded' pocket. But after the first few successes, she just refused to eat them. Unfortunately, I had to give her back to the ASPCA.
I took another cat...a totally gentle sweetheart. She has some intestinal issues that require for a twice daily dose of Flagyl which is a notoriously vile tasting antibiotic. For this reason, I didn't even consider using the Pill Pockets I had left from the first cat. I went back to my old method of cutting up the pills and putting them into the gelcaps. As sweet as my new cat is, she proved very difficult to pill...she's not nasty, but she's a wriggler. I can manage it(sometimes it takes a few attempts), but there is no way that a cat-sitter or my husband could.
Now it seems that my vet wants her to continue with the meds for an extended period...a problem if I have to be out of town. Just for the heck of it I decided to put a dose of Flagyl into a Pill Pocket to see what would happen. 'Odey' went right for the treat and started chewing...I waited for her to hit the pill and start foaming at the mouth...but she just swallowed everything and looked up at me to see if there was any more on the way! I've given her three doses so far. Now she just scarfs them right down without a lot of chewing. Now when she hears the bag being opened, she runs right over and practically begs for her 'meds'.
I hope that she doesn't discover my little secret...if she does, I'll go back to the pillgun. But in the meantime, It's wonderful not to have to forcibly wrestle down my sweet little pal twice a day, and to know that if I have to be away, someone else can easily medicate her.
I give Pill Pockets 4 stars instead of 5 because of my initial unsuccessful experience and also because they are a little on the expensive side. Not really a problem once or twice twice a day, but I was giving my late cat, who had CRF 6 different meds stuffed into gelcaps 3 times a day...which could get a little price-y with PillPockets because you just can't fit as much into them.
LF
Rating:  -
If you have a cat who is prone to gobbling treats whole, these will likely work. My cat, however, chews treats, so she breaks the pocket open and then tastes the pill and spits it all out. It would likely work best with small pills and then you could use part of the pocket and maybe the cat would swallow it without chewing. You need to be extremely careful if the pill is bitter; if you handle the pill and get residue on your hand and then use those fingers to pinch the pocket shut, it will get residue on the outside, which makes the cat less likely to take it. It might help to just feed a few as treats without pills in the beginning to get them used to the idea that they are treats?
Rating: -
These pill pockets worked great with my for cat for a week or two. He happily ate his pill twice a day. But then he seemed to catch on and now he won't touch them. Probably works best for short term medication.
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