Heartache

I just found out that my almost 10 year old cat Shelby has mild heart disease. She was put on Atenelol and baby aspirin. My boss takes the same medicine. Weird. The Atenelol is to slow her heart down, and the aspirin is to prevent clots from forming. Apparently if clots form, her hind legs will stop working. Yikes.

Every day she has to take 1/4 of the Atenelol, so the size of the pill is pretty small. She has to take one baby aspirin every three days. That pill is pretty big. I spent at least five minutes in the aspirin section trying to decide if Shelby would like orange or cherry flavor better. Bayer, or St. Joseph's? I chose Bayer orange--chewable.

The first day of medication I put the Atenelol in some cream cheese and she ate it right up. I was psyched. I tried the same thing with the aspirin. She looked at it, sniffed it, and walked away. I left it for a little while, and it disintegrated. I mushed it all around, thinking with some more cream cheese she'd eat it and never taste the aspirin. I was wrong. I was freaked out because I knew she needed to take it. I decided to shove it down her throat the way I know people do. Well, she didn't like that much and fought me, so I ended up sort of smearing it all over her mouth like some disgusting lip gloss. She licked it all, so at least she got it in her.

The next morning when I got out of bed she cried to go in the hallway, which she never does in the morning. I opened the door for her and she went to sit under the wicker table, which is her special place to sit whenever she's really freaked out. Great. I hadn't even tried to give her the pills yet.

Someone told me about these things called Pill Pockets. They're treats with holes in them. You put the pill in the treat and fold it closed, and the cat (or dog) is supposed to eat the treat and never taste the pill. My local pet store didn't have them, but they told me about this food that I could put it in and maybe that would help. It's raw food, made with all kinds of stuff like chicken, clams, broccoli, and flax seed oil. Very healthy, delicious, and expensive.

I took that home and put the Atenelol in it. She ate it right up. Put the aspirin, whole, in the raw food. She ate all around it and left the aspirin. I ain't raising no dummy. I mushed it up in more food. No go. Dammit! I was, and am, determined to find a way for Shelby to take her medicine with food so I don't have to shove it down her throat, which is traumatic for both of us.

This weekend I quartered a baby aspirin and she ate it with the food. I praised her like she had just done a trick on command. A couple of people have told me that St. Joseph's is smaller than Bayer, so I went to the pharmacist to ask. She told me there's not that much difference in size, but the Bayer chewable aspirin can be crushed and is much sweeter than the St. Joseph's, which has a coating on it to make it easier to swallow. She suggested I try them to see the difference, which I did. She was right. Think I'll stick to the chewable.

I finally found Pill Pockets, so I'll try those the next time I have to give her the aspirin. Wish me luck!