Vomit

Believe me, there will be lots of Vomit for awhile.  Rumble was throwing up twice a day until we leveled a few things out.  They originally gave us a liquid medicine that I filled at our local Walgreens called Metoclopramide.   Through some trial and error we found that if you give this liquid medicine about 20 minutes before you feed them, then everything seems to stay down pretty well.  Too early seems to make him sick on the medicine itself and too late just does nothing. 

So my husband wraps Rumble in a towel and I try to squeeze the entire syringe into the side of Rumble's mouth.  They give you instructions and tell you to make sure and get it into the side pocket of his cheek to make sure that he doesn't inhale any of the liquid but to be completely honest, we are just glad to get the liquid into his mouth at all.  I try to hold his head still and work the syringe tip into the back corner of his mouth and separate his lips and I just squirt.  I usually get about half of it in there, wait a few seconds, give him some verbal praise and a kiss and then try for the second half.  Not the easiest or cleanest process.  Did you know cats can spit?

Another medicine that we like better is Mirtazepine.  We only got this medicine because I asked for it.  It is an appetite stimulant and anti nausea.  They are very tiny pills that you are supposed to cut into even tinnier fourths and give to your cat.  I tried dividing a few with a knife and a razor blade but it didn't work very well.  Instead we went to Petsmart and bought two things: a pill cutter and a pill popper.

The pill cutter has a V-shaped slot that you drop the pill into and a razor blade that cuts through the center of the V, cutting the pill in half.  Because I need to cut mine into fourths, I drop the pill in long ways first and then drop each piece in horizontally and cut them that way.  It's easier. The pill popper works by pulling out the center of the syringe type part, dropping the pill into the empty center, putting the syringe part back in, sticking the whole thing as far into your cat's mouth as possible and pushing the syringe part, dropping the pill into the cat's throat.  I always have a regular syringe filled with water or tuna juice and give it to him immediately following the pill hoping to aide in the swallowing process. 

I find that with the pill Mirtazepine, Rumble's vomiting is reduced from twice a day to once a week, maybe.  It's great, we love the pill.  Plus, he seems to be hungrier which is always what we are aiming for.  The pill maybe more of a pain to administer, but I don't care because it works.  The pill should only be given every 2 to 4 days and we usually aim for 3.  I find that Rumble starts to drool alot if he's feeling nauseous so if I ever see that, I immediately give him a pill, whether it's been 2 days or 4. 

Good luck with your medicine.  It's been trial and error for us, but these are the best medicines and how we try to make it work.