Creative Cat Behavior

Cats are very talented creatures. Each in his or her own way. Creative even.

I've been trying to get my cats to eat pills with their food. The pills are optional - they are to help with shedding, not to make them healthy or anything. I originally started this process with a liquid, but then the store stopped carrying the liquid and only carrying pills. Don't they know how hard it is to get cats to eat pills?

I started by putting a pill in each cat's food dish and mixing it in with their food. I figured that if the pill was well covered and therefore "tasted" like their food, it would convince them to eat them. When I first started doing this, the pills would disappear. So I thought all was well. The cats were not shedding any more than they had been when I had the liquid stuff, so it seemed like the pills were working.

But my cats are picky eaters. Always have been. So a couple of times, they didn't actually finish the food. And the pills were in the part that wasn't eaten. Darn!

So I decided to get more creative. I broke open the pills and put the powder directly into the food. Again, for a couple of days, the cats ate the food with the powder mixed in. So then I thought all was well.

And then a couple of days later, the cats stopped eating their food altogether. Rebellion!

Since I was more worried about the cats eating at all than about getting the optional medicine into them, I stopped putting the pills in the medicine whether they were whole or powder. And the cats started eating their food again. Not the ideal situation, but better than their not eating at all.

After a few days of no pills, tonight I put the whole pills in the food again. Well mixed in. But the cats are talented. They didn't avoid eating the food. They seem to have delicately picked the pills out. I found them beside their empty food bowls. Very creative.