How do I crush up this pill?

Feed kitty some canned food instead of all dry food. Dissolve the cut pill in a bit of water, and mix that in with the canned food. I use one of those plastic juice bottles that have concentric indentations around them every couple of ounces up. I fill the bottle to the fourth line, then pop in 4 pills. Start with hot water in the bottle, let it completely dissolve the meds. Then refrigerate it. You’ve got 4 days worth of treatments ready to go. The bottle I use is an old Honest Ade bottle and it works like a charm.

1. As @ETpro suggested, let it dissolve in preferably juice from a tuna can.

2. Quarter it and put it in a plastic baggie and use a rolling pin to crush it. Put it in tuna or liverwurst.

3. If it’s not too huge, have a syringe of water (about 3cc) Hold her securely and push your fingers on her jaw until it opens, there will be a gap on the side you can slip the pill into. Close her jaw and then push a little bit of water into the same gap (not a lot, you don’t want her to aspirate, you just want to stimulate the swallow reflex)
This works best if you have a friend to hold and wrap her in a towel so she feels secure.

Ditto to the above, dissolve it in a bt of warm water, milk, tuna juice etc. and mix with a teeny bit of wet food, or, better yet, mix with just a little of the gravy. My 2 cats only eat the gravy anyway. lol

Couldn’t you also wrap the quarters in something the cat likes? I know it’s easy to give a dog medicine if it’s wrapped in ham or something like that.

@XOIIO Cats are not so easy.

I can give my dog a pill by pretending to drop it on the kitchen floor.

How much are you supposed to give him at one time?

Were you instructed to break it up and crush it?

I’ve always just opened their mouth and dropped it down their throat. Then I rub their throat to make them swallow. Definitely do wrap the cat in a towel. They grow legs 15 foot long. Either that or wear metal gauntlets and perhaps even full body armour.

I was going to say the same as Bella. It has always seemed easier (not counting the marred forearms) to just give the cat the pill, because usually if I put it in food they just refuse to eat the food. If you use your thumb and your ring finger to open the cat’s mouth you can push the pill to the back of the throat with your index finger and then close the mouth and gently rub the throat. You’ll feel it swallow.
Also seconding a towel… or body armor.

For our pill-averse cats, we had good luck with Pill Pockets. They’re soft treats that have a built-in cavity for a pill. My cats were crazy about them. The big-box pet stores sell them.

Towel and body armour. And one of those Friday the 13th hockey masks.

Be sure to check with your vet about crushing the pill – some medications are designed to be slowly released through digestion (also, the coating is often an enteric coating to prevent stomach irritation).

Good advice here already. If the doctor didn’t tell you specifically to crush the pill, and it has a coating, it probably needs to be ingested solid.

I second the towel method (do it straitjacket style, so they can’t get their legs out). Be sure they are secure but not wrapped too tight, and if they won’t calm down, pinch lightly on the nape of their neck while speaking soothing words. This will remind them of Mama and that you’re the new boss now. If they are very resistant, you might need several practice runs just to get them used to being in the towel on your lap. When you administer the pill, rub their throat for a few seconds and hold their mouth shut. They will probably try to spit it out. Be sure to check in their mouth afterwards to make sure they’re not hiding it somewhere.

Good luck to you and your kitty :)

Milo here; Hahahahahaha. We are one step ahead of you. What works here (that evil Gail) is a tag team. The large handyman with the gauntets and Gail with the towel. They do keep Neosporin and alcohol wipes on hand, I might add.

The vet gave me a syringe to use with wet food and a pill quartered. I was able to jam the syringe into the gap between the teeth on the side of Milo’s mouth and pull the plunger. He always managed to spit the pill out, no matter how small the pieces until I learned the trick of holding his jaws closed and massaging the throat.

Oh, you poor people using towels and scaring the shit out of your cats. Pill syringe. It works every time.

@tinyfaery : It doesn’t necessary “scare the shit” out of a cat. It’s all about your manner and your relationship with your cat. Mine were very calm and trusting, and we just got it over with as soon as possible. They knew they would get a treat right afterwards, and they never freaked out or tried to claw me.

My cats let me do anything to them. They have complete trust in me. I never need a towel or another pair of hands.

And, true. Not all cats will be scared.