#186

I agree - The placebo is a 50% chance they will not get the RAPA. I want to give rapa immediately.
Do you feel good that the animal biome capsules are going down to the intestines? I guess if we get it down quickly it will be ok. My cat at 8 pounds, would need the 1mg per week according to most recent advice. I’ll cut my 2 mg tablets in two but they will need to be put in the capsule because I will have broken the enteric coating on the pill.

#187

let me know what this is - vitamin supplement that they like
I cant get my cats to eat any treats or pill pockets

#188

Say more about this vitamin supplement they like and how you wrap the pill in it? I’m imagining brewer’s yeast as a gummy-then-dried coating, whcih my cats would probably gobble whole.

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#189

Cat’s tastes are unpredictable. I am surprised that neither of my cats would eat any Pill Pocket products. Obviously some cats like them, or they wouldn’t be in business.

I tried several brands of vitamins before I found one that they liked. Since these vitamins come in a soft form, I decided to make pill pockets from them.

I take two pellets and put the rapamycin tablet on top of one and take the other and place it on top of the pill and squeeze them together to form a ball. Sometimes I have to moisten them to get them to stick together. It takes a little practice to get the hang of it.

My cats eat these, and I am surprised because the vitamins smell a little mediciney.

I suggest you feed your cats the vitamins for a few days to let them get used to them.

Just place the chews in with their regular cat food.

Good luck!

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#190

I am able to get mine to eat pills if i stick them into a tube of goop (like Churu) and squeeze it out for them while they are licking the tube, but then sometimes I hear CRUNCH…

Do you cats just swallow them whole? I’m assuming if they bite them, it will not make it past their stomachs, thoughts?

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#191

Based on how quickly I saw them dissolve, I’m skeptical, but animal biome has a good reputation so maybe it works most of the time? Until you get 1mg, I’d just continue with that.

Is it possible for you to get 1mg tablets? An order from India perhaps? That would make it easier for you.

I did notice the rapa tabs were easier to give then the capsules because they were slipperier

I was only using the capsules because I was nervous about giving 1mg, but I see it’s probably fine.

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#192

From watching them eat I am sure they are swallowing them whole.

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#193

I’ve seen my friend’s cats eat the food with the rapamycin it it too (canned food that is in little soft chunks that you can push the rapamycin tablet into). Cats seem to mostly swallow the food pretty much “whole” without much chewing, so it likely works fine most of the time. Sometimes they may chew the tablets and their teeth puncture the exterior of the tablet which might impact bioavailability, but it seems likely to be a minor portion of the time.

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#194

The easiest method I found to deliver pills to my cat is using a syringe with water (a 5ml for instance)
You open their mouth, put the pill in the bottom and flush with some water. Then you give a treat (not optional so that they associate the pill with something positive :))

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#195

FDA conditionally approves Rapamycin for feline subclinical hypertrophic cardiomyopathy

The FDA announced it was conditionally approved sirolimus delayed-release tablets (Felycin-CA1; TriviumVet). The conditionally approved medication is for management of ventricular hypertrophy in feline patients with subclinical hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), making it the first product to receive approval for use in cats with this condition for any indication.

Feline HCM Is extremely common in cats, affecting 1 in 10 of all pet cats, and for cats over 9-years-old, the prevalence is 1 in 3, making it the leading cause of mortality in adult cats.

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#196

I’m not aware of regulation, does that mean we can use that in Europe ? Should I forward that to my vet ? I’ve been using sirolimus that I put in enteric coated pills (delayed release if I’m not mistaken)

#197

No - the FDA is a USA regulatory body. The EU has a completely separate body that regulates drugs.

#198

I was also putting them into DR capsules, but then I was told sirolimus is enteric coated, so I am now just giving them one of my pills whole.

FYI @RapAdmin, bummer, putting it in their food like your friend does was a big fail… it started to melt right away from the moisture, so then my cats wouldn’t touch the food due to the smell

#199

Maybe try what I do with my dog; cut a small cube of cheddar cheese, and a small slit on once side of the cube. slide the tablet into the slit. My dog gobbles it up without a second thought. I’m not sure if cheese is as appealing for cats.

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#200

I’ll try that with a piece of raw chicken!! Good idea!

Also… one of my cats got a huge cut on his neck 5 weeks ago. He received antibiotics as a precaution and a vet came to look at it, etc….

He still has a huge scab under his chin and it gets a slightly weepy at times (nothing gross or infected looking but it’s also not completely healed)… from what you know, would you hold off on rapa until that heals completely? Or at this point, does it sound reasonably safe to have?

I just don’t have a feel for the immunosuppressant aspect and if we would stop under that circumstance, even if it’s for us? THX

EDIT: I have since read that rapa delays wound healing, so I will hold off on that cat.

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#201

Did you try what I mentioned ? A syringe with water is by far the easiest method I found to give pills to animals. With the top of the syringe you make your cat open its mouth with the other hand you put the pill in the back of the mouth and you flush with water

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#202

Thx Noyaux! I have not done it in that exact way because I can’t make my cats open their mouth with the syringe, but I can use the pill popper for two of them! I need to put my hand on top of their head and pry their mouths open that way.

I’ll overshare in the event there is anything to glean from this that helps anyone.

I have 3 cats and I need to do different things with all of them… and my method needs to change all the time because, you know, they are cats!

I used to be able to put pills in a tube of goop (like a churu) and squeeze it into their mouths, but once they realize what I’ve done from biting it and tasting it, they will no longer fall for that. (Except for recently with rapa, I put everything they get into an empty capsule so they only taste it if they happen to bite into it). With most of their other pills, I even get them compounded into something that ‘supposedly’ tastes good, so it won’t be too traumatic for them if they taste it.

If I hide it in a treat, and if they bite into it and taste it, they will no longer touch that treat. And after a few months go by, when they have forgotten, I can sometimes introduce that treat again. One is so smart she will NEVER touch a treat again once it becomes a bad experience. She needs immunotherapy pills all the time, so it stinks I have to do it the less pleasant way with her. Her diet is now so limited because there are so many things she will no longer touch, sigh. It’s important, at least for many cats, to never put medicine in their main food they eat because it may put them off that food. It’s more important if they have something like CKD and don’t have access to all foods.

I had a large rotation of treats for the cat who we lost last year who needed several pills several times a day (ckd and heart disease). I could always get him to take them in something. Sometimes it was hidden in a treat and then that treat covered in churu goop and then even dusted with a powder on top… a lot of work but he was happy. (Argh, wish I had given him rapa!)

I think I’ve tried everything out there, but once a trick no longer works and I have to put it to rest for a while, I often forget what my method was… years ago I even tried raw chicken, but I’ve tried 199 things since then, so I forgot about that until rapadmin mentioned cheese! Little chunks of ham worked well for one of them for a while, too.

With one cat, I could just open his mouth and pop it in, but now that he realizes what I’m going to do, he now clamps his jaw so hard that a linebacker couldn’t open it. He won’t let me get near him for a couple of days if I even try. So, for this cat, it will need to be hidden in food or there is no chance.

I can’t flush with water but I do coat everything in butter to help it slide down easier. I’ve tried pork fat etc, but they just don’t like it.

The raw chicken worked for one cat yesterday!!! I had to use the pill popper for her rapa, but I hid her second pill of the day in the food and she swallowed it whole!

And yes, thank you for the important tip of always giving a treat afterwards. I do that too and it definitely makes a difference.

Two of then even get subq fluids for their CKD. Oh, the life of someone who is lucky enough to have very old cats!!!

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#203

The trick to open the mouth with the syringe is to put it on the side of the mouth like so, with a little movement the cat is “forced” to open the mouth, then you put the medicine inside. It needs a little bit of technique but once you get that it’s so easy to administer pills.

image

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#204

I thought I’d share a potential positive result from giving my 17 and 18 year old cats rapa.

These two lost most of their hearing a few months ago. You’d have to scream for them to sometimes hear anything
(you should see me yelling I LOVE YOU at the top of my lungs like a lunatic :slight_smile:

I increased their dose to 1mg per week a few weeks ago.

Fast forward, last week we noticed BOTH of them have had substantial improvements in their hearing!

It could be that hearing loss ebbs and flows, but because they both show improvement at the same time, I’m wondering if it’s a direct result of the rapa

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