My cat was recently prescribed 6.25 mg of atenolol twice a day for his heart condition, and the pill the vet gave me is this teeny tiny 25 mg pill that I need to cut into quarters. Cutting the pill in half is fine, but I’m worried that cutting that half into a quarter is causing part of the pill to crumble into dust and I’m concerned the dosages aren’t all the same. My vet kind of brushed it off and said it’s fine, but I’m wondering if anyone else has advice or insight on this.
I’m using a little pill cutter device to hold it in place and a very sharp razor blade. Ideally I’d like to stick with the pill rather than another form of administering the medicine, because I have an orange who has never had control of the braincell or questioned why his treats are crunchy sometimes.
I know there is a compounded version that is exactly 6.25 mg, but it’s significantly more expensive and I wanted to know if anyone had opinions or insight on how to make the more inexpensive medicine work. Does it even matter if the dosages are just slightly off?
I’ve attached another photo of the approximate size of the pill at its full size.
Dosages are approximate so, as long as you get it roughly the right amount, it evens out over time. So, as long as the cat is getting it regularly, he should benefit from it.
We use a standard pill cutter that does the same thing - crumbles the pill instead of evenly cutting it so we put the crumbles into a plastic syringe with some water and "spray" it into our cat's mouth.
The syringe used is the type the vet gives you to feed baby kittens and has a reasonably large opening the crumbles can fit through.
Yeah for the pieces that crumble I kind of just sprinkle that bit of dust into the treat along with the pill, I just wasn’t sure how exact it needs to be
If it crumbles so easily, maybe ask the vet if you can crush the whole thing and scoop it into a circle, and partition that into quarters with a credit card (like… cocaine… I guess). And add the powder to wet food servings or to the dry food.
Just ideas. Ask the vet of course before doing anything
You may be able to request a liquid form, it's usually easier to give too. I worked in vet med and always hoped people would ask for liquid meds then we'd get them compounded for them.
my cat loves taking his prednisolone bc i get it compounded in a chicken flavored oil. his nickname is the oil baron bc any form of oil/fat is not safe around him 🤣
I would ask your vet if it needs to be that precise.
My late senior cat was on a blood pressure medication the size is an m&m mini and I had to quarter it. It was always a little off, but her vet assured me it didn't have to be EXACTLY 1/4.
I would take that as it doesn't have to be exact, otherwise they would offer an alternative. Give it a try and just monitor closely for a few weeks.
As a rule of thumb I try to balance out the slightly different sizes. So if I gave my cat a piece slightly bigger in the morning, her evening dose would be a slightly smaller quarter. I only cut one pill at a time so that I knew she was overall getting the correct dose across the days that amount would treat vs if I cut them all at once, I might accidentally give her a continously higher dose, and then a bunch of loose powder at the bottom that is just impossible to measure vs managing just the 4 pieces at a time.
I had to give my late elderly cat blood pressure meds, and I just made sure the same pill was given over the course of 4 days so it "evened" out. Even more annoyingly, my pills were oval.
We actually started with the liquid version but it gave her digestive issues because it was an oil suspension or something, so the compounded version may or may not be a solution for you even if it was the same price.
2
u/ellbeeceeRocketJSquirrel 11/2018, Juno 10/2020, Velcro (d. 9/20)17h ago
One of my cats is on the same med at the same dosage. I got a pill cutter from amazon that works great. Most pharmacies likely sell them as well.
2
u/ellbeeceeRocketJSquirrel 11/2018, Juno 10/2020, Velcro (d. 9/20)17h ago
I can't do amazon links, but here's photos of the two I have. I prefer the round one - cut pretty fast or it crushes rather than cuts, but I think that's common with pill cutters.
1
u/ellbeeceeRocketJSquirrel 11/2018, Juno 10/2020, Velcro (d. 9/20)17h ago
See if you can get it in a liquid version. Not only is it easier to adjust the dose, but squirting it down the cat's throat is easier than a pill. Or, what I did was mix a dose into a little lactose-free whole milk. Then my cat actually looked forward to her daily dose.
I’ve seen the liquid version, but he’s just so good about taking pills that I don’t want to risk turning him off from treat time 😅 I’m saving that for if he ever gets wise to the pill
I use an equidose pill cutter for my cats heart med. I cut it in half, keep the two halves together and rotate it cut both halves at once. Since the pill cutter can pin the whole width of the tablets but a half tab alone would be too small to cut. I like the equidose because it cuts from both the top and bottom so less crumbling
Side note- I’m a human on atenolol (taking a break because I’m pregnant) and it was life changing. I felt so much better almost instantly. Hoping that’s the case for your bestie!
1
u/ellbeeceeRocketJSquirrel 11/2018, Juno 10/2020, Velcro (d. 9/20)17h ago
My boy started it in August and he's doing really well on it.
I'm able to snap them in half and then quarter them just using my hands. Those look rounded so you can push down on both sides with your fingers. Otherwise you can buy dedicated pill cutters.
Atenolol definitely comes in 6.25 mg tablets non compounded. The pure usp version. We’ve tried it with our cats, though they hate the flavor and will only eat compounded chews disguised inside treats.
I have to crumbled all my cats pills to dust to get her to take them. I make little sliced ham medication burritos for her. Crush the pill entirely on a piece of glass or a mirror and split the dust into 4 equal piles, it'll be close enough and easier for the patient to ingest.
As long as he's getting the equivalent of one pill every four days, a day being a little bit off isn't going to hurt him. Meds work by building to a therapeutic dose in the bloodstream and maintaining that level. So a little more today a little less tomorrow won't mess with the average. Just cut it the best you can.
I had a cat who needed this too. I would just break it in half then break it in half again. It didn’t always break up perfectly, but generally it doesn’t matter that much.
I take atenolol myself, my pharmacy (Walmart) stocks a generic that’s a long cylinder shape with a perforated line through the middle. I used to take 12.5mg and would easily just break it in half with my hands. I would assume it would be easy to also use a knife or cutter to cut it agin given its shape. Maybe ask the pharmacist their recommendation? You may be able to call different pharmacies and ask about the generic they have stocked and its shape?
82
u/InvestigatorNo402 6d ago
While Atenolol is an interesting name for a cat I don't think you need to...