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How to Cut Pills Easily & Accurately For Your Cat

Written by: Ingrid King

Last Updated on March 8, 2024 by Catster Editorial Team

Cute kitten getting a pill from veterinarians

How to Cut Pills Easily & Accurately For Your Cat

If you’ve ever had to cut small pills for your cat (or yourself,) you know how frustrating it can be. While there are endless models of pill cutters available online, I’ve found that none of them work well when it comes to cutting already small pills into halves and quarters.

Allegra gets 1/4 of a 5mg methimazole tablet twice a day. The pills are scored down the center, which makes cutting them in half with a pill cutter or sharp knife pretty easy, but when it comes to cutting them in quarters, they tend to crumble and I wound up throwing out a lot of pills.

Then I came across a video by Ingrid Johnson, a certified cat behaviorist and owner of Fundamentally Feline. She uses a brilliant hack to cut even tiny pills easily and far more accurately than any knife or pill cutter will do: a pair of nail trimmers!

medicine pills package in shopping basket with pharmacy blurred background
Image By: Kwangmoozaa, Shutterstock

I tried this with my regular small cat nail trimmers, and it worked beautifully, but since I worried about the frequent pill cutting dulling the trimmers too much to still be sharp for Allegra’s nails, I invested in the same trimmers that are used in the video, the Miltex Vantage White Dog Nail Scissors. Miltex specializes in making surgical instruments, and these nail trimmers are top-notch.

I no longer dread pill-cutting using these nail trimmers. I still occasionally have some waste, but that’s not due to the pill splitting on me, but due to me not lining the trimmers up correctly. I’m sure practice will make perfect.

As far as I’m concerned, this hack has been a lifesaver!

A word about the photo at the top of the post: I use gloves when I cut Allegra’s thyroid medication, but since I place her medications inside an unflavored gel cap, I don’t  wear them when I give her her medication. I’m probably being overly cautious, but there is a small chance that the methimazole could be absorbed through my skin while I handle the pills, and since I take thyroid medication myself, I’d rather be safe than sorry. Always check with your veterinarian about any precautions you should take while handling your cat’s medication.


Featured Image Credit: inxti, Shutterstock

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