cats need to take pills

Question
Our two Siamese (13 yr old males)need to take a small dose of humane tranquilizer to help control their "marking" all over the house.  They foam and spit these little pills out. Any suggestions to get them to swallow these?  Thanks.

Answer
My first question is why do they need these tranquilizers?  Are you a breeder, that you need to keep your males intact? If you are not a breeder and your cats are not neutered, you are doing yourself and the cats a disservice. All cats not used for breeding in a reputable breeding program should be spayed or neutered and nearly all neutered males will stop spraying and put an end to your problem. I am imagining you are not a breeder because you would probably already know many ways to administer pills if you had that much experience. So please take my advice and neuter the cats rather than tranquilizing them. While you say it is a small dose, nevertheless, just as in humans, you have no idea of what the long term side effects of these medications could be. Look at the Vioxx scare in humans. People were taking this drug with great success for their arthritis - until it started causing strokes and deaths as a "side effects". Plus your cats are unable to tell you if the drug is bothering them in any way. Any side effects could cause irreparable damage before you would ever know what happened. Short term use of tranquilizers - ie once in a while for traveling or something - is one thing, but you are talking about giving them this all the time. I do not recommend it at all. If your vet thought this was the best way to go, I suggest you see another vet. If you have already tried everything else, and your cats are neutered and they still spray, and this medication is your absolute last resort, then to answer your question I suggest you wrap the pill in a soft treat they like. this can be something like a Pounce soft treat that you wrap around the pill, or even better a bit of chicken liver which cats love also wrapped around the pill. But I must say also that if they are "foaming" that could definitely be a sign of a bad side effect and would tell me to NOT give them the pill and look for another answer to the problem. Another possibility are the lined pants they sell for intact males and females. they are tiny pants, like underwear, which have a small absorbent pad inside and which you cats can wear around the house. You need to keep after changing the pad and can't leave it on constantly but it will allow your cat roaming time about the house and will absorb any sprays. When you take the panty off, you can confine the cats, lets say for the night, in a segregated room where their spraying is not so important - maybe a tiled kitchen area or something. Please do not take my answer as a lecture. I am just trying to recommend what I feel in my heart is best for the health of your cats. Please let me know if you want to discuss this further. i do want to be of help.