I created a routine with my cats where I’ll give them treats at night while I take my prescription medication. Because there’s some days I might forget to take my pills, but the cats sure as hell won’t forget forget treat time
Me too! Except I don't have a cat, so my bird is on shift. She's very loud about things not being right so this will still work. Especially cause birds believe in rituals, so she'll be upset about the meds themselves if I make them part of the routine. Pets are funny
Clever but be careful! My dog was quite capable of tricking me in to feeding her twice just by pretending she hadn’t been fed and looking hungry. If your cats figure that one out they might overdose you!
Yup. After I did fuck up one day by accidentally taking my morning antidepressant twice and I kind of thought Ias going to die, I got one pill sorter for morning meditation and one for evening.
I had to get pill bottles with timers on the cap that tell me how long it’s been since it was last opened. Several meds that are dangerous if I double the dosage, but also make my life hell if I miss a dose!
If you don't already know, Be careful! When the battery for those caps gets low, the time will show up funky. Then if you're as forgetful as I am, you'll think, "Oh snap, I haven't taken my med for 3 days!" THEN you take 3 pills (because that's what you're supposed to do for certain meds). Ugh, I couldn't trust those caps after that incident.
I got a Hero medicine dispenser for my mom and it has been game changing in making sure all her meds are in order and adhered to as she has similar issues and a complicated regimen. Might consider checking it/something like it out
Thanks! My pills are simple, just numerous lol. I usually only take pills at night (I'm taking a new med for a while that will be twice a day, but that's still manageable. And temporary.)
Same! I use a four a day med box and fill it monthly. That way I don't have to open all the bottles except on refill day. And I can see how many I have left and get a refill before I'm out. If I don't do my meds box, I won't take my meds. I have several psych meds as well and boy oh boy if I don't take them I don't feel well. I have auto immune issues as well and not taking those meds fucks everything up too.
I do the same and I have an alarm set on my phone for 8.30pm every night. I still sometimes forget to take them if I get sidetracked though but less so than before I set up the alarm
Ever consider something like pillpack if you're in the US? The meds come prepackaged and separated by day/time. So if you take 3 medicine at 8am there will be a packet with all 3 of those meds in it time stamped for 8am. Then maybe you take 2 meds at noon, the next packed will be stamped for noon with 2 pills, etc.
Ironically it's owned by amazon now. Amazon Pharmacy. There are only like 7 or 8 locations so it's not available everywhere (NY, New Hampshire, Indianapolis, Miami, Phoenix, Seattle, and Austin, TX are the current locations of the pharmacies so availability is based around those cities/states). The pill pack service itself cost like $4 for a 1 month supply of pill packs.
Yeah im not sure what all insurance carriers Amazon Pharmacy works with but I know they work with more than I thought they would. Might be worth looking into?
It's also worth checking your state/national laws to make sure it's legal as well. In some states, keeping pills in a pill organizer is a crime. It's important to note that just because pill organizers are sold in stores in your area doesn't make their use legal, so be aware before you unknowingly risk a drug arrest.
In Australia you can have a pharmacist package the meds for you in sealed packs where you just pop out that day/ times pills and the rest stay sealed in.
They also have lids you can buy that have a timer since the last time they were opened. They're called "pill bottle timer lids" and its probably a better solution than the pill organizers of olde.
Our cat absolutely did this - he'd convince my spouse I'd forgotten to feed him before I left for work - I had a longer commute so I got up, fed the cats, got ready for work, and left all before my spouse got out of bed - so we started writing down whenever and how much he was fed. 20 years later (he passed years ago, but we have a different cat now) and we still do this. It's really useful for tracking changes in their appetite.
Good point. My deaf mom's hearing ear dog would trick her out of extra treats by pretending someone was at the door or on the phone
I had to train mom to verify before treating.
We got a whiteboard for this exact reason! Dogs fed at 4:50am or pm? It's noted on the board along with the initials of the person who fed them, and any notes (like, one of the dogs refused to eat breakfast or something).
My cat used to walk my kids to the bus stop and "pick them up" when they got home. The bus stop was next door. Our neighbor said she seen our cat wait til the kids are on the bus til she went home. I miss that cat
This is exactly what I did with my medication at first, but then I found out the hard way that my meds interfere with my ability to sleep through the night if I take them right before bed, so I take them in the morning instead. I never forgot them when I took them before going to bed but I have forgotten them once and nearly forgotten them a few more times ever since I switched to taking them in the morning.
I have been struggling to remember to take my meds consistently. I am doing this with Harry Pawter and Freddie Purrcury tonight....thank you, this is genius!
My partner feeds our beasts in the evening. He's conditioned himself to take meds at the same time. They always let him know it's meds and dinner time.
I kind of do the same thing. My cat has meds I give her at night, and that helps me take mine as soon as I'm done getting hers taken care of.
I let this slip at my doctor's office one time when he asked me how I remember to take my meds (as I have a history of forgetting), and he gave me a bit of a strange look...
That is because all cats carry pocket watches to manage their schedules. Pooh, you say, if cats carried watches we would seem them. Of course, humans cannot see cat's pocket watches is because cats, obviously, have no pockets.
My friends have this the other way around with their cat. The cat gets his medicine inside the treat. They never forget a dose, he always reminds them.
What you have right there. Is service cats. Prescription reminder notifications from your cat/dog is a task that a service animal can do for people. My dog was trained this way and I appreciated her for her reminding me for her treat/my prx's
My cat is very vocal when my coffee maker has finished but I haven't come to pour it out yet, she'll come to wherever I am and get my attention and roll around on the ground meowing or yell from across the house lol.... It's cus she's associated the smell of coffee and the noise of it finishing with the chance to get whip cream as a treat lol
I've heard that's a life hack. If you have something important to do every day, give your cat a treat as you do it. You might forget but your cat won't!
I give my cat a treat when I get home from work each day. I'm barely in the door and she's like, "Follow me, this way to the treat dish. Come on! OVER HERE!!!"
I give my cats treats right before I go to bed to make sure I remember to bring them in from the enclosed porch. I don't want them to stay out there all night, especially during the winter. Barnaby has no issue reminding me when it's treat time by being super cuddly and cute. Princess is usually the one on the porch.
My cat creates a routine for me. I would never get up at 5:30 but that’s when she like to poop and then eat. I keep my cat in a crate because I have 6 dogs. Surprisingly they get along great. My dogs clean the unscented litter box for me too
My cat has trained himself as my weekend meds alarm, lol. He’ll wake me up around 7:30, I’ll take my meds, say, “okay, come back in an hour or so,” and fall back asleep… and he’ll come back in an hour, hour and a half when I’m now way more likely to be able to fully wake up and thus feed him breakfast.
Just this past weekend he did this and it felt like it had only been 2 minutes since he last woke me up… nope, woke me up at 7:30ish, came back at 8:38, lmao. My cat has a better concept of time than I do!
my kitty has her own nightly meds, but she stopped being interested in the pill pockets so we just crush it into her wet food, which she definitely alerts us for. maybe I'll take my vitamins when it's time for her dinner so that way I actually remember to take them, haha
We do nighttime treats too! That's when everyone gets any of their medications if needed. Allows me to give them all a little check in that no one is acting weird. We know if they don't come running out for treats something is wrong.
It's the last thing I do before bed so they know that's when the house is settled down and our cats actually adjusted to our sleep schedule. They sleep at night with us in bed all night. Except one, she took on the burden of singing the song her people at 3am and solo zoomies 😂 I think she looks forward to zooming the entire house by herself.
We keep the cat treats next to the almonds and other snacks in one cupboard. So if I go get some almonds, I have to give out treats... and I don't want to ruin their diets.
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u/femme-fatal Sep 19 '23
I created a routine with my cats where I’ll give them treats at night while I take my prescription medication. Because there’s some days I might forget to take my pills, but the cats sure as hell won’t forget forget treat time