Medicating the Cat

He looks so innocent when he's napping!

Arthur needs to go to the vet about once a month to have his empty eye socket drained of tears. Years ago, just before he came to my house, his left eye had a problem serious enough to require its removal and the lid sewn shut. I am told that the tear ducts or something slowly leak into the socket, which fills and gradually the skin over it distends until it's time for a drain. I am told the situation is not painful but it must be taken care of regularly. We can't do it at home because the pipette must be sterile; any infection of the socket would be bad.
Arthur doesn't mind the trip to the vet; at first he would be alarmed but after a couple of years of this, it's just another thing we do. However, the vets report that he really fights the pipette. And who wouldn't?
They have provided me with capsules of sedative to give him 2 hours before the procedure. This has not worked; he is expert at rejecting pills. Even if I can compel him to swallow them he seems able to hack them up again like hairballs. Or something.
I've tried hiding other medications in food, and even in the milk he enjoys. No luck. Any medicine in anything he rejects.
This time, I tried something different. Twice a day I use a syringe with no needle to shoot bupronex into his mouth to relieve the pain in his him. I thought this method might work with the sedative, if I could get it into liquid form.
I cut open a capsule. It was full of powder! Careful not to get any on me, I mixed it with a little milk and drew it into the syringe. I immediately discovered that I had used too much milk. In retrospect, I should have half-filled a syringe with milk and shot it into a bowl, to get just the right amount.
Still, even half of the medicinal milk should make a difference. I got Arthur and did the usual procedure of shooting the syringe into his mouth. He hacked a little but swallowed it well enough.
Two hours later, per directions, I drove him to the vet. He didn't even meow in the car!
He must have been quiet for the procedure because it was done in one a few minutes. I talked this procedure over with Heather and she figures it worked out alright.
It's nice to figure out a puzzle like this. It makes all of us more comfortable.