Thanks for the replies and suggestions. I'll consider trying a razor blade, but I'm afraid I'd have halves flying around the room! Otherwise, the cutter with the rubber V-shaped holder at least works most of the time. Seems like crumbling happens more often when the weather is damp. We're following the doctor's instructions for dosage. One of the pills involved is scored, one is not. Interestingly the one that is not scored, an oblong tablet, splits better than the one that is scored ... perhaps because placed horizontally \-/, it's held tighter. Also, the online merchant tested the template-cutter after I contacted them about it. They weren't satisfied with the performance, said they'll stop carrying the item, and refunded the purchase price without asking for it to be returned. Excellent customer service!

Hrmmmm... this may not be the best time for you to switch pills. In fact, IMNSHO it's a BAD time to be changing ANYTHING unless the situation is truly dire. If I were you, I'd call the doctor back, explain your family circumstances, ask for three or six months' script for your previous pill, and then when life settles down some you can switch over. FWIW, vasectomies are not 100% either - I know two "vasectomy babies". Yoicks. If you're relying entirely on your DH's vasectomy for birth control, he should have a sperm check done every year. We're a weird family, DH has had a vasectomy as well as me having a tubal, but he's always had that shuddery feeling not being certain he's shooting blanks, so I humored him. Then the urologist bollixed it! He clipped the same vas deferens twice - it IS a bit crowded with the tiny incisions they're using and the bits are slippery in there, I guess those tiny tubes kept escaping *chuckle* - instead of getting them both so DH had to go back and have it done again. A lot of urologists are using titanium clips now rather than the old cut-and-burn method. I've read since that about 1% of vasectomies have to be redone. Poor DH was miserable for about 3 days both times (they were done on Friday mornings so he would have the weekend to recover) and was tender for several more. I spent a lot of time running back and forth to the freezer for ice packs. Had to get permission from his boss to wear sweatpants to work for about a week and it was about 3 weeks before he could wear jeans without discomfort (and he doesn't wear boxers so "the boys" don't dangle). He still gets twinges/pulling sensations sometimes, especially when he's running. It's been something like 5 years. Still considers it worth it though. I had a tubal because I damn well wanted one, and the laparoscopy served double duty to check for endometriosis (yes, mild, and guess what the first line treatment is? birth control pills! LOL). DLM - *chuckle* not many people know the term - it's German. Means "middle pain" I think. I had it SO often it just about drove me out of my mind, doc said "oh yeah, that's probably mittelschmertz" like it was the common cold. Middle-WHAT? Most women will get a little twinge when they ovulate, barely enough to notice (or write it off as gas), but for some of us it's whoooo-doggie, shoot me now please. I do think the gall bladder was worse though. I had frequent attacks for YEARS before anyone thought of the GB. ER and regular doctors would say muscle spasms, constipation (!), even rib problems, but never gallstones. Always got the attacks at night, remember the hours of pacing - couldn't sit down, couldn't lie down, - and could never correlate it to anything. I'd get it if I had junk food for supper, or a super-healthy supper, if I'd exercised that day or not. Someone finally did an ultrasound after several years of me repeatedly ending up in the ER screaming my head off and found that my gallbladder was the size of a baseball (it's normally the size of a walnut) and cram-full of nasty stuff, thisclose to peritonitis. I had the BEST surgeon though. Normally it's a quickie surgery, in and out in an hour and a half, but he took FOUR hours to make sure he could stick with the lap' instead of just filleting me like the assisting surgeon wanted to do. (He knew it would take me a year to come back from that - as it was it took three months for me to completely recover from from the lap'.)

Yeah Edith, you're scaring me! Hope we don't see you over at the pregnancy forum! Just kidding. Since I've gone off the pill I feel 100 times better (wait, i already said that in another post...). Did I mention I feel better? LOL I'm just waiting for my pants to fit better, since I'm not shoving nearly as much food into my mouth as before! LOL I know you can even get pregnant while ON the pill, although that is probably rare. There is another post on the health forum about Yasmin, a new pill that is supposed to have no side effects, but these women will take a pill for a month, have bad "side effects", take something else, yada yada yada, until they've tried like 20 different kinds. For the most part, (unless this Yasmin is the miracle birth control pill), they're all the same. Just different formulations. I checked the Physician's Desk Reference once (yes, I know, I'm a nerd), and counted like nearly 30 different kinds of pill alone. Crazy. Then there are shots, creams, gels, sponges, etc. So at least there are lots of options!!

I don't use liquid antibiotics anymore because they taste vile and almost always elicit a major battle. Instead, I request tablets or capsules and use a piller to place it as far back in the mouth as possible. First, though, I offer the cat some canned food gruel or tuna juice or chicken broth or maybe even a tiny bit of milk - just a few laps to wet the cat's throat before I administer the med. That makes it MUCH easier for the cat to swallow the pill (just like a drink of water makes it easier for us to swallow pills). As soon as I've given the pill, I let the cat lap up some more of the desired liquid to wash down the pill. It also helps to coat the pill with a tiny bit of butter which not only masks and taste of the pill, but also helps it slide down the throat easier. Since you're also syringe feeding, you can simply load the med into the piller and have it handy to administer between syringes of food. The syringed food will wet the throat and wash down the pill. With a very skittish cat, your best bet is a firm towel wrap, then sitting on the floor with him between your knees. With one of my boys who required syringe feeding, I was able to keep him adequately controlled and prevent him from hooking me with his front claws by simply pinning a hand towel around his neck and letting it extend down his front like a long bib. Your boy may require a more encompassing wrap, though. You just need to experiment to see whether more or less restraint works best with him. With his extremely high WBC count, it is imperative that he gets the antibiotics every day as instructed, even if you have to take him back to the vet or hire one of the vet techs to come to your house to help you administer them. As far as the food in concerned, keep trying to tempt him to eat on his own. Eating the veterinary diet would be best, but it's more important that he eat something - anything. Try some baked chicken torn into small bits for him. Try small amounts of tuna. Or perhaps deli ham. When a cat is inappetant, he is easily overwhelmed and put off by large meals. Offer him only very small amounts at a time, but offer them every couple of hours. Warm his food to really bring out the aroma. If all else fails, make yourself some Tuna Helper or a nice salmon filet and sit down next to him to eat it. Even when my CRF boy, Billy, won't eat anything else, he'll sometimes try to "steal" something tasty off of my plate while I'm eating. And of course, under the circumstances, I let him. Once you get his infection under control with the antibiotics, I expect his appetite will return. You just have to do whatever it takes to get food into him until he's feeling well enough to eat on his own again. You can figure out a way to handle this. I know you can! Laurie