This is giving me flashbacks to George Foreman grills. My mom got one in the 90s and I totally rolled my eyes, but the chicken breasts and burgers it made were quite good. Doesn’t work for more substantial things though, like chicken pieces or ribs.
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I am pretty sure soap would, but a tiny drop of detergent doesn’t seem to. More importantly it sucks the pee/apples/do I want to know? Right up
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You don’t
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I’m part of a volunteer group that puts on a free event for people with disabilities, the event brings together a ton of organizations that cover a wide range of things - physical therapy, occupational therapy, educational resources, services for visually impaired, services for hearing impaired, and much more. This was our fourth event (first since the pandemic! yay!)
One big issue we have that we’re not sure how to solve is that the event ended at 3pm but there were people packing up as early as 2:30. There were two organizations that had coverage issues (we plan to address this in the future to nudge them to have better staffing) so only one person was at that table and that one person had to leave early, but once they packed up the other vendors around them started to pack up their stuff too. I know there were people just showing up to the event at 2:45 and 2:50 because they couldn’t make it earlier in the day and I’m mad on their behalf that these other vendors (one of which had three people at their table so coverage wasn’t an issue!) decided they were done. Then once that happens everyone else starts feeling restless and it’s a domino effect. 
I feel like if we just don’t invite those organizations back in the future, though, eventually our event is gonna get real small. This has happened every year we’ve done the event.
Does anyone have any suggestions on how to make sure people actually stay for the full time that they signed up for?
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Tell the groups it runs to 3:30, and then put 3:00 on all the advertising?
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Have a debriefing after close to go over any problems the vendors had, what questions they got most, etc. not sure how many vendors you have, but even 15-20 minutes could get you some data and them sticking around.
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Does anyone have extra advice on getting an older, finicky cat to take his pills?
I’ve tried pill pockets, placing them in wet food, dissolving them in wet food, putting them in butter, and also putting them in ice cream (which he usually tries to eat off my spoon). He’s weirdly picky, and often just licks the juice off of wet food and won’t eat the rest.
It’s Prozac, so I really don’t want to have to shove a pill down his throat daily forever to try to reduce his anxiety. Seems counterproductive. I’m worried that the pills are bitter, and since he’s on a quarter-pill per day, I had to cut them up and expose the interior.
I generally do just stuff the pill down the cat throat. I’m pretty good at it and the cats have never seemed terribly stressed by it. I gave the Very Old Cat a pill every day for a long time.
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I also used a pill popper with original cat for quite a long time. For me, using the pill popper was much easier and quicker than trying to do it manually. I immediately gave lots of yummy treats after, and she didn’t really mind it that way.
But what about putting them in something tastey and dense? Like fat free cream cheese? Freeze them inside the yummy thing so that he can’t just lick the covering stuff off?
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I’ll try a few more delicious things before I resort to the pill popper, but I’m glad to know you and @Cranky had cats that were mostly ok with it. Thanks for the suggestions!
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It occurs to me - double check that cream cheese is ok for cats, lol. It is a recommended thing for diabetic dogs for pills (specifically fat free) but I can’t imagine a small amount would be bad for a cat? IDK though. If so, surely there is some other kind of sort of thick something that maybe they could be frozen in… Maybe even like blended up tuna, if your cat will eat tuna? 
I have these silicone ice cube trays that make tiny ice cubes that I am imagining might work. (Like test with 1 first, just in case it fails!) I use them for yogurt-pumpkin “drops” my dog gets for her usual probiotic-digestive aid. Mine aren’t this tiny, but I bet something like this might work! Fill 1/2 way put pill in, freeze, then when frozen fill the rest of the way and freeze (for maximum coverage):
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Last pills we got 4/7 days success with pill pocket THEN coating in the gross squeeze tube treat
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If all else fails, you could grind them up and dissolve in a very small amount of warm water, then squirt in Kitty’s mouth with a syringe.
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I’ve had the best success either pilling by hand and then immediately giving treats and love or grinding pills to a powder and mixing with something VERY strong to hide the flavor, like canned whole fish 
just a spoons-worth
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I’d do a post-mortem review and ask people for feedback, and then you can present “what went well and what we can improve on next year”.
I got very good at dropping Aslan’s daily pill down the back of his throat and then closing his jaw shut to force him to swallow. It did take practice but I’m at the point where he doesn’t freak out anymore and knows it’ll be over quickly. But Marmalade doesn’t do it well and neither did the vet tech we hired to help him out when I was out of town When I got back, Aslan freaked out when I tried to pill him but now he’s back to being relaxed again.
You may want to see if it’s a medicine that you can get compounded into a formula that you rub on the insides of his ears. It’s more expensive and the vet said they’re not sure how much of it gets absorbed, but if it’s between that and not being confident that he’s eaten his pill, it might be a good option.
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This is what I was going to say - compounded into a meat flavored liquid at least.
I’ve had good success with a good motivated cat by crushing the pill into meat baby food, but it wasn’t a bitter medication.
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The Very Old Cat absolutely hated the meat flavored liquid antibiotic and managed to throw it up pretty regularly. So…you never know with cats…
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So, one of the facets of my day job is to sign our company up for vendor fairs, farm markets, etc and usually in the vendor packet it reads “do not begin to pack up until xpm sharp” but no one listens or reads that.
The only thing my team has said is effective is if there’s a market manager who does a big vendor huddle in the beginning and includes “do not pack up until ____” or goes around to stop by each table during the event in a friendly way but also mentions in passing (yet firmly) “don’t forget, we don’t pack up until ____”.
I’ve never gone to one myself, I just prep them remotely, but the feedback I got is that direct and firm verbal on site communication and making it part of the ‘culture’ of the event that no one packs up early is the only thing that works.
And you’ll still have occasional rule breakers.
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Thank you! This is helpful to know.
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If you do make sure it’s stated explicitly for vendors, I bet it would also help to state that you’ve had attendees express disappointment at vendors being missing toward the later part of the day.
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