Suggestions for medicating a difficult cat

I want to start off with saying I am not looking for medical advice, my cat sees the vet regularly. I am just looking for advice and suggestions. Thank you!

Hey everyone, I am looking for some help getting my cat to take gabapentin. She takes 0.5 pill every 8 hours for pain. She is a very anxious cat (she takes Prozac as well) and she is a senior cat at 15 years old. She does not tolerate being handled or pet in any capacity, she never has (it is not a medical issue, she goes to the vet regularly). With her age and arthritis we also have to be very gentle so trying to aggressively football her and put the pill down her throat ourselves isn’t an option, we have tried these techniques and trying to do this three times a day is so stressful for our cat and for us.

We originally tried gabapentin in liquid form and that was a challenge, it would take on average about 2-3 hours at every feeding to get her to finish her food. We tried with all different types of food, tuna, churu etc and nothing worked. The liquid is very bitter so it just isn’t an option.

We are now giving her pills, at first churu worked since it is creamy she wouldn’t realize she was getting any but once she figured it out she won’t touch it. Then we tried pill pockets and they worked until she figured out that they sometimes had pills in them now she won’t touch them. Same story with churu bites. I also gave the pill pockets and churu bites as random treats without any pills in them so she didn’t associate the pill with the treats. I have tried molding the pill pocket around the pill and then putting it inside the churu bite and she gets the pill out every time. I have also added crushed up temptations into the pill pocket to try and mask the small and covering the outside of the treat with temptations and she still gets the pills out.

I have tried mixing it with wet food, water and tuna but they don’t mask the bitter taste and she won’t touch it. I don’t let her see me getting her medication ready and I try to give it at random times but since she needs it every 8 hours I am limited on that front as I only have a small window to work with for every pill time.

I have also tried all the same avenues with a crushed pill including wiping it on her paw mixed with food but she will just leave it on her paw and doesn’t lick it off immediately like most cats.

There is no option here to have the pill or liquid compounded into a different flavour or into a transdermal solution.

My cat has a very sensitive stomach so I am limited with treats and things like covering the pill in cheese or butter like I have seen people suggest as she cannot stomach anything of that nature.

Does anyone have any suggestion or advice on what has worked well for them in a scenario such as this?

Thank you