My latest rescue is a neutered male (approximately 10 lbs) cat who has
some psychological problems.  I found him living in one of my
outbuildings missing hunks of hair and was obviously a veteran of
quite a few battles.  I'm not real sure just how old he is but he is
fully grown.  After feeding and caring for him in the outbuilding, I
finally got him to a point that he would let me pet him and he
eventually got in my lap when, to my horror, I realized that he had
been declawed.  Since then, I have been shutting him up at night and
he has slowly regrown most of his hair.  I noticed a lot of scratching
so I applied Frontline to control the fleas.  Although I am pretty
sure he has no fleas left, he continues to scratch constantly.  I have
experienced this in other cats that I have owned and have had very
good results with an annual cortisone injection.  At the moment,
taking this cat to the vet for an injection is pretty much out of the
question due to his wildness and psychological problems.

So, my questions are:

May I give him cortisone in pill form?

What dosage would be appropriate for a 10 lb cat?

How often should I administer this dosage?

Any other suggestions?

TIA

John