Puppies and Medicine
My dog Max has been sick and he is only 7 weeks. He is doing better but the vet gave us some pills to give to him. He doesn't like to take them and it is a major struggle sometimes to get him to take them. What is the best way for him to take them? I have been trying to slip it in his food or a treat but sometimes he finds it and won't eat it. Please help I want him to feel better but don't want him to associate me with trying to make him do something he doesn't want to do. |
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| The key is to make it like giving him a treat. My 2 boys are easy. All I have to do is wrap it in cheese and they'll happily take it. You can even get these things called pill pockets that you can stick the pill in (it's like a soft treat) and give him that. Sometimes though, they find their way aroound stuff. My old girl Lucy has hidden pills in her mouth for 15 to 20 minutes and then I'll see her get up and spit it in a corner somewhere. She has become so bad about taking medicine that she needs, that I have to pop them, otherwise she wouldn't get them in her system. It doesn't hurt her but it isn't really pleasant for me. I wish she'd just eat the darn cheese like the other 2! |
| I do the same - I hide it in a treat like cheese or make a little cookie and peanut butter sandwich with the pill hidden in the peanut butter. Then we have a short little training session, with the pill-treat given as a reward. Barkley gulps it down and doesn't seem to notice the pill.
It may be harder for you to do the same because Max is small/small mouth, etc. If you do have to do the shove-it-down method, just try to make it quick, don't make a big deal of it, then redirect his attention with a toy, a treat, praise, etc. It's tough sometimes... but I find it much easier giving a pill to a puppy than to a cat.  |
I use peanut butter for Izzie. Unless it is really bitter she actually will eat it plain if I make her sit for it. She thinks it must be a treat if she has to sit  but I give her pills with the peanut butter because I feel bad about tricking her  |
| With our first dog we used to put his pills into white bread, you know the kind that would squish into a little ball? Well, we'd put one pill on the little piece of bread and fold over the bread and make a bread pill bomb and he'd scarf it down without chewing. We'd give him his 5 or 6 pills 1 or two at a time this way, and then follow up with the rest of the piece of bread.
He LOOOOOVED getting his pills!  |
| Thanks for all the great ideas...I will have to try some of them...I tried the piece of cheese this morning and it worked alright but I think the peanut butter or bread may work better. Thanks again for the help. |
| We usually stuff the pill into some sort of soft food, like a bit of banana or some cheese or cream cheese. Most of the time that works, but sometimes he'll suck off all the good stuff and then spit out the pill. Then we'll try again with more cheese/banana, whatever. I think he just does that so he can get another piece of treat
My parents' sheepdog refuses to take pills like that, so it is more of a process. They basically have to sit her down, pry open her mouth and toss down the pill, close her mouth and massage her neck and keep her mouth closed until they see she's swallowed and knows the pill is gone. I'm just thankful Barney doesn't mind! |
| All chicken hot dogs work great, too. |
| With dogs who REALLY don't want to swallow their pills, we use butter...the slipperiness helps them go down before the dog realizes what they are! |
| I use turkey hot dogs. Easy to push the pill in the center of the hot dog. |
| If all else fails get a pill shooter. You just load the pill at one end, open their mouth and plunge down on the handle. It should just slide right down. |
| I use Pill Pockets here. Our min pin Tazz has daily meds for his CHF, and they work great. He thinks he's getting a treat that noone else does! |
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