Giving Multiple Pills

[Remolacha]

The charms of cheese balls and braunschweiger have finally worn off, as I was afraid they eventually would. Sugar has multiple pills to take, twice a day. I'm looking for some ideas to get them in her that are less stressful that the shoving-down-the-throat method.

[Guest Tenderhearts]

I use peanut butter here. Raven gets two meds twice a day, and she eats the glob of PB right up, hasn't gotten tired of it in over 2 years

[Guest KyGrey]

Peanut butter, vienna sausages, cheese, cream cheese, ice cream, hot dogs.

[ahicks51]

Beef heart!

 

I get a good-sized piece of raw beef heart and put a slit in it. Stuff the pills inside. A chunk up to 2" on a side (and sometimes much more!) is swallowed in one piece by our dogs. If not familiar with it, they may chew it, but a smaller piece may work.

[Guest karma98104]

have you tried just throwing it in Sugar's food bowl along with dinner? It's amazing how many dogs just inhale whatever goes in their bowl and don't even realize one was a pill. Also, canned food- after it's in the fridge it gets kinda firm and you can make a ball out of it.

[Guest Cris_M]

Toward the end, Gabriel was on 28 pills a day. Way too many to cram down the throat of a sick dog. What worked like a charm for us was wrapping each pill in a small amount of raw, ground turkey. It is stikier and slicker than ground beef, and it only took about 1-2 ounces per day to wrap all the pills. (Note: We wrapped the pills just before giving them to him. I would be afraid that the yucky taste would come through if you wrapped ahead of time.)Gabriel couldn't wait to get his new "treats". They were one of the highlights of his day.

 

Hope you find something that works for Sugar.

[Guest snowberry]

I don't know if you can get wafer-thin sliced ham in the US (I'm in the UK). You can wrap several small pills into one piece of ham, and the dogs tend to gulp a folded piece of ham straight down. It's less messy than the peanut butter route, but peanut butter or pate (the strong liver smell disguises pills well) are both good.

[Guest SoulsMom]

I've started using a yummy hollistic canned dog food for Soul's vitamens. I just smoosh 'em into a ball and add to his food. I've also smooshed them into canned pumpkin when I was out of the soft food.

[Batmom]

One thing I did to make stuffing down the throat more pleasant was, always announce pill time, tell doggy to swallow his pills, and give a really good treat after. Batman wouldn't eat them in anything, his always had to be stuffed down.

[NevadasMom]

I can comiserate with you. I'm having a devil of a time with Nevada and her pills right now too. And she's only on 4. So far we've gone thru PB, cheese, sliced ham and turkey, meatballs, cream cheese, boneless chicken breast. She hates liver so braunschweiger is out (I've tried it too). As of Friday I've been buying the Hormel pre-made meatloaf and cubing it up. I make a slice in the cubes and put the pill inside it. So far, so good. I also grind the "chewable pills" up and mix them in some tuna to hide the smell. Believe it or not, this dog will not eat the chewables either. She's become suspiscious of anything I hand her. One of her pills is bitter tasting & unfortunately she has bitten into one. I think she can smell it too.

Any suggestions would be helpful to me & my little diva too............It's very frustrating.

[LBass]

With Piper's multiple pills I've had good luck sticking them in a ball of canned dog food. He wolfs down the blob, pills and all.

[Guest HHDesigns]

The thin sliced ham method worked like a charm with Threat. You can get that really cheap ham at Walmart, two for a dollar. I cut the pieces in half and just folded the pill in a piece. It was small enough that he just inhaled it. Good luck...!

[Chicocat]

Have you tried PILL POCKETS? I'd forgotten how really well these work until recently and had to give Darlin some particularly nasty smelling (apparently) pills. They are so soft they mold easily around the pill. I usually buy the "large" size, but you don't have to use the whole pocket - I break off a little piece and wrap the pill.

 

I really believe my dogs would take as many pieces as offered and not care about the pills.

[MarcR]

I have to second Chicocat's recommendation of Pill Pockets. Nadia gets multiple pills three times a day (including one and a quarter of a digoxim tablets - the quarter tablet is tiny). In three years, they have worked like a charm. Nadia will usually remind me if she doesn't get her pills exactly when she expects them. They come in both beef and chicken flavors.

Edited September 16, 2007 by MarcR

[patricia]

The "people" pharmacy where I get Cody Angelo's KBR carries the neatest pill pockets...very tasty and those pills go right down. Maybe you could check with some of the pharmacies in your area?

[Remolacha]

Some great ideas here, Thanks! She did eat the braunschweiger this morning, I made the balls into ovals (thinking that if I had to pill her, that shape would go down easier).

I had forgotten about pill pockets, I have a friend that used pill pockets successfully on her cat! I will look for them. I think I will also try peanut butter and vienna sausages. I've tried mixing them in pumpkin, cat food, dog food, she eats the food and leaves the pills The lunch meat might work, all my animals would commit major felonies for sliced turkey

Carol, I know what you mean about the "chewables", she knows perfectly well those are NOT treats and turns up her nose (literaly)! I hadn't thought of crushing them.

Beef heart she eats (sometimes)

 

BTW, I have a gallon bag full of satin balls in the freezer that she won't eat, if anyone in the Phoenix area wants them Fletcher would eat them, but he's already beginning to look like a Lab from scarfing her rejections! He's back on a diet!!

[Guest jfroggirl76]

Noah gets 4 pills twice a day, I put them in cheese or smoked turkey lunch meat. He thinks he hit the jackpot getting lunch meat. As for canned dog food after last summer illness he REFUSES to eat any type of canned dog or cat food. I think the smoked turkey hides the pill taste so he is more willing to take it.

[GreytNut]

Mine would sell their souls for cream cheese. I get a dog cookie (these happen to be shaped like hearts, but a bone shape would work also) dip it in cream cheese and press the pill into the divet. Works like a charm and without getting the hands messy. You could also substitute for cream cheese with anything gooey like peanut butter, soft smelly cheeses, butter, etc.

[Chicocat]

I've always been very lucky to only need to worry about getting the morning pills down. I've never had a greyhound that I couldn't just throw the pills in their dinner and down they would go!

[moofie]

Not one i've really tried out throughly yet, but our Adoption centre said that corned beef when its not been chilled, so soft and straight out of the tin can be made into balls to hide pills in and she says its works really well

[Guest neenieca]

Penny is wise to whatever tasty treat I try to use to hide her pills. She will eat the treat and spit out the pill, no matter what. So, I have to use the down-the-throat method. I decided that if I have to do it, I'm going to make the reward as amazing as possible so that her experience is at least sort of pleasant. (This is hard to do because Penny is not food oriented.) So, I use plain hamburger to make teeny little bitesized meatballs (less than 1" in diameter) and pan fry them, then drain them and sprinkle them with a little bit of garlic salt. I usually give her one meatball after every pill, or every two pills if there are a lot of them. I'll tell you, she loves them so much that she comes running across the house as soon as she hears the bottle of pills rattle. Totally worth it...for both of us.

Edited September 16, 2007 by neenieca

[NevadasMom]

I bought Pill Pockets on Friday. They have been rejected too. So far the Hormel meatloaf is working.

Jan- I bought a wooden spice grinder at WalMart & use it to break up the chewables into a powder & then mix with tuna or sardines.

The little 15 year old diva will not eat regular dog food anymore either. She prefers my homemade cooking now...........little stinker!

[Guest greytexplorer]

Everything that Mandy takes can be ground down to powder form.

Then I put a large tablespoon of canned cat food in the bowl and mix it up.

She has yet to turn her nose up at the offering.

[Guest LindsaySF]

have you tried just throwing it in Sugar's food bowl along with dinner? It's amazing how many dogs just inhale whatever goes in their bowl and don't even realize one was a pill.

Teagan eats pills this way, as long as they are in capsules and have no taste or odor. For the chewable ones that he can tell are not treats, I need to wrap them in cheese. Then he eats it because he never chews cheese, just gulps it down.

[TheFullHouse]

I put Saint's in his food twice a day. Every once in a while one will be left in the bowl and I put it in cheese. He loves cheese!