How Do You Sneak Pills To Your Grey?

[Guest QuickNLazy]

Since Max has been diagnosed with Kidney stones we have had to give him more meds more frequently and I wanted to get some feedback on how you trick your grey into taking their pills. We have used an all natural beef treat for our dogs called Dick Van Patten’s Natural Balance Dog Food roll. It worked wonders because we could just slip the pill inside and the dog would inhale it. Well now Max has gotten too smart and figured out our deviousness, so we could use some more ideas…

We have also had great success putting peanut butter on a biscuit and a pill stuck on the peanut butter!

So let’s hear your sneaky ways of getting your pet to take their medicine!

Edited May 16, 2009 by QuickNLazy

[Batmom]

Grasp upper jaw. Wrapping upper lips under teeth slightly, pull mouth open. Shove pill waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay down throat. Close mouth and hold closed till swallow occurs. "Good dog!" and a cookie or a blob of peanutbutter to lick.

 

Probably sounds mean to the uninitiated, but they get to know when it's time for pills and will show up for the procedure on their own.

[ZoomDoggy]

I gave up trying to trick my pups, because they're all too smart. So now I just use the "down-the-hatch" method. Open jaws, poke pill as far back into the throat as possible, close jaws. And hope you get it right the first time.

[Guest lizmego]

wrap them in Brunsweiger (liver pate that comes in a sausage roll). You can find it in your bacon and sausage portion of your grocery store. The Brunsweiger is sticky and easily can be mooshed and wrapped around the pill. There's no way that they can unwrap the pill from the stuff. I also give pieces of the Brunsweiger to all the other pups as a treat, so they all think they are getting treats when its likely that one or two of them are getting pills.

[Guest Sassifrass]

I second the liverwurst option. Strong smell disguises the pill and the dog can't separate the pill from the liverwurst!

[Guest KennelMom]

A bit of folded cheese works here. If that fails, we employ Batmom's method. I'm not one to jump through hoops to "trick" my dog....

[BootsyCollins]

I've used peanut butter, chunks of banana, cream cheese, cream cheese rolled in regular cheese, those greenies "pill pockets," etc. All work for a little while, and then I end up going "down the hatch" as Aimee said. Try to vary the routine.

[jetcitywoman]

Grasp upper jaw. Wrapping upper lips under teeth slightly, pull mouth open. Shove pill waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay down throat. Close mouth and hold closed till swallow occurs. "Good dog!" and a cookie or a blob of peanutbutter to lick.

 

Probably sounds mean to the uninitiated, but they get to know when it's time for pills and will show up for the procedure on their own.

 

That's what I do for Capri, too, unless the pills are supposed to be mixed in with food (like some wormers and fortiflora). Even though she's new to us, it never occurred to me that she'd try to bite me, so when DH saw me put my whole hand in her mouth to put the pill waaayyyy back there, he commented how brave I was. *shrug*. I deposit the pill and get my hand out before the gater-jaw goes CLOMP - at which time I loosely wrap a hand around her snout. I've found that she swallows immediately and is MUCH easier to give pills to than our cats. Make the task quick and give ample rewards and they learn to not mind it. The easier it is, the less they struggle and the easier it gets.

 

Oh, we also find that giving the pill immediately before a meal also helps. The meal then becomes the reward. A high-value reward!

[robinw]

pill pockets

[CaliforniaGreys]

Ice cream has always worked here, just slides right down

[Guest tricolorhounds]

I use the Carl Buddig super thin lunchmeat sliices. Wrap the pill up burrito style and voila.

 

Twice a day we call out " Who needs medicine???" and they all line up for their lunchmeat burrito.

[Guest GreytMuse]

I use frozen meatballs from the grocery store -- thaw a few (because everyone wants one, of course!) stick a pill inside, call out Pill Time! and everyone comes running! ..if they aren't already standing at the microwave watching me, smart babies!...

I swear they don't even bother to chew it.

[Guest Energy11]

Curfew takes about six pills, twice a day.

 

He loves it in a pasturized cheese product like Velveeta, or you can get the slices as well. He gobbles it up! It is also easy to roll and disguise the pills in the cheese.

 

I give the rather large Glucosamine pills to the others the same way.

 

Good luck!

[fionasmom]

Right now cream cheee is working. Hot dogs worked for a while but Fiona caught on.

[Guest houndlover]

Grasp upper jaw. Wrapping upper lips under teeth slightly, pull mouth open. Shove pill waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay down throat. Close mouth and hold closed till swallow occurs. "Good dog!" and a cookie or a blob of peanutbutter to lick.

 

Probably sounds mean to the uninitiated, but they get to know when it's time for pills and will show up for the procedure on their own.

 

 

I use pill pockets for my dogs and they will generally gobble the pills right up. When Billy wasn't eating but HAD to have his meds, I would do the same as Batmom suggested except I would put a small amount of meat baby food on the pill so that it would slide right down his throat. I also would make sure that I had some baby food on my fingers so that he would be more interested in licking my fingers instead of trying to spit the pill out. I never thought that I would be able to pill a dog but I really didn't have any problems and if I can pill a dog than ANYONE can pill a dog!

[Chicocat]

Pill Pockets. They love them so much I only need to wrap the pill in a little chunk, not a whole pocket.

 

I"m very lucky because all of mine will take pills at meal time if you just throw them in their food bowl.

 

If you need to use the down the throat method, get capsules wet with cold water - they go down easier.

[Saharasmom]

I just put Coltrane's meds in his food and he scarfs them down. He is really into eating, though. When Sahara was on antibiotics, I put them in a bit of peanut butter or pushed them down her throat.

[Guest QuickNLazy]

all awesome ideas! keep em' coming. We used to wrap his daily soloxine pill in a piece of cheese, he would take it no problem. We realized after about a week that this caused some unbearable gas, not a good long term solution so we switched to the natural balance stuff.

 

since he got sick, we were doing the bottoms up method, but noticed as the sedative wore off he started to clamp down on fingers, ouch!! I didn't think about pushing his lip over the teeth. He may less inclined to bite his own lip than my tasty fingers

[GreyPoopon]

Some of mine will eat meds with their food.

 

Otherwise, I just pill them. I had to learn when Minnie was on about a dozen pills twice a day, and was allowed only her special kibble. Once they learn that a treat follows the pill, it isn't even necessary to hold the mouth closed.

[Guest Spencers_Greyt]

Grasp upper jaw. Wrapping upper lips under teeth slightly, pull mouth open. Shove pill waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay down throat. Close mouth and hold closed till swallow occurs. "Good dog!" and a cookie or a blob of peanutbutter to lick.

 

Probably sounds mean to the uninitiated, but they get to know when it's time for pills and will show up for the procedure on their own.

 

I vote for this method too and use it since I give Spencer around 7 pills morning and evening wrapping them up in food would make a very fat dog!

[Guest Pipi5]

Gabby takes phenobarbital with her dinner, so that's not a problem. But when I was giving Gogh tramadol for his cancer pain, I tried everything. Peanut butter, hotdogs, rolled up ham, and the thing that worked the best was a spoonful of catfood.

[greyhndz]

The trick of the month around here is thin slices of deli roast beef. Galgo Dandi will take his pills wrapped in slices of American cheese, but iggies Lexi and Bailey can sort through cheese, turkey slices, peanut butter -- you name it, they'll ptui the pill onto the floor. For the last couple of weeks a roll of roast beef wrapped around the pills has worked magic. Other option is to hide it in a spoonful of soft, stinky canned food. Lexi didn't fall for the liverwurst -- must be the only dog on the planet who doesn't like it.

[Guest MAXNAV]

Kraft American cheese. It's soft and the daily pills my guy takes are small. I wrap a little bit of cheese around the pill, while holding another piece in my other hand. He gobbles down the pill and is waiting for the other piece of cheese I'm holding. When I have big pills, I cut them up and do the same thing. Also, stinky wet blob of food with the pill inside works for us. Cut it up if it's too big and can be detected.

[Guest 4baddogs]

Kirby is the easiest dog in the world to medicate - he'll take a pill straight out of your hand, not hidden in anything.

 

Zoe, however, hates everything and will find a pill no matter what you hide it in. At times, she has been on so many medications it's crazy and I hate shoving them down her throat. I finally found that CoolWhip works great because she LOVES it. I use a little thin rubber spatula, dip it in the CoolWhip, hide the pill and she licks it all off. Voila! Never a problem. She does that twice a day now with her kidney pills.

[Guest BlackandBrindle]

I've done bread, liverworst, peanut butter, hot dogs, cheese...

 

The way I do it now? I put the pill in the back of her throat with either my hand or a pill gun and I give her a cookie immediately afterwards in order to get her to swallow.

 

She was spitting the pills back at me after she'd eaten the food and then she started mistrusting the food. I find this way infinitely easier on both of us.