Pills--How To/

[Guest amour]

My boy is on antibiotics , acidophilus and previcox. He was taking the previcox just fine out of my hand,welll, now he won't. The 2 others are capsules and I first tried craming them down his throat one and then 2 at a time--didn't work--would choke or spit them back up. So the vet suggested the "Greenies Pill pocket' (called them doggie cocaine)--worked beautifully for a few days. Now, he has figured out there are meds in there and eats the pocket and leaves the meds behind. How can I get him to take the meds?

[JAJ2010]

Bury the pill in a hunk of PB sandwich. If you have enough PB slattered they won't be able to tell the pill is there and it usually get swallowed whole.

[winnie]

Yeah - greys figure things out pretty quick. I'm not good at the cramming down the throat although DH can do it well. The key is getting them far enough back there and then holding their mouth shut until they swallow - blowing on their nose and massaging their throat seems to help. Me - I either use the Greenies pill pockets, cheese or lunch meat to disguise the pills. Rotating what it's hidden in seems to help.

[Guest Flint]

Bury the pill in a hunk of PB sandwich. If you have enough PB slattered they won't be able to tell the pill is there and it usually get swallowed whole.

I think the trick is that no matter what you use (pill pocket or sandwich) you need to sometimes give one without a pill so they never know if it has a pill or not--they'll have to take a chance.

Edited December 22, 2009 by Flint

[mom2four]

Jamey, our osteosarcoma Greyhound is on quite a bit of medication these days. I put the pills in liverwurst. Basically its "Gobble- Gone_.

[Batmom]

Couple tricks:

 

1. When you do the shove-down-the-throat method, put the pill waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay down. And always give a "Good dog!" and treat after.

 

2. Put a small blob of peanutbutter, cream cheese, thick jam, canned food, or braunschweiger around the pill. Put a second goodly smear of the same stuff on your third and fourth fingers. Offer the covered pill on your index finger and as soon as it's taken IMMEDIATELY present your third and fourth fingers to be licked clean. Most dogs will be so busy licking and swallowing that the pill will go right down.

 

3. If pills are crushable, a teaspoon or two of dark molasses makes a good medium. It has a strong flavor that will hide some pillness better than peanutbutter, for example.

 

Good luck!

[gryhndsr4us]

At our house cream cheese, cheese slices or liver wurst are usually the best options. We also give everybody some, not just the dog getting the medicine. This seems to help, everybody wants their treat.

[Guest Whistle]

Bury the pill in a hunk of PB sandwich. If you have enough PB slattered they won't be able to tell the pill is there and it usually get swallowed whole.

 

This worked for us for my osteo hound who was on long-term pain meds.

[Guest houndog990]

i lube up the pill with butter before pushing it down the throat.

amy

[CaliforniaGreys]

Cream cheese and ice cream has always worked here. Just slides right down. Some antibiotics can not be taken with dairy products

[Guest Willerton]

If your hound hoovers down his food without chewing, you might try just putting the pills in the food. I used to do that for my hound because he basically just sucked down anything in his dish. Worth a try.

[buddibear]

I use turkey franks. one piece plain to start ,then slip the pill in the second. Sometimes I have to play Mr Airplane to get some interest.

[BluegrassGrey]

I've been using the method (I think was) suggested by TheDogFather- put the pill in the back of their throat, the hold the snout closed and blow on the nostrils, and like magic they swallow the pill right down. I've never had one of mine able to spit it out yet! I alternate this method with putting it in their food, or in a treat- because like your Greys, mine figure out there are pills in there. Most recently put pills in a cooked tortilini- my boy slurped that right down!

[SPDoggie]

Oh, Batmom... you are too smart for words.

I love the idea of offering the pill wrapped in PB then extra fingers to be licked... perfect.

 

I am going to try that next time... so smart!

[rascalsmom]

Things that have worked for me, or not. So much of it depends on the dog.

--braunschweiger didn't work. The dog who needed the pills (Buddy) didn't like it.

--peanut butter sandwiches usually work. Always make several "mini" sandwiches, so you have one or two "decoys".

--when all else fails, and you have to do the shove-down-the-throat method, put the pill(s) in a ball of Velveeta. Mold it around the pills, and you can get several pills down in one shot this way. Provided, of course, that they aren't huge pills.

 

Buddy always managed to catch on to the pills-in-a-treat method, so we had to resort to the shoving down the throat method. It was better than having him mistrust us at mealtime, and then not want to eat.

 

Fortunately, the new guy, Jack, would probably eat rocks if you offered them up, so pilling him is easy!

[Tracey]

In addition to many things said here, I have had success crushing pills and mixing them in with pudding. For the most stubborn dog I put the pills in peanut butter, opened their mouth and put the glob as far back in their throat as I could. It was messy (for me) but it worked every time.

[Trudy]

pills that don't make things taste nasty go in the food bowl. Nasty ones (tramadol) get stuffed inside a piece of hot dog with non pilled bits given before and after so they aren't sure which one has the pill.

 

Jet likes her stuff surrounded by donuts too

[Guest KiKi_Girl]

KiKi is SUPER picky (e.g., she will not eat cheese, peanut butter, hot dogs, etc) so I have found that putting them far back in her throat is the easiest and least frustrating for both of us. She always gets a biscut afterwards. I have also found that doing them one at a time, especially capsules, works best.

[Guest FLT]

We've had the best luck with Hawaiian Bread (worked for a few months!), Liverwurst (always works - but we prefer not to smell it and don't use it very often), and cream cheese (not the spread - but the firmer stuff so you can form it around the pills). I've also had luck with giving yogurt or icecream and just dropping the pill on their tongue after they are already licking.. nom nom nom and down it goes.

 

We've been giving Drake drugs for over 6 months now.

 

Edited to add:

 

If you have more than one hound, fill a bunch of "blanks" without pills and give treats to them side by side. The competition helps ensure that the pilled hound GULPS theirs down to make sure they get their fair share of the bounty. I also agree with giving occasional "blanks" to the pilled dog so they aren't ever sure if there is a pill there.

Edited December 22, 2009 by FLT

[Guest BlackandBrindle]

Get a pill gun, load it up, shoot the pills down his throat, immediately give him a cookie or hold his mouth closed while rubbing his neck ( you have to point his nose up) until he swallows.

 

The whole peanut butter or food thing only works for so long in my experience. Sadie is on long term meds so I couldn't be fooling around for half an hour every day trying to get her to take her meds.

 

The pill gun works well for us.

[Guest DoofBert]

We have always had good luck with PB or cream cheese....sometimes I'll bury the pill in raw chopped meat.

[Guest 2greygirls]

when they won't eat them , I use butter. capsules can get stuck in their throat, I coat them with butter, open their mouths, and pop the pill way back over their tongue, then hold their snout closed and up a little bit while prasing and gently stoking their throat, this usually takes less than a second. the butter seems to let it slide down rather than stick like capsules can. Bacon fat works too. I find the popping method easier than the trick you into eating this method, as all gresy i have had wise up to everything eventually. when I do use food, little balls of ground beef work well. Practice makes perfect.

Edited December 22, 2009 by 2greygirls

[Guest RocketDog]

I just make 'em open wide and stuff the pill down as far as my fingers go, then hold their mouth shut til they swallow. Once that's done they get the goodies

[Guest sheila]

I'm lucky enough that most of my dogs think jumping and catching a treat in mid-air is really fun. I just put the pill in a bite of hot dog and toss it up and the dog has caught it and swallowed it by the time their feet hit the ground.

For the dog that wouldn't do this, I pop the pill into her throat from the side of her mouth and just stroke her neck until she swallowed it. The 'blowing in the nose to stimulate the swallow reflex' has never worked around here.

[Guest FreddyGirl]

I vary the conduit frequently: peanut butter, pill pockets, liverwurst, softened mozzarella sticks or cheddar cheese, 'shoving down throat" when all fails.