My dog Laila has to take 4 pills in the morning and 3 in the evening. I've gone through giving her the pills wrapped in cheese, to the pills in Peanut butter, and then on to putting them into pill pockets, and now putting them into the mini oscar mayer hot dogs. She is able to eat the hotdog, pill pocket and cheese away from the pill and leaving the pill behind. She has become a regular Houdini in eating the food and leaving the pills behind. Then i usually have to go and put the pill in her mouth and hold her mouth closed (gently of course) to get her to take her meds. Any suggestions? I know this must be totally frustrating for her. Thanks in advance
Hmm... can the pills be crushed and put into her food? Maybe put some chicken stock / gravy on it? Shelby takes her vitamins without any problems.
i tried that once mashing them up in her dry food but she then turned her nose up at it. In the morning she gets 1 cup dry by itself and at night as a treat i add a quarter can of mighty dog to her cup of dry. i was able to get one of the pills in that moist and then not mix the moist in with the dry. Now would i get the chicken broth and just mix it with the dry food?
Can you get any of the pills in a chewable? I know Rimadyl comes as such. Otherwise, it sounds like popping them is your best bet. Done right, this takes minimal time and is not at all stressful for either of you! If you buy broth, be sure to get the reduced sodium.
The Rimadyl I just got last week is a chewable. Sometimes she will eat it and sometimes i have to hide it. It is hit and miss. She is also on Fluoxiotine and the Tramadyl arent. One is a gelcap and the other is about the size of a baby aspirin. The glycosimine is a chewable but something she wont take just by itself. i guess the reduced sodium will help with the fact she can not gain weight. She has to stay under 40lbs
Do you have more than 1 dog? I give my older dog 2 shark cartilage capsules that help with her bad knee, and they smell just awful. At first I was trying all the things you are talking about, with little success. She's really good at spitting them out. Then I discovered that if I pretend they are a "biscuit" and the other dog is there competing for them, she will gobble them up and beg for more. Go figure. Of course afterwards they both get a real biscuit.
I have only one dog. She had her front left leg and part of her shoulder bone amputated when she was about 4 months old. It was due to getting burned on a heating pad that had a short circuit in it. Her brother was so badly burned they had to put him down. Then they had to go and do a skin graft because her skin was just not growing. She had been born on Friday 13th, 2006 in October. I've been told she may have to be on the Rimadyl the rest of her life. But that kind of worries me because I have a friend who lost her dog because of long term use of Rimadyl (if i remember correctly). I've also been told that long term exposure to medications can cause liver damage.. I just had her bloodwork done at the begining of the month and the results came back fine. I am going to a vet who does acupuntcure. I am hoping that i can eventually get her on that to help cut down the amount of meds or even stop some of them all together. Where do you get that shark catlilage from? and are there different sizes?
Poor baby! I get my shark cartilage online from www.longlifepetsupplements.com. I can't really remember all the details or even the prices, but they are really helpful if you have questions. It really seems to help my dog. She's a 60 pound chow mix that tore her ACL 2 years ago. The vet (animal hosp in Cary) could not guarantee that surgery would help her long-term so we decided not to put her through it, and he agreed. She still runs like a bunny with both back legs together but walks fine, but the main point is that she DOES run.
Cream Cheese. Take a ball of cream cheese just bigger than the pill and give it to your dog, then give them a pill coated with about 1/4" of cream cheese all the way around it (have it ready prior, so they don't see you stuff it) They can't disect it well and for some reason works better than peanut butter. I use this method and have recommended it to a number of clients who have been successful with it as well. Only a couple said it didn't work. Regarding crushing - check with your vet first - some meds shouldn't be crushed as they need to work in a time-released manner, delivering the drug slowly. Others, it makes no difference. If you can crush the drug, do that and pour it on to a small amount of liverwurst or Braunschweiger (found in small tubes near bacon in the grocery store) and roll it into a small ball, again, give the dog, or cat, a virgin piece first and following - and they will usually give you no trouble taking it. Hope this helps.
those are some really good Ideas thanks. That and the shark cartilage online from www.longlifepetsupplements.com i will have to check out. She is such a good dog and would do anything to make sure she is healthy and happy. I've only had her for two months at home. But I had gone 6 days a week for almost 6 weeks before hand while she was at the SPCA. I would go to the spca and they would let me go into her room with her. I truly think she was as happy to see me as i was to see her.
Mini marshmallows work well too. Give them a couple of marshmallows without a pill to get them eating them without thinking about it then slip in the medicated one and I bet your doggie will swallow it with no problem. Like Zoo said, have the doctored one prepared ahead of time so they dont see you doing something to it. Dogs get wise to stuff like that when you are trying to get meds into them. Good Luck!
thats another great idea thanks. thank you all for your suggestions. I'll let you know how it comes out. A friend of mine who posts here also tells me to switch up on the things i use so it will keep my dog interested.
Years ago, I had two Cairns on daily heartworm pills. I would wrap each pill in a 1/4 piece of a Kraft fudgie. (Since learned dogs should not eat chocolate, so I would suggest a softened 1/4 caramel instead.) My two dogs would sit up, side by side, like two little bookends, and patiently wait for me to prepare and give them a fudgie ball/pill. I rolled the pill in a small piece of fudgie (it adhered well), and they would quickly gulp the whole thing down. It was too small to fumble around, and each was worried that if she dropped her "treat," the other dog would grab it.
i bought mini marshmellows and cream cheese this afternoon. so i will start with those two and go from there. Thanks all for your suggestions. I thank you and Laila thanks you
