Walker

I have to give my dog two pills twice a day. Two before each meal. Historically, he's surprised me because he's always let me pop them on the back his tongue and he'd instantly swallow them (I'd make him have a drink afterwards to be sure), but the course would generally be over in days.

He's on these new pills forever though, and two months down the line, he's started to get agitated with the routine. It started with grumbling, but he'd open his mouth. Now he's knocking the pills out of my hand with his paw and eventually rolling over to prevent me putting them in.

His food is of the kibble variety, so it's not possible to conceal the pills easily within. Indeed, he spits them out if finds them. I've thought of drilling a hole in a couple of pieces of kibble, and concealing the tablets inside... but you know, I can't believe it's come to this. lol

Anyway, after all that tl;dr business, I was just wondering if anybody had pet drugging strategies to share.

Sarah Nerd

I've always wrapped them in meat or a piece of hotdog and get the dog excited and give it to them like a treat. Usually when it's something they love and there excited they grab it and swallow it without even chewing at times.

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Sarah Nerd

Oh and when I was a kid, we had a dog we had to give a relaxer to every time there was a thunderstorm and my mom would put the pill as far back in her mouth as possible. hold her mouth shut, lift her head and rub her throat to try to make her force swallow I guess. Was the only thing that worked with her once she caught onto the fact they were trying to give her a pill.

Walker

I suppose that's like my kibble drilling strategy only easier.

I'll give it a try. Thanks Sarah! He has some marrowbone treats that are soft in the middle. I think the reason he's hating these pills compared to others he's had is because they're so large.

Sobriquet Kryakutnoy

Lactose intolerance aside, we used to give them to my dog hidden in a small piece of cheese.

It wasn't ideal, but it worked. If your dog has a sensitive digestive system or something I wouldn't recommend that, though...

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Walker

That's what I've been doing with this dog for years. I honestly couldn't believe he would take a tablet so effortlessly like that (not many people will but their fingers at the back of a german shepherd's mouth ), but he's decided he doesn't like it now and the twice daily tablet taking nightmare is becoming a bit disruptive.

Joshua Nightshade

Yeah we'd wrap them in a piece of ham. My old dog used to have to take these massive steroids because he'd had a staph infection when we got him. They were enormous pills, like two inches long and one thick. He hated them and the ham was the only way.

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Walker

He does have a sensitive digestive system. Changing his diet even slightly gives him the shits. I might risk it with human food though if embedding them in a dog treat doesn't work.

Thanks.

prinţesă nină

the pills can be cut in half too.
bubbaloo frequently requires pills, and i have great success cutting them down in halves and stuffing them into rice balls. then i offer her the rice balls just before she eats, while shes still hungry.

Brig McD

When we had to give our cat pills, we'd grind them into a powder and mix the powder into canned cat food. She always wolfed it down. I'm sure a similar method would work on your dog.

Walker

Oh, I forgot to mention that I tried this one. The problem is that his food is dried so it can't really be mixed in. Afterwards there was lots of powder at the bottom of his dish.

Brig McD

We mixed the canned food in with the dry.

Walker

I can't do that. Anything but his regular food gives him the shits.

Damn, sensitive stomached dogs.

Brig McD

Grrrrrrrr...it was a thought. to the doggie (and to you)

Jessyanne

I give my pup pills in a piece of bread. Take a slice, tear it in half, put it in the middle and ball it up. Then I hop around the kitchen wooting and hollarin, getting him all excited and chasing the bread, before i throw it into the air and watch him snatch it greedily.

Stoopid dawg

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Walker

LOL. We're very alike in some ways yanno?

Jessyanne

hehe

Ingrid

Stick it in some cheese or wet cat food. they love wet cat food for some reason.

Geaven Gall

i used to drug my dogs this way too... slather some really delicious jam or condensed milk on the bread and stick the pill in the middle. my male dog would wolf the whole thing up without even chewing but the female one caught on and would eat the sandwich daintily like a princess and then spit the pill out . i eventually had to bury the pill in a small rolled ball of canned dog food to give it to her.

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Roxie Marten

I couldn't get my dog to take her heart worm pills.
I tossed it at the cat. The dog couldn't stand the idea of the cat getting a "treat" and snatched it out from under his nose in a flash. Now the dog thinks they are treats and inhales them

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Ayu Sura

LOL those tricks sound like fun. I can't imagine trying to dose a cat or dog - ferrets are smaller and they're already tough enough. Bueller would get so pissed off he'd piss/crap on us while he was scruffed and forced to take his meds.



Thank god Goblin (another ferret) is a lot more docile and is satisfied as long as he gets a treat after.

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WarKirby Magojiro

Have ou tried grinding the pills into powder and mixing into food?

or perhaps dissolving in water even

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Sobriquet Kryakutnoy

Some medications are packaged in a time-release matrix. I'm not sure about pet meds, but grinding pills could be a very bad idea depending on how the medication is intended to be dosed.

Walker

Agreed. These are raw material supplements though (the 'drug' bit in the title is misleading) that are supposed to help rebuild cartilage, so I don't think there's any danger of that here. Some of the tricks above didn't work however.

Wrap it in cheese, and he sucks it for a minute before spitting the bare tablet out.

Embed it in a treat, and he crushes it to separate the pill from the treat before hoovering up the crumbs with his mouth.

I gave no indication that a pill was in there either.

Time to move onto some of the other ideas above.