Critterchat: The thrill of the pill

By GRETCHEN HALL

A cdapress.com exclusive

Hi Gretchen:

Is there an easy way to give a dog a pill? Recently our dog had to be put on antibiotics for 2 weeks and getting the pills in him was almost impossible and turned into a major ordeal twice a day. We tried hiding the pill in food but that didn’t work. He would always find the pill. Then we tried just shoving the pill down his throat, which worked most of the time but sometimes he’d fake us out like he swallowed it and then we’d find it in his bed a few minutes later. Now he hates for us to get anywhere near him when it’s pill time. Any suggestions?

Chet

Hi Chet:

Just be thankful you don’t have to be giving pills to a CAT! I’ve yet to find an easy way to do that. In fact, if anyone has a suggestion on an easy way to give a cat pill, let me know and I’ll post it.

What has worked for me with my most obstinate pill takers is the pill in the food method, but there is a trick to that as well.

Sophie, my 10 year old pug is the worst of all my dogs. She always seems to find the pill no matter what I do. When I open her mouth and shove it down her throat, she does the same thing – fakes me out like she swallowed it, then I find it later.

Lately however, our “pill time” has become a lot easier.

I find that cream cheese works well as well as raw hamburger, peanut butter, butter or any type of soft food that you can hide the pill in.

I bring out the food and give her a few small bites with no pill in it. I hold the morsel over the top of her head so that she to look up at it with her head back. I drop it into her mouth and have another bite right there ready to give her. She sees that other bite of food and swallows the first one quickly so she can have the next one. The 3rd piece has the pill. Sophie actually has 4 pills she takes, (glucosamine and fish oil) so I prepare the food bites ahead of time. The trick is to hold the food over her head so she’s holding her head back when she takes it. If I hand the food to her so that her head is level, she finds the pill every single time and spits it out. I tried this method on my other stubborn pill taker and it worked well with him too. Of course, pugs love food and the greed always wins out.

If you have a dog that’s not very food motivated, you may have to manually give him the pill. Coating the pill with some butter to lubricate it, place it way at the back of his throat and gently hold his muzzle closed until he swallows. Praise him the whole time and rub his throat until you feel him swallow.

 There is a product out there called “Pill Pockets”. This is a treat with a hollow center where you hide the pill. I’ve heard pretty good things about them. I tried one with Sophie, but she bit the treat open, spit out the pill and gobbled up the rest of the pieces. Pill Pockets has worked well with my other dogs. Sophie is just an exception.

If those ideas still don’t work, you can ask your vet if the medication your pet needs is available in liquid form. Many of them are and that can be a little easier.

Good Luck!

Gretchen Hall is a Petco employee and dog trainer in North Idaho. Her columns are a cdapress.com online exclusive. Email your questions to her at talkinboutcritters@yahoo.com