Suggestions on Giving Your Dog Pills

This is the age old problem, trying to get your dog to take its pills everyday.  Some dogs like mine will eat their pills in just about anything and happily ask for more.  But I often hear about dogs that have a more delicate palate or maybe that are just smarter than my dogs! They refuse their pills hid in just about everything!  So I have compiled a short list of suggestions for giving pills.

1.  Pill Pockets:  These are just about the coolest new treat out there.  I soooo wish I had thought of them first!  I would be sipping an umbrella drink on the beach right now! They are a soft-stinky treat that is shaped into a bucket that the pill fit down in.  Most dogs I know just love them!  They come in several different flavors.

2.  Peanut butter:  I have many clients swear by this.  They just put the pill in some and the dog eats it right down. My one word of caution here is to not let your dog eat it off a spoon.  If you remember on my 'They Ate What?" post there were several spoons that were swallowed. 

3.  3- Treat Trick:  I think of this like the ball under the cup trick.  Confuse the dog with several treats so they can't figure out which one has the pill.  You can use cheese (sliced or velvetta) or hot dogs (if your dog's stomach can handle them).  Have 3 pieces of treat, hiding the pill in the second piece, don't let the dog see which treat.  Give your dog the first (unloaded) treat.  Then give the second (loaded) treat and hold the third (unloaded) treat in front of the dogs face, the dog is usually so excited about the third treat the second treat goes down un-harmed by chewing. 

4.  Canned dog food:  The key here is to use the pate kind of food, not the gravy kind.  Canned food is trial and error.  You must find a food that the dog likes FIRST!  Make sure the dog will eat it and then put the pill in it.  Most pills are ruined if they remain in canned food for more than a few seconds.

5.  Open dog mouth and put pill down throat method:  This is a tried and true method, that will work if all else falls.  2 keys pieces to remember:  Don't do this if your dog will bite you AND you got to get the pill past the rise/bump in the tongue. 

***The last bit of advice I can give you is to make medication time exciting!  Act like your dog is doing the greatest thing by taking those pills.  Get excited about giving the treats and get your dog excited, you are going to have to use your high-pitched cheerleader voice here!***

HAPPY PILL-ING!!