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Problem giving pills


Miztiki
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Boy is almost done with the antibiotics. That little snot is giving me a hard time though!

 

I put the pill as far down his throat as my hand will allow then immediately give him a treat so that I'm sure he swallows it. I do this because he's been known to spit pills out up to 2 minutes later.

 

So what has he done like 3 times now? Coughed out white powder from the pill! The coating dissolves fairly quickly and then he just coughs out the powder. Can you believe that?

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Instead of placing the "naked" pill down Boy's throat, try wrapping it in something yummy. Try a thick slice of hot dog, with the pill inserted in a little slit you have made with the tip of a knife. You can wrap it in a piece of lunch meat or cheese.

 

One thing I notice - if I give a wrapped pill to a dog by itself in the kitchen, it may chew it and spit out the pill. If the other dog(s) is present and I give everyone a little taste of the lunch meat, cheese, or hot dog, then give everyone another bit (but this time the pill is in the right dog's treat), and then another bit to top it all off, the pill goes down effortlessly.

 

By using multiple treats, the dog doesn't notice that there is a pill in the second or third treat. Also, with multiple dogs present, those treats go down the hatch in an instant, without taking the time to get rid of the pill. The focus is on my hand and who is getting (or not getting) the next treat, and no notice is paid to the pill in the treat already given.

 

Works for me!

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I can actually just drop the pill in the dry food and they eat it. I am lucky that way but anyways.

 

When you give him his pill you can also hold is mouth shut for a few seconds which should force him to swallow.

 

Give the pill is some kind of treat (peanut butter, cheese, jelly, etc...) and I always do this with other dogs present. I will give all dogs the treat.

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Kim made a good point. If putting the pill in a treat just doesn't work outright for you or you have to put the pill at the back of the mouth, hold the mouth shut and stroke the throat for a few seconds. Normally, the dog will have to swallow. Not foolproof, though, and I can attest to that!

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We put peanut butter on most pills Fergie needs. (Heartworm stuff and rimadyl she considers treats as is.) This last week, she's been taking something for the horrible diarrhea she had one night. The vet said it was really bitter and tough to get dogs to take. With a good dollop of peanut butter on it, Fergie looks for it every evening!

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I also vote for peanut butter. By its very stickiness, peanut butter makes it difficult for the dog to cough the pill back up once ingested. I use a liberal dollop of peanut butter and just shove the pill in the middle. Have never had a problem doing it this way. Now if only cats liked peanut butter....

 

J.

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I also use the peanut butter method, but many of these methods mentioned might not work for you because of Boy's allergies....

 

Feeding him a treat with Flynne present might be your best bet. Or could you get it in a liquid form? I have to do that for one of my cats because whenever I gave him pills, he would take it, swallow it, then sit on my lap for 15 minutes or so, so I was sure he swallowed it...then, never fail, I would come home to the little white pill on the center of my pillow. If it wasn't so frustrating, it would have been funny.

 

Good luck!

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Cut off a hunk of that pork shoulder. Smaller than a childs wooden block. Slice into it and insert pill- give to Boyden. Or if you have to give pills often, buy ground meat and give him a small raw meat covered pill.

 

I do the rub the throat while holding the mouth closed or giving a quick sharp blow of air in front of the nose will provoke a swallow reflex.

 

Annette

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Fly is like Duncan. She will eat anything I hand to her, especially if I act like it's a treat. She will also eat iceberg lettuce, Twizzlers, wasabi peas, and things that Solo emphatically insists are Not Food. Fly is a pig.

 

Solo is pilled twice a day and we have a simple routine. I taught him to swallow on command using things he would swallow anyway. He will swallow if I close his mouth and tell him to even if there is nothing in his mouth. So what I do is put a pill on the back of his tongue, put my hand under his chin, and tell him to swallow. (Since he hates pills, I cannot trust him to swallow them unless I put my and under his chin and watch until he's done.) After he gulps and licks his lips he gets a treat as a chaser.

 

It's impossible to hide pills in food -- no matter what you put them in, he will carefully eat everything around the pill and spit out the pill. This is because he is a thoughtful and thorough chewer (he eats dinner, literally, one kibble at a time, looking contemplative while he does it). That is, UNLESS I wrap the pill in American "cheese." I just tear off a strip of "cheese" (or, more correctly, "cheese food"), wind it around the pill, and squish it into a little ball. Solo loves this foul "cheese" so much that he will gulp it without chewing and never find the pill.

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I have other ways of making him take his pills. I just thought that was hilarious and wondered about your own stories.

 

Boy has become pretty clever when it comes to not taking his pills. He can juggle a pill and food in his mouth at the same time, swallow the food, then spit the pill out. I've closed his mouth, pointed his head up and rubbed his throat while blowing in his nose until he swallows thinking it worked. Then, to my surprise, he spits it out.

 

What will sometimes work is for me to toss treats up in the air for him to catch, with one of those treats being a pill.

 

Wrapping it in food used to work, but it's becoming less effective. He's highly allergic to peanut butter, so none of that!

 

I taught Mickey to take her pills out of my hand, and she did. She didn't necessarily like it, but she did it, and I never gave her treats for anything. I've tried teaching Boy that, with treats, but no luck so far.

 

I can wedge his pill in a piece of banana and that usually works, if I have bananas.

 

It never occurred to me to try it with Fynne present. I'll do that though!

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Boy sounds like Prissy the maltese... she is good. Plus her mouth is really tiny ( smaller than her sister even). Even vet had a hard time giving her her pill. A shame but this calls for sneaky. Stick the pill into a piece of liver or something he loves. Good Luck!

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Tiga was doing ok taking pills at first he would just gulp it down like it was a treat but then when we started the allergy meds and he had to take them everyday it stopped working. First I tried holding his mouth closed and rubbing his throat and that worked for a little while, but not very long. Then I started taking a piece of a cheese slice and wrapping the pill in it. It's such a rare treat for him that he doesn't even really chew it, just swallows it down. When I was little and our dog had to take pills (eskimo spits/lab mix) my mother used to crush it up and put it in a little bit of molasses or syrup on a spoon and she would lap it up. Cheese is much easier and faster for me though.

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We have been lucky with Nellie, all we have to do is have her work through a few tricks and then give her the pill, without anything on it and she will just take it. Our last BC no matter how you wrapped it, she would find a way to get the pill out and spit it at you.

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Ben is like Solo. He is a slow thoughful eater and can find pills in anything. He will even check treats while we are clicker training, which makes that process much slower. I was not smart in the period when he first started getting a lot of pills (during his first bout with TBD), and so it turned into a horrible battle and he still remembers that. Like Boyden, he also is allergic to everything and that limits our bait choices (p-nut butter/cream cheese both no-nos).

 

We've stood and watched him after shoving a pill down his throat for five minutes, and witnessed him hork it up after visibly swallowing and examination of his mouth showed it gone.

 

Ben takes seven pills a day for various things. Thank God I've finally found something he eats without grubbing around in it. Canned green tripe from Solid Gold. It has to be the canned stuff because it's got extra flavoring and is sort of chunky and gristly - the ground stuff yuou can get from someone like Oma's pride is not gristly enough to hide the pills. Ben inhales the stuff and neer questions what's in it.

 

All my other dogs, thank goodness, I can just drop it in their morning meal (Doug, Ollie, and Maggie take joint supplements and Zhi and Ann get "baby vitamins").

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lol I had a heck of a time trying to pill Happy when her toe was infected, if I wrapped it in cheese she litterlly unfolded the cheese, removed the pill ate the cheese and left. when I hid it in a hot dog I gave her several just so she would not get suspisious, she ate the pilless ones fine as soon as I handed her the pilled one(I did not know which was which, I mixed then all up and cover the top of the pilled peice) she took the hot dog as normal, proceded to lightly squeeze the hot dog till the pill popped out, ate the hot dog and left the pill. when I stuffed it in a kond filled with PB and cheeze whize, she still managed to eat around the pill, I gave up and trying to hide the darn thing and just shoved it down her throught.

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