Ike, my senior Aussie, is also one who's not motivated by food - and what goes in his mouth gets chewed very carefully. There's no hiding pills in ANYTHING with him. But I really want him to take a Sam-e supplement (and it's a pretty big pill to boot!) so here's what I do:
I straddle him, so he can't escape, then slip my left index finger into his mouth right behind the large canine tooth (there's sort of a gap there) - and I touch the roof of his mouth gently. That makes him open his mouth as I continue to gently hold the top of his snout - then with the pill in my right hand, I insert it as far back in his throat as possible, then I gently close his mouth - he HAS to swallow it at that point. Now that it's a routine - I get minimal resistance; and he always gets a treat after he cooperates.
I tried a pill gun, but since I couldn't "feel" where it was in his mouth - I got too much resistance from him (probably because I was poking him with it). By being able to "feel" - the whole pill-taking takes about 5 seconds.
I agree with Wyo traveler. Years ago, a vet told us how to give a pill to an uncooperative cat. It works with my uncooperative half-Lhasa, too. Coat the pill with butter, use one hand to pry open the dog's mouth and stick the pill as far down the throat as possible and close his mouth. This is done very quickly and it always works.
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I offer mine pills in treats. They generally take them. I don't attempt to "hide" the pill, though. It's there to make it easier for them to swallow. I find when I'm trying to put one over on them they know and tend not to react well. If they don't take the pill with the treat, I just shove the pill down their throats.
For a dog that won't do that or isn't attracted to whatever you might put it in, it's really simpler to just pop it down the throat.
But the important thing when you do that, is getting it far enough back. That means past the back of the tongue, where there is no "making" the dog swallow. If you're "making" the dog swallow, it wasn't in the right place.
What I do with small dogs and with cats is to kneel on the ground with my toes stretched out behind me and my knees a little open, feet meeting up in the back. The small pesky creature goes in the triangular space created. This gives me pretty good control of the animal in general. It prevents backing up, which allows for getting the pill where I want it in the mouth.
Then I open the mouth by reaching over the muzzle and applying pressure behind the canines. Make sure you have the lips in there too, it discourages biting down on your hand. Then take the pill and put it all the way back in the mouth and push it past the back of the tongue. Let the mouth close and the animal will swallow.
Coating with oil or butter helps it not stick to the mouth and throat on the way down, and leaves a better taste in the mouth. I have an elderly cat that gets a large potassium capsule every day. She won't take treats but turns out to rather enjoy the taste of walnut oil, of all things. So that's how she gets her capsule. It takes about three seconds to give it, and then it's over, as long as I get it all the way back. If I don't, sometimes it doesn't get swallowed and I let her spit it out and redo it.
susan
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Well, we tried the pill gun. She just spit the pill out. We found some liquid benadryl, and used a liquid medicine dispenser. She had no choice but to swallow that. All we could find was cherry flavor, but we're only giving 1/2 teaspoon at a time. She didn't vomit it up, and she had lunch afterwards, so hopefully, we're good to go. Please, any other suggestions welcome. Thanks to all.
ours takes his allergy pills in a piece of hotdog. about half a weenie.
he tends to gulp his food down, so the embedded pills go down with the meat.
it that doesn't work, you could try smashing the pill to smithereens and them stick a slot in a weenie and put the pill dust in it and see if that goes down.
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Always remember you're unique, just like everyone else.
You've gotten some good suggestions. Also, you can have medications flavored with something they like more than the cherry or other flavors favored by people. I really like pill pockets, hotdog slices, peanut butter, etc.
I used to be one that thought any dog or cat could be medicated... but I've learned to appreciate fingers being able to work without swelling or bandages from lacerations and bite wounds.
The other aspect is the relationship with your animal. Repeated fights, stressed situations can really damage the relationship.
After getting creative and exploring many different techniques, there may be situations where the decision not to treat is reasonable.
Doug, DVM
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TexasShadow wrote: ours takes his allergy pills in a piece of hotdog. about half a weenie.
he tends to gulp his food down, so the embedded pills go down with the meat.
it that doesn't work, you could try smashing the pill to smithereens and them stick a slot in a weenie and put the pill dust in it and see if that goes down.
She doesn't like hot dogs. She doesn't like anything a normal dog likes. We love that she's quirky, but she won't take pills.
dturm wrote: You've gotten some good suggestions. Also, you can have medications flavored with something they like more than the cherry or other flavors favored by people. I really like pill pockets, hotdog slices, peanut butter, etc.
I used to be one that thought any dog or cat could be medicated... but I've learned to appreciate fingers being able to work without swelling or bandages from lacerations and bite wounds.
The other aspect is the relationship with your animal. Repeated fights, stressed situations can really damage the relationship.
After getting creative and exploring many different techniques, there may be situations where the decision not to treat is reasonable.
Doug, DVM
Yes, we don't want to stress her and make her hate us. We'll give her the liquid a few more times and see how it goes. If we think she's stressing too much, we'll stop. The vet said we could try eye drops ( her eyes are red) but I think she'll hate those too.
I was considering not treating Sput when she responded badly to the potassium gel. But once I got my technique down to get the capsule far enough back for her to swallow it, it became a non-issue. I agree that there are animals that are going to be really resistant to the point where the stress may not be worth it, but this sounds more like a technique problem than that.
Liquid is fine as long as it agrees. Some sweeteners aren't good for dogs, particularly sorbitol as I recall, so look at the bottle and see what the sweetener is. And as with pills, if you don't get it back far enough it will come right back at you. Personally I like pills better because I can pick it up and do it over and know what the animal did or didn't get, but a lot of people prefer liquids.
She might be more interested if she was hungry when you tried this but find something really yummy...chicken, burger, hotdogs...something she just can't refuse. Cut it into bite sized pieces and give her 2-3 or more WITHOUT the pill. Make a big deal... get her excited, praise her for taking them. Give them quickly so she's swallowing them immediately and looking for the next one then slip in the spiked one, followed by a couple more quickly.
This is exactly what we do with our Lhasa by using chicken weenies.
We have found that she loves chicken more than anything else in the world and will eat anything that has chicken in or on it. Surely, your Lhasa has something that is her favorite flavor. With all the dogs I've had over my almost 70 years, I have never had one that did not like weenies.
I will take about a half of a weenie and cut it up into about six or seven small bites. Stick the pill in the fourth of fifth one and keeping them all on one hand, I will feed her a couple of them slowly at first to get her to anticipate the next...then start feeding them to her as rapidly as she will take them. She will start swallowing without chewing after the second or third one. Keeping all the bites together in one hand will overpower her sense of smell for the pill.
I hope you find the right combination...
Ron
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