We have a persnickety dog too who has to have meds to survive and what finally worked for her was to call both dogs over. We use small cubes of sharp cheddar because it has an odor that helps disguise a small pill. The older one loves cheese so we treat her first and let the sick one watch and wait and that seems to stimulate her desire to gobble down the cheese. It works for now.
Seriously, we've had her for 3 years. We've tried cheese, chicken, beef, hot dogs, french fries, liver sausage, peanut butter. She doesn't like treats. Our other dogs are climbing over each other to get the goodies, she turns her nose up at them.
It helps her maintain her girlish figure, she has probably gained 4 ounces since we got her, but she really is a finicky eater.
She doesn't like to walk on grass or dirt either. We walk her on a sidewalk. If she wants to sniff a tree, she plants her front paws and leans into the tree, thereby keeping her back paws from getting on the grass.
Go Dogs wrote: You will hear all sorts of suggestions-wrap the pill in various foods, open the capsule and mix it with something yummy, etc. Bottem line-if your dog does not want to be pilled, you will have to try something different. I have an English Mastiff,(185 lbs) that cannot be pilled. If it's obvious that your dog will not take a pill, no matter how it is disguised or shoved down her throat-you will have to go a different route.Dogs can smell the medication, no matter how it is disguised.
You'll get bitten, scratched, hurt the dog, or generally develop a bad relationship. Ask your vet for another suggestion.
Well, see what I mean. You've gotten all these suggestions. The good doctor mentioned, that if you get into a wrestling match every time it's time to take a pill- you will seriously destroy trust and your relationship with the dog. Dogs have a sixth sense and can read you. You think you are sneaking around, preparing the pill-but they know. For those of you, coating vitamins with oil-that can prevent absorbtion=expensive bowel movements. The animal may be better off without an oral medication.
* This post was
edited 05/05/12 03:14pm by Go Dogs *
Well, there have been a couple of recommendations for the pill gun & I'll add mine. We had to give pills to a cat who really didn't want to take them & I have no idea how I would have done it (without bleeding to death from scratches & bites) without the pill gun. Also worked well for my brother's dog. Highly recommended.
dturm wrote: 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
Stick the pill in a bolus gun give it to your dog with no emotions involved and move on. Don't sit there and beg your dog to cooperate or try and fool it. Dogs pick up on your attitude. Approach it with a "this has to happen and WILL happen" attitude and they tend to not be a problem. If your dog tries to snap at you you've got bigger problems than giving pills.
It disturbs me that a vet will suggest that a dog not be treated because of issues with the owner. I worked in kennels and dog sat. Some of the owners left bowls full of concoctions that the dog would sometimes be fooled by and most of the time not. I used a bolus gun with every difficult to pill dog. Never a problem and the dogs don't hold a grudge. They'd rather it be over and done with too. Proper pilling with a bolus gun takes maybe 20 seconds.
If you must attempt to hide it in something pumpkin puree(not pumpkin pie filling) is very effective. It's thick enough that they don't realize there's a pill in there most of the time. Never met a dog who doesn't love it and it's good for them.
There is a product you can get from a vet called NutriCal, It comes in a tube like toothpaste. It seems to taste good. I put a pill in a dab of it on my finger and put in the dogs mouth..I would give her a taste of it fdirst with out the pill.....Hope it works for you
THe liquid might be the best bet
Good luck
dturm wrote: 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
Stick the pill in a bolus gun give it to your dog with no emotions involved and move on. Don't sit there and beg your dog to cooperate or try and fool it. Dogs pick up on your attitude. Approach it with a "this has to happen and WILL happen" attitude and they tend to not be a problem. If your dog tries to snap at you you've got bigger problems than giving pills.
It disturbs me that a vet will suggest that a dog not be treated because of issues with the owner. I worked in kennels and dog sat. Some of the owners left bowls full of concoctions that the dog would sometimes be fooled by and most of the time not. I used a bolus gun with every difficult to pill dog. Never a problem and the dogs don't hold a grudge. They'd rather it be over and done with too. Proper pilling with a bolus gun takes maybe 20 seconds.
If you must attempt to hide it in something pumpkin puree(not pumpkin pie filling) is very effective. It's thick enough that they don't realize there's a pill in there most of the time. Never met a dog who doesn't love it and it's good for them.
What you have to realize is that the owner the dog has is the owner the dog has. Believe me, I don't always like that, either. And some problems with owners may be amenable to education, (I think this problem probably needs some further training on where that pill needs to go, and that would come from a vet or tech) but others frankly run a little deeper. From a vet's perspective, it comes down to what they can do, and rearranging the owner's psyche is probably not on the list for a lot of vets.
In the end, it's really a cost/benefit analysis, and it has to be based on the situation as it is, not the situation if you were there or I was there or even if the vet was there every day, because he isn't and neither are you or me. So in the real world, where the person who lives with the animal has to medicate the animal, it can come down to "what is the animal getting out of this" vs "what is the stress it is creating."
susan
Fuzzy Wuzzy was a wabbit, Fuzzy Wuzzy had a dandelion habit! RIP little Wuz... don't go far.
Our cocker spaniel got where he would not take a pill of any kind. Heartworm,
antibiotic, whatever. I tried almost all of the above suggestions and finally just gave up. His Dr. will give him a shot for an antibiotic and we have put him on a topical treatment for heartworms. He got suspicious of food and if he even got a whiff, that was the end of eating for that evening. The most success I had was a small, raw, hamburger, meatball size and put the pill in that. He couldn't resist that for a while, then that went by the wayside. His Dr. said raw hamburger meat was not good for him. So, back to shots, topical treatments. CS will be 11 tomorrow.
Since corgis will eat the paint off the wall if you let them, I've never had to do anything more than drop the pills in their food bowl. Diva is currently on two different pills for an ugly UTI, and last night I watched as she cleaned her bowl of everything but the big orange antibiotic, then paused, looked at me, and then gulped down the last pill for dessert!
We keep clear liquid benadryl... I think it is actually the Walgreens store brand, and a syringe. Works well for doses without food.
Samantha (the poster)
Tim, spouse and driver of the Corgi-Bus
Buddy, Diva, and Pippin - Pembroke Welsh Corgis
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They'd rather it be over and done with too. Proper pilling with a bolus gun takes maybe 20 seconds.
