How Do You Give Your Dog Tablets?

[~Anne~]

My dog is so greedy he thinks tablets/capsules are treats. Swallows them without thinking.

For my foster, I had to open her mouth, insert the tablets onto her cheeks nearer the back of tongue, then close her mouth and massage her neck. Vet taught me this...fed medicine to cats that way too. Works every time.

It works easier for cats due to the hairs on their tongue which face towards the throat. If you place a tab at the back of the tongue it is difficult for a cat to bring it forward in it's mouth in order to spit it back out.

[poocow]

Darcy is great at taking tablets, I say 'open' and he lowers his jaw and I pop the tablet down the back of his throat. If OH tries...its game on

When I was working at the kennels I used to just pop them down the back of their throat and massage. If they weren't on a special diet I would hide it in a bit of cheese, peanut butter or chicken loaf.

If you've got a stubborn one you can always try to put the tablet on the back of their tongue, close their mouth and give a short blow into their nose. Often causes them to swallow as a reaction as they weren't expecting you to do that.

[puggy_puggy]

Okay, my experience...

Get something to hide them in - fritz or cheese is good. You need quite a few pieces,more than the number of tablets you have. Probably about 6 pieces for two tablets.

Squish the tablets in some how.

Wash you hands.

Have all the pieces of fritz/cheese/whatever in your hand. You are going to deliver them all in quick succession.

Give one piece without tab.

Give another piece without tab.

Give one with a tab.

Quickly follow by one without a tab.

Give the next tab.

Quickly follow with a without a tab.

I've found that dogs are so busy watching the next bit of fritz/cheese/whatever, they just woof it down to get the next bit.

For my two puggies I use this method as well. I grab a bit of a slice of cheese squish the tablet in it. Give it to the pug whilst holding another bit of cheese in my hand. They are so eagar to finish the first bit of cheese, that contains the tablet, so that they can have the second bit that they don't even notice the tablet.

Another puggy I had you could just shove the tablet down the back of their throat and hold thier mouth shut till they swallowed it.

Another puggy thought that tablets, even massive big antibiotics, were treats and would eat them off my hand.

[Miranda]

Well mine DETECT anything that is hidden.I put the tab at the start of the throat,close the mouth with the muzzle up and massage under the muzzle gently to comfort, then slide my hand down massaging the throat encouraging the reflex to swallow on the outer of the throat.

That's exactly what we do too. I think it's the best way because ours can detect a tablet about 10 miles away ...

Same here, it becomes easy after a while. I can get a tablet into a dog in about five seconds.

[Tassie]

I do the same sort of thing as squeak and leema - quick succession of small bits of yummy stuff - mince usually - several unbaitd pieces and then one baited quickly followed by several unbaited - as was said, helps if the dog can catch.

It's much more effective if you have more than one dog, so there's an element of competition involved (mind you, then you have to be sure you're giving the tablets to the right dog. Got it wrong a couple of times with my previous bitch's thyroid meds - major panic stations the first time, but no dramas.

With the previous 2, we got to the point where when my BC boy was so conditioned, that when he was doing therapy dog visits, he would get all excited when he heard the meds trolley coming round - he never could understand why the people didn't get mince with their tablets. ;)

My current 2 get Sentinel monthly, and just take that straight from my hand.

Now - don't get me started on trying to give pills to some cats. My fingernail is still growing out from where my dear old Kitty (RIP) nailed me with a canine tooth right through the fingernail - she didn't mean to - jsut reflex action - but owww.

[~*Shell*~]

I use liver or kidney. Chop it up into 4 pieces, put the tablet in one - give the dog the first 2 without a tablet in them, the third with and then the last without. I just throw them for Zero - he's the best catch ever!

[puggy_puggy]

It's much more effective if you have more than one dog, so there's an element of competition involved

Ohh yes a few other dogs all lining up works a treat as well. The one getting the tablet sure as hell make sure they eat their treat, with tablet in it, so the other dogs dont.

With the previous 2, we got to the point where when my BC boy was so conditioned, that when he was doing therapy dog visits, he would get all excited when he heard the meds trolley coming round - he never could understand why the people didn't get mince with their tablets.

[giraffez]

why am i so jealous!!! My dog is very spoil. its so picky it won't fall for any of the above!

Its such a struggle to get it to take medication. :shakehead:

[Shoshana]

My doggie is not greedy & is by nature suspicious.

If she doesn't like a tablet (some she does like) I crush it (in a mortar, with pestle) into powder, then add a glob of peanut paste, thoroughly mix it all together with my fingers & then let Rosie lick my fingers - so far she's never refused it.

[Tatelina]

Frustrating isn't it? My dogs are the same. Gutses with food but as soon as I've wrapped a bit of ham around a tablet...or poked it into cheese or something...they get suspicious and drop the food out of their mouth onto the ground to pick around the food. Usually I have to excite them and drop food treats into their mouths and then interchange one that's got a tablet wrapped up.

That tends to work. Or when I'm feeding my pet mince...shove it right in the middle of that.

ETA: Just realised people have suggested the same thing.

Edited September 24, 2008 by Tatelina

[jans]

I had to give one of my fosters a capsule without food - at least an hour before meals. The only way it worked for me was to have a syringe of water with me. Stuck the pill on the back of the tongue then gently/slowly syringed water into the side of his mouth from the syringe. That made him swallow no problems at all.

[boxerbob]

I put mine in a mini peanut butter sandwhich. The tablet doesn't even touch the sides.

[griff]

you can buy from on line stores / pet supply store

a Pill Syringe there pretty darn good :rolleyes:

but now the old biddy takes her daily meds stuffed in a small amount of meat roll