Unable To Give Puppy Heartworm Chews

[Heston1]

HI All,

I have an 8 week old BC puppy that we got a few days ago, everythings going really well and he is being such a treat to us all with his good behaviour :) He even took himself off to his crate for a sleep this afternoon, very proud Mumma here!

Anyways, the only thing I am unable to get him to do for me is to take his heartworm medication. Everytime I try he spits it out and wants to roll in it! I've tried hiding it in his food, but even then he picks it out and rolls on top of it?!

Any suggestions to help me get him to take these chews?

Thanks!

[Dame Aussie]

We feed chews for heartworm, one dog gobbles them up, the other spits them out, so we break it up into a few small pieces and treat it like a tablet, just pop it down the back of the throat and hold pups mouth closed, while stroking his throat to make him swallow.

Our big boofer just sits there and lets us do this, knows its coming, but still will not chew the darn things. :laugh:

[minimax]

Try coating it in something like peanut butter, or mixing it in with his food and some gravy?

I pretend tablets are training treats - take a handful of treats and put the tablet in with them. So she has to do whatever she does to get a treat (sit/drop/shake/etc) and gets a treat each time, and one of them happens to be a tablet but she doesn't notice coz she's had a few treats before and just assumes that one will be a treat as well.

[teekay]

Jenna and Luka gobble theirs up no problem but Mya is a very eater.

I have to chop up the chews into quarters and put them into pieces of cheese. Mya does love cheese so we can usually manage to get the chews down that way.

Good luck :)

[Rebanne]

I wouldn't be giving heartworm preventive to an 8 week old pup in the middle of winter but that's just me. I never start mine until they are around 4 or 5 months depending on the season.

Edited July 25, 2012 by Rebanne

[BC Crazy]

I always hide any medication inside a raw roo mince ball, don't seem to notice it & straight down the hatch :)

[BCNut]

My BC pup won't eat the chews either. Because I have a box of them now, I just soak his kibble/biscuits, mash them then crumble the chew over it and stir it all together.

But will be going back to tablets; he doesn't mind the old tablet down the hatchet and massage the throat technique too much.

The training treat idea sounds like a gem though! Will try that first

[Salukifan]

Chop them up into smaller pieces and give them like pills.

Then don't buy any more. Use tablets instead if he doesn't like the chews. None of mine will touch them.

[espinay2]

Agree on not giving heartworm meds to an 8 week pup. I too wouldnt start till around 5 months or so.

[twodoggies2001]

I have a mini schnauzer 20 weeks and at his puppy vaccination the vet advised me to start his heartworm at around 6 months. I give my other boy Sentinal Spectrum chews and he gobbles everything as does the puppy, so I don't envisage any problems medicating our new family member.

[Tassie]

Another here who wouldn't be starting an 8 week old pup on h/w meds unless it's very hot where you are. Double check with your local vet, but I thought there was a window until they were about 5 or 6 months depending on temperatures and mosquitoes.

I also wanted to welcome your cute pup, and suggest you come over to the Border Collie thread in the Breed subforums in General

here :D

[mumof4girls]

Just a question.. The trainer we go to for obedience said to me if you want a dog to have great recall don't use tablets as they won't come to you incase your going to ram one down the throat.. Do others find this??as I would rather use a tablet..

[minimax]

Just a question.. The trainer we go to for obedience said to me if you want a dog to have great recall don't use tablets as they won't come to you incase your going to ram one down the throat.. Do others find this??as I would rather use a tablet..

That logic really only works if the only time you call them is to jam a tablet down their throat! If you call them 99.999% of the time for positive things, and the other .1% for a yukky thing, I can't imagine it's going to ruin their entire recall.

[W Sibs]

Just a question.. The trainer we go to for obedience said to me if you want a dog to have great recall don't use tablets as they won't come to you incase your going to ram one down the throat.. Do others find this??as I would rather use a tablet..

First I heard of that.. You would have to ram things down their throat over and over again to make that happen.

Easiest it to put tablet down the throat.. it takes a few seconds, and reward with something awesome (if you want).

With my 12wks pup, I just wrapped his tablet in some mince and gave it to him, he didn't even know :)

Charlie pill down the throat. Emmy thinks all pills are treats, so i just throw it in the air and she catches it.

[Nekhbet]

ust a question.. The trainer we go to for obedience said to me if you want a dog to have great recall don't use tablets as they won't come to you incase your going to ram one down the throat.. Do others find this??as I would rather use a tablet..

[persephone]

My dogs hear a pill bottle rattle .. and they line up :) They know that immediately after they have a pill poked down, that they get a bit of bread & butter , or cheese - so pill time is a GOOD time .

The trainer we go to for obedience said to me if you want a dog to have great recall don't use tablets as they won't come to you incase your going to ram one down the throat.

Think I'd change obedience schools

[Tassie]

:laugh: pers .. my first BC boy was like that - my other girl was hypothyroid, so oroxine twice daily - with treats - and of course Sam had to have treats as well - so when Sam was doing therapy dog work, he got very excited when he would hear the meds trolley coming - although he was always puzzled as to why the humans weren't getting any treats with their pills.

BTW I usually give one or two unbaited soft bits, then the baited one rapidly followed by a couple of unbaited ones (BTW - totally solves any washover onto recall).

[Kavik]

Diesel pretty much opens his mouth for pills :laugh:

The very simple way of preventing any pill taking issues from carrying over into recalls is not to call them and then give them a pill. And make pilling a positive experience. But even if they hate having pills, you simply don't use their recall word and have them come to you to get a pill. You go and get them instead. Then it can't possibly be a problem.

[LizT]

I wouldn't be giving heartworm preventive to an 8 week old pup in the middle of winter but that's just me. I never start mine until they are around 4 or 5 months depending on the season.

Same here. My vet suggests starting them on heartworm preventative at around 5-6 months old.

[LizT]

Diesel pretty much opens his mouth for pills :laugh:

The very simple way of preventing any pill taking issues from carrying over into recalls is not to call them and then give them a pill. And make pilling a positive experience. But even if they hate having pills, you simply don't use their recall word and have them come to you to get a pill. You go and get them instead. Then it can't possibly be a problem.