Butter and cat food
I’ve had like with a little bit of butter on the pill, or even better, some really, really stinky cat food!
Ditto the cat food. Have a silky terrier on Clavimox now. I crush the pill and use canned cat food to soak it up into a little ball and roll some more into it. Works great!
I generally put pills (whether meds or vitamins) in a spoonful of yogurt on top of their food. Unless a dog is really sick/off his/her food, they snarf it right up even before they eat kibble and some of the other stuff I add (egg, etc) although meat is numero uno.
I’m a vet tech for ICU dogs, which means I’m pilling 5-10 every hour. For future reference, here’s my/our pilling methods (in increasing order of 'dog assholery/snappiness/stubbornness)
-Treat food
-Hand Pill
-If you can’t hand pill with just the pills, put pills in a pill pocket and then push down. You’re still cramming in the back of the throat, but theyre more apt to swallow if it tasted like food on the tongue, instead of a pill that must. come. up. Something ‘sturdy’ like a pill pocket is better than wet food, because then they can’t roll it around, work the pill loose and work it back up. I know theyre expensive but are a life saver if hand pilling.
-Peanut Butter (on a tongue depressor if its a biter). Back of the throat, tiny peanut butter ball rolled up with pills. If the pills are sticky, they have a hard time pushing them back up and have to swallow. Works beautifully with pills that aren’t capsules (doesn’t stick as well).
Pill Popper, one at a time. When you get bold and try to do multiple pills at once you can’t get it in as well, and fail. We will also pill pop through a muzzle if we have to.
WHEN HAND PILLING:
Hold the dogs nose shut but allow them to lick with their tongue SLIGHTLY. Give them enough room to open and close their mouth just a little bit. Once they give a BIG lick, give them some mouth room and see if they’ve swallowed yet. If not, shut mouth again, squirt 1-3cc’s in the corner of the cheek to promote a swallow. People have always said blow in the nose, but blowing in the ear seems to work better for me.
Tramadol, methocarbamol, prednisone all foam when wet in the mouth (especially tramadol) so try to coat that in something first. So does gabapentin if the capsule bursts while you’re pilling. Cephalexin is easily snuffed out in food, and stinks to the dog.
Remember, there’s a liquid form to most things. If you ABSOLUTELY can’t get a dog pilled for oral pain meds like tramadol/rimadyl, ask if Metacam is an option. If your animal’s on Clavamox, ask if you can do liquid instead (expensive on a big dog but better than them not getting it at all.) Or Cefa Drops for Cephalexin. You can also ask your vet if any of the pills can be dissolved into a slurry to squirt them in with a syringe.
I feel like I could write a book on pilling dogs…
