How Do You Get Your Dog to Take Yucky Pills?

[Ben]

Looking for methods the rest of you use for getting your dog to take pills that he/she despises. Romy has always been great about taking pills. She will even eat Trifexis (her heartworm meds) right out of my hand, and that stuff smells like an Iraqi chemical factory.

However the vet just put her on a test dose of daily Tramadol for pain from her degrading hips. She's supposed to take two pills twice a day. I've got no problem with the two pills that go into her dinner. I drop them in the bowl with her mix of dry food plus the homemade food I make for her and she doesn't know they are there. Her morning dose is problematic though. I've tried stuffing them in a little piece of hotdog, and she spits the whole hotdog right out. Tried covering them in honey. No go. This morning I made pancakes so I made a little pancake with two pills dissolved in the batter for her and she ate that no problem, but I'm not making her freakin' pancakes every day just to get the pills down.

Any other suggestions that work for your dogs? I'd prefer something other than forcing her mouth open and stuffing them down her throat, as I don't want to make the whole thing traumatic, especially as an every day occurrence.

[Nick1911]

I have a dog on a twice-daily anti-seizure pill.

I started by making up three balls of american cheese, one containing the pill.

I give her the first (plain cheese) ball.  Then get her wanting and anticipating the second one - the one with the pill.

I give her the cheese with the pill, and follow it immediately with the third ball of cheese.  She doesn't want to miss the third one, so she quickly swallows the pill.

Now I'm down to just two balls of cheese.  She eats the pill quickly anticipating the next ball of cheese.

[Calumus]

I use a spoon full of peanut butter. Bury the pill in it, give him a couple of small tastes, then a big wad with the pill in it. As soon as I see that he's swallowed some of it, give him the spoon to lick. Works every time, and I never have to chase him down to give him anything. Pretty much the same method as Nick; but with a different treat. I tried cheese, but my dog noticed the pill every time and spit it out. It did work with my last dog though.

[French G.]

Same shingle cheese method. Dogs that gulp work good with raw hamburger balls too.

[roo_ster]

1. Get Fido to sit in front of you.  Your dog is trained well enough for than, no?
2. Grab Fido's snout, with your hand palm-down, and wrap your fingers over the dewlaps and fingers situated such that you can tap out "Dixie" or "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" on the roof of Fido's mouth.
3. Make sure that dewlaps cover the top teeth, so you can push dewlaps into teeth if necessary and to remind Fido not to chomp down.
4. With your other hand, shove pill down as far as possible and to the side of Fido's throat.
5. Withdraw your pill hand and use both hands to hold Fido's mouth closed while Fido swallows.  This may take Fido a few seconds.
6. If you got it down far enough, Fido swallows the pill.  If not, do it again but get serious.
7. Praise Fido when he keeps pill down.

Used to use liver sausage, which works for some dogs.  Dog that spit up liver-sausage coated pills get the pill-shove.  Kinda up to Fido.  

[Brad Johnson]

Tear American cheese slices into quarters. Smush around the pills. Can do the same with chunks of Velveeta. One of the dogs where I house sit occasionally is on Tram. The owners were using the "shove it to the back of her throat" approach. I didn't care for doing it that way so tried to the cheese slice method and it worked. Get the dog on the hook with a non-pilled sliver of cheese, the slip her the pill bomb.

Brad

[BlueStarLizzard]

As Rooster says, pilling methods are best determined by the dog.

I tend to be a "mean momma" and use the shove it down the throat method. In many cases, a dog cookie after will garner forgiveness for mean human. The element of surprise can also make this go easier. I once got a pill down Reese's (Anatolian) throat before she's even managed to figure out I had a pill in my hand.

However, for long term drugs and/or dogs that don't take the shove it method well, bribery and trickery is usually the best case option. Like Nick, I often do the "hey, THERE'S MORE TREAT!" so they eat the doctored bit fast (this can also help with manual pilling. They swallow faster if you're rubbing something they really want on their nose) I've used just about anything soft and mushy that I can find in the fridge, from ice cream to butter to cheese to raw meat. Using different foods also helps, if you've got a smarty pants dog (Northwest figured out the ice cream was doctored, but when we would cycle throw different stuff everyday, he didn't know which tidbit had the pills)

If you don't like using human food, Greenies makes pill pockets that tend to go over well. I've only come across a couple dogs so far that don't go for them. Plus, they are a lot cleaner and easier to deal with than stuff like raw meat and canned dog food (use the stuff that is pate style mush. The chunks in gravy is a PITA for pills)

Also, don't doctor the stuff too far in advanced, especially with Tramadol. The longer the pill is in the food, the more the food starts melting the pill and then smells like the pill.

[41magsnub]

I have had good luck with peanut butter, get a small spoonful and stuff the pill in it.  Let the dog lick the spoon clean.

[Ben]

So as I mentioned in the OP, I'm not using the "shove it" method. While I might do that for a recalcitrant pup on a short term prescription, this is Romy's bucket list year and everything is going to be fun. The vet said that once we have to move her from these pain meds to a daily anti-inflammatory, we can put around a six month cap on her life because of how her liver ALT and ALKP looked on the blood panel.

I'll try the peanut butter and cheese methods first, and if that doesn't work, I like the greenies with the pill pocket idea. I have some Kirkland dental chews I give her, and she really likes them, so the greenies could be a good trick.

[Ben]

Also, don't doctor the stuff too far in advanced, especially with Tramadol. The longer the pill is in the food, the more the food starts melting the pill and then smells like the pill.

Thanks, I was almost thinking the opposite, so good to know. Apparently the Tramadol is more for cats than dogs (we're only using it because of the liver thing) and maybe that's why it's the only med she hasn't taken on her own.  

[Boomhauer]

cube of velvetta cheese

[zxcvbob]

I've been told that marshmallows are good for hiding pills.  I haven't tried it because I don't want to ruin marshmallows.  So we do the "shove it down his throat" method, then give him a cookie or a hotdog.

What worked for a while until he figured it out, was take a canned vienna sausage and use a soda straw to cut a "core sample" down the middle.  Put the pills inside.  (maybe do this ahead of time)  Toss it to the dog and let him catch it.  When Gilligan figured out there were pills in the vienna sausage, he wouldn't eat them again for a *long* time even w/o pills -- it ruined a good treat.

Sardines might be good for hiding pills; I haven't tried that one yet.

[BlueStarLizzard]

If those don't work, unsalted butter is not a horrible option. Buster would swallow a brick if you buttered it first.

Another one we use a the kennel a lot is ground raw meat. Some of the dogs are on a partial raw diet, so we have dog specific stuff on hand, but plain ground beef works fine.
Plus, they usually LOVE it. Southwest got some of his drugs sandwiched in cheap beef chunks the last 6 months or so of his life as well. I would just grab a small pack of whatever the meat section had on sale when I was at the store and treat him and the others until it ran out.

It's messier, but, like I said, LOVE it.

[K Frame]

Smear them with a little butter, open snout, and push to the back of the tongue.

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

[Jamisjockey]

My dog eats pills....

[never_retreat]

I just lift the dogs head up with my left hand around the snout. Use the other hand to open the mouth and drop it to the back. Hold it shut and pointed up and rub her chin and she swallows it.

[RocketMan]

Put the pill on a small chunk of bread.  Cover the pill with a little peanut butter, regular butter, Duke's Mayonnaise, or some of that cheese like substance that comes out of a can.  Wad up the bread with the pill into a little ball.  Make others like it without the pill.  Serve as treats to the dog.  Works every time with our Rocket serving up his twice daily meds.

[Perd Hapley]

Crush, and combine with food Doggy likes. We've used shredded cheese a lot.

[castle key]

Certainly a variety of methods and probably one may work.

Since you say that the hips are going, have you tried other things for relief, such as Dasuquin supplement, Rimadyl for short term with concurrent liver monitoring, or even acupuncture?

[Ben]

Certainly a variety of methods and probably one may work.

Since you say that the hips are going, have you tried other things for relief, such as Dasuquin supplement, Rimadyl for short term with concurrent liver monitoring, or even acupuncture?

She's been on the Cosequine for a couple of years now, and that made a BIG difference. At the time, I actually thought I might have to put her down, but after a couple of months of the Cosequine, there was a big improvement. The vet actually told me to up her dosage now. She's had Rimadyl for short durations when she's forgotten how old she is and over-exerted. I always have a supply on hand. He's still pretty adamant about not going to fulltime Rimadyl or other anti-inflamatory until there is no other choice.

The visit (annual) yesterday was actually kind of a wakeup call for me. He took about three times longer than he usually does talking to me about quality of life decisions and options. My big concern was that she's getting a bit of old dog bronchitis (as I learned from him, since I didn't know what it was), but he wasn't concerned about that at all unless it increases (he did x-rays).

His big concern was the way she walked, which I guess I don't pay as much attention to since I see it everyday. He said there's definitely a little pain there, even if I can't see it. I would have expected pain to be her really struggling to get up, or not wanting to at all, which was supposed to be my cue to myself on the quality of life decision. She only sorta struggles to get up on her hind legs, but she always wants to, and still likes to putter around the yard and stuff. Nothing at all that would cue me into any pain. But the vet said from the way she walks that she has at least slight pain while doing so.

Hence we're trying the Tramadol now. I still have no idea why she hates it so much. The freakin' Trifexis even my human nose can smell from 20', and it smells like pesticide (which of course it partially is). The Tramadol must have a really bitter taste to a dog's mouth. Her expression after I give her Trifexis is, "Gee, thanks pal!" Her expression when I gave her the first Tramadol was, "What the hell is wrong with you?!? Are you trying to poison me or something?" 

I've never thought about accupuncture. I've seen a poster at the vet's for some kind of laser therapy, but know nothing about it.

Anyway, the visit yesterday made me a lot more cognizant about monitoring her condition to make sure I'm not overlooking anything, or worse, subconsciously overlooking her condition because I want to keep her around longer.

[BlueStarLizzard]

I've seen good results with acupuncture as well as doggy massage.

Another thought, if you can find it, swimming physical therapy. Maintaining muscle is the best way to keep her going. At the very least, really make sure to keep her moving. I'm not saying to train her up for a marathon, but easy short walks multiple times of day is a good idea. Even if she doesn't want to get up, bug her until she does and get her to stretch her legs.
Obviously, you don't want to over do it, but keeping her muscle mass up and keeping her moving will keep her moving for longer.

[Firethorn]

For the pills - last time I was home my parents were using the green 'pill pockets'.  Whatever they're made of, none of their 3 dogs were about to refuse them.

Even though 1 of the dogs isn't on any meds, she still gets a bit of a one to be fair.

And yes, following up with another treat can be handy as well to get them to hurry up and swallow.

[BlueStarLizzard]

For the pills - last time I was home my parents were using the green 'pill pockets'.  Whatever they're made of, none of their 3 dogs were about to refuse them.

Even though 1 of the dogs isn't on any meds, she still gets a bit of a one to be fair.

And yes, following up with another treat can be handy as well to get them to hurry up and swallow.

Greenie's. The name of the company isn't very creative.

[Kingcreek]

Our vet used some kind of dog treat pill hider that looked like ground meat.
I told him it wasn't necessary. He's a lab and would eat rocks if I tossed them to him. This is the dog that has stolen and eaten football sized zucchini melons squash cucumbers and a couple pet doors and dog houses.

[Tuco]

Pill on back of tongue
Hold muzzle shut, firm and gentle, pointed up.
Rub throat

And heres's the secret...

Blow a puff of air at the noseholes.
Just enough pressure to clear away a thimble full of dry sawdust of your forearm, but not enough to clear a dandelion seedhead.
Keep the muzzle up and closed until the swallow.

All dogs are different. 

Some guys claim to see pills and heartworm cubes intact in the stools.
I will break up a Heartguard or crush a tablet or empty a capsule on a bowl of favorite food if it's a scheduled, expensive,  critical dose.