getting dogs to take their meds?!

BroadfordQueen

BroadfordQueen

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How do you do it?
Following on from my thread a while ago, my jack Russell was tested for epilepsy and is now on lifelong medication.
I've tried everything to get her to take them (they are only tiny). If I put them in food she just spits the tablet back out- she's not the sort of dog who wolf's her food down unfortunately, she's always been quite picky. So I've had to manually make her take it, but now she clamps her mouth closed so tightly and has got to the stage of running away when she sees me pick up the bottle! I hoped she would get used to it and accept it as part of her routine but she's getting worse and gets really quite upset about it!
If anyone has any magic tips they'd be much appreciated!
 
Things that have worked in the past include: sardines, marmite, pate, primula cream cheese.

Alternatively, talk to your vet and see if there is any alternative medication from a different company that uses the same active ingredient but different excipients. I have one dog on long-term medication that has taken a certain tablet every day for the last couple of years with no problem directly from the hand without any disguising. Last autumn he started point blank refusing to even sniff it and became very adept at licking off the marmite or whatever and spitting out the tablet. The manufacturer initially claimed there had been no change to the formulary but with careful questioning it became apparent that the excipients had changed.

A change to a similar product from a different company met with the dog's approval and he is now back to taking the tablet from my hand. It's worth a shot as what the drug companies consider to be palatable doesn't always coincide with the dog's view......despite their protestations at global testing.
 
I have to do it as of Zak were a cat, he's a demon for spitting things out and he just won't eat tablets. Hold his mouth gently shut, stroke throat, wait til tablet dissolves cos he refuses to swallow!
 
Crushed tablet in a little bit of butter or dairylea is nice and sticky both these get tablets down mine but I also give the meds when we have been playing so they don't go all tense and expect a battle. For instance throw a ball a few times do a recall and sit give a small biscuit with a dab of dairylea, play again recall, sit, tablet and dairylea so the anticipation of being forced is taken away.
 
I find a bit of cheddar works. I've got a jack Russell as he is a finicky feeder at the best of times.
I find I can get tablets down him if a put a knob of cheese in the microwave for a second or two, enough to make the cheese pliable to wrap the tablet in, but not melted...makes it smell more as well!
Also try the left over skin from a bit of fish - salmon or cod etc.

Trouble is JR's are very clever and will soon see through any tricks!
 
Dairy Lea, peanut butter or something from the vet (new product) called Easypill - it's a meaty putty that you put the pill in to and they snarf it up happily.
 
I'm probably stating the obvious but have you tried giving him some of the suggested treats (butter/dairylea etc) without a pill in it first? Until he's happily eating that from you there's probably little point in adding the pill.
 
The youtube link shows my collie Stig taking oral metacam but if he needs tablets, i just ask him to sit and give them like treats and he eats them without fuss. We have four dogs and they all do the same. With nasty tasting tablets, we feed a couple if treats, then tablet, then treat to finish.

Some just won't do it this way but it is definitely worth a try!

Good luck xxx

https://youtu.be/73FnrquUQ1E
 
Without trying to sound too "goody goody"- she never really gets human food. She's obsessed with balls/sticks etc so I use those for good behaviour rather than treats. I tried it in a piece of cheese yesterday, gave her some without the tablet in first which she just dropped and then slowly nibbled! And then ate around the tablet in the second piece.
I think she would eat it in a piece of meat, so may buy some cheap sausages to pre cook and use. The only fussy terrier ever lol!
 
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As some of the others have said, cheddar cheese.
Use a decoy piece first, mould it in your fingers so it rounds in to a ball, give them the dummy one and have the real one with tablet inserted in the middle and cheese wrapped round it ready, follow dummy one with real one and they go straight down!
 
I use a quickfire technique - sometimes just one or two treats before the loaded treat is not enough, so I have a small handful of treats and feed them quickfire until he is more or less swallowing without hesitation, then have the treat in the same hand and give that quickly followed by another load of treats quickfire so he doesn't have chance to realise it was horrid. It works well although needs varying amounts of small treats as you might need quite a few to begin with, and ideally good and strong flavoured to help cover the flavour of the tablet.
You can hide it in tiny bits of sausage and use them as the treats, or I use Barker and Barker treats that look and feel just like tablets (and come in different sizes), have pure ingredients and are strongly scented and flavoured enough.
 
Doesn't sound like she is food oriented at all. Does she catch balls if you throw them? If she does, try it as a game, saying "ready....steady....CATCH" and throw the tablet.
 
Update- she ate philli on a cracker last night, well she licked the philli off the biscuit but the 3rd time she didn't notice the tablet! And again his morning, so hopefully that will work for a while until she gets bored of the taste of cream cheese lol.
Thanks for all the tips!
 
BroadfordQueen said:
Update- she ate philli on a cracker last night, well she licked the philli off the biscuit but the 3rd time she didn't notice the tablet! And again his morning, so hopefully that will work for a while until she gets bored of the taste of cream cheese lol.
Thanks for all the tips!
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Yay...well done!
 
My dog has to take 3 pills in the morning and 4 pills at night.

I use to buy some stuff from the vets that smelt like beef but each packet was getting expensive. I now buy the Bakers Meat lumps split them and put the pills it. They are done in a jiffy. The once in an evening I put in his dinner.

He is so use to having to have these pills that he is waiting each morning for his treats.
 
Im finding this a problem also!
My little dog is on 4.5 tablets in the morning then several more at intervals throughout the day. At first he'd eat them on his dinner but no longer is it that easy!
We seem to go through phases of things working then failing. Im currently doing the mashing a bit of cheese in my hand to soften and form a ball to hide them all in....going to use some of the above suggestions next ;)
 
Our JRTx has medication every day throughout the summer months and cheese is the only thing which works for him. And it must be in chunks not slices in his opinion. He also has to have his teeth brushed every day on vets orders (which he puts up with under sufferance). The cheese is also his reward for having his teeth brushed so its dual purpose. Glad you found something which is working.
 
i use cheese or ham, anything i can wrap the pill in.
give plain bit [decoy] then the one with the pill in, then another decoy. ::)
 
kiritiger said:
Our JRTx has medication every day throughout the summer months and cheese is the only thing which works for him. And it must be in chunks not slices in his opinion. He also has to have his teeth brushed every day on vets orders (which he puts up with under sufferance). The cheese is also his reward for having his teeth brushed so its dual purpose. Glad you found something which is working.
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JRTs are very fussy eaters..mine will go 24 hours without eating about once a week, and she needs to take a pill every day. We tuck it into a bit of cheese but put it on the floor on a saucer with a few other bits of cheese and she usually eats the lot, inc the pill. It's a lot less stressy having decoy food and she thinks its her choice if it's on the floor - we watch her like a hawk though. In desperation I have done the same trick using small balls of pate cat food..I've mashed the pill in the pestle and morter and moulded it into balls of cat food, including a couple of decoy balls. Bonkers, but it's such a worry when they are fussy eaters..good luck!
 
My little JRT x was a devil for not taking his heart tablets until I discovered cocktail sausages. He used to have his tabs in half a cocktail sausage or a bit of chicken.
 
I agree, cheese. What I do it make a game of it by throwing her little pieces of cheese to catch and after a couple of unadulterated ones throw the one with the tablet in. They never touch the sides and I don't think she even notices!!
 
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