Giving Medication

[dogsbestfriend]

Originally Posted by 2rotties2luv

I would not advise using cheese or butter if your dog has a stomach upset and is supposed to be on a bland diet.

Take the canned food and make 3 or 4 balls with it. Hide the pill in the first one. Put the others in your hand so he can see that you have more than one. Give him the one with the pill inside, and as soon as he takes it, offer him the second and third ones. Usually, they are in such a hurry to get ALL of the treats, they will gulp them down. Remember he has to see that you have more than one treat.

If you have to give the pills by sticking it down his throat, here is the method I've used successfully in the past:
Take a dog biscuit or other treat and hold it in your left hand. Make sure the dog sees it and smells it. While pinching the treat between your fingers, grasp the dogs upper jaw behind the nose and gently open the mouth by pulling down on the lower jaw with your right hand(which is holding the pill). As soon as the mouth is open, put in the pill and push it back as far as you can into the dog's throat. The dog should still be aware of and smelling the treat in your other hand. Immediately close the dog's mouth and massage the throat from chin to chest to encourage the dog to swallow. Then open his mouth and shove in the treat. Usually, the dog will be focused on getting the treat and will not bother to try to spit out the pill which is already halfway down his throat.

It may take a couple of tries before you get the moves down, but it can be done! The object of both methods is to get the dog's attention on plain yummy treats and off of the pill.

Reading moondogs post above, I had limited success hiding pills in a spoonful of baby food - it only worked if the pills were small ones.

This worked great !!! I did it yesterday afternoon and this morning... he was so excited to get thrown the balls of food !!!!

Thank you all for your help on this..

[llwaxan]

Ester was really tough with meds, even the yummy chewable HeartGuard.
So just to add...I had to use an abbreviated AngelBunny technique. Open jaws, insert pill in back of throat, close mouth and hold it closed while stoking throat, followed with same praise to dog as being the most clever amazing dog to ever live.

Sometimes the food treats work and then mad day comes and then one must take the Rott by the horns so to speak.