Tricks for Giving Your Dog Pills

Do you have a dog at home? Then there would come a time that every pet parent dreads – administering medicines to your little one. Indeed, even the most cooperative dogs dislike pills, and other objects shoved down their throats.

It is hard to find a dog who would not do so. Therefore, try to disguise the pills carefully and hide them in peanut butter.

However, your dog always finds a way to clean off all the peanut butter from the pill and then leave it on the carpet so you can step on it and crush it.

Sometimes, they hide it under the couch, which is even worse when you think of it. You can often cheat your dog and hide the pills under American cheese and other infamous foods.

They would fall for it on a couple of occasions as well. However, they would dash the hills the next time you even open the packet.

The pharmacies dealing in specialty compounding are coming up these days with various innovative ways to get medicines to your dogs.

Pharmacies offer flavored tablets, liquids, transdermal creams, tiny capsules, and injectable medicines. Some of these items can be rather expensive.

Therefore, pet parents are looking for other affordable ways to feed medicines to their dogs. One of the most popular options is the pill pockets sold commercially.

However, do you want something a bit more natural and thus a lot healthier for your baby? In that case, you should go for homemade pill pockets, as they would do the trick.       

It is especially true when your dog has been taking medicines for a long time.

Ways to make pill pockets at home 

There are so many creative ways you can make these pill pockets at home that it is almost impossible to keep a count of them as such.

If you want to ensure that your dog does not suspect anything, keep changing the food when mixing the medication. If you can, you should change the time when administering the medicine. At times, switch the foods laced with pills and give the usual food instead.

As said, making these pill pockets at home is easy. There are plenty of foods that you can use as the next pill pocket. For starters, you need to use foods that your dog loves naturally. In this case, you can focus on foods with the right chill quotient and texture to hold the pills.

They must have the properties that you are looking for in this context. Most importantly, you would have to act to give them the best treat in the world.

You can try them to perform various commands like sitting and doing tricks. When they pull it off successfully, you can provide them with the treat filled with the medicine.

You can be sure that the happiness of your baby would make sure that they do not suspect anything fishy. Do you want to feed them eggs with the medicine in them? In that case, do not scramble the eggs. Make a patty with them.

After that, cut the patty into squares of different sizes. Make sure they have a sufficient thickness to slide between the two layers in the capsule or pill.

Dogs do not chew soft treats. With one quick gulp, your dog would swallow the entire package. There are some other options that you can try. These options are discussed below:

• squares of chilled or warm jelly and peanut butter sandwich
• pieces of hot dog
• chilled peanut butter balls
• pasta cooked softly
• butter balls
• small pieces of beef and chicken
• cream cheese balls
• toast with melted cheese

You can also think of other treats your dog would like.

If you need, you can create another layer or add peanut butter to the food that contains the pill. Change the wrapper occasionally so your food does not become habituated or suspect anything wrong.

If you are administering pills that taste bitter, you should wash your hands after putting the pill in the food. It would ensure no trace of the pill on your hands, apart from the food where you put it.

What to do if your dog still rejects the medicine?

The thing with some dogs is that they are impossible to maneuver in any way. It means that under no situation would they take oral medicines. The alternatives that you can try in these cases are transdermal creams.

You can get them made from specialty pharmacies. You can dab the specially formulated cream, which contains the medicine in the requisite concentration, in the inner flap of an ear. Keep changing the ear where you apply the same.

In this case, the medicine would get absorbed through the skin. You can also get lick doses from specialty pharmacies. In this case, they make tasty ointments that contain the medicines to be administered.

Apply the ointment to their inner thigh, and they can lick it off. If nothing else works, you can always go for injectable medicines.

You can get them injected at your home or take them to the vet hospital for the same. However, it depends on your dog and the medicines that must be administered.

The best place to start such processes and clear any doubt that you may have in this case is your veterinary doctor.