I can't get my senior dog to take his pill/ideas?

[Alicia64]

Hi Guys,

 

I'm having a bad time. My black Lab is really going down hill. The dr. put him on tramadol for arthritis pain, but the pill is so bitter he spits it out.

 

I tucked it into some meat stuff that he loves, but he's wise to that now.

 

I also bought those Greenie "pill pocket" things. He won't even eat those without a pill in it.

 

I've tried coating the pill in peanut butter and he won't eat it. Although I thought I'd get chunky instead of smooth which is what we have.

 

I also bought a $4 shooter thing that shoots the pill into the back of his mouth. That wasn't fun and didn't even work. He spit it out with a ton of drool.

 

I think we're nearing the end of the road. I called the vet just now to see about another med that might work better.

 

It's hard at the end. :sad:

 

Any more ideas?

 

Alley

[Jen500]

Have you tried velveeta?

I give the dog the pill in a treat, and then immediately offer a few more treats, so the dog keep eating instead of spitting the pill out.

:grouphug:

[Chris in VA]

Can you open his mouth, put the pill down his throat, hold his mouth shut, and blow in his nose while stroking his throat?

 

:D Sounds more complicated than it is.

 

I agree with giving it in a treat then giving more treats--something he loves and doesn't try to chew. I remember using marshmallows for my own dog when I was a girl.:001_smile:

[dancer67]

Cheese. My dog will eat anything that has a piece of cheese. Take whatever food your dog likes, and use it if you can. Seems like he is smart and figures it out after a while, so you may have to rotate foods.

 

And I am sorry to hear about your baby. I have a dog myself and it is awful when they are hurting.:grouphug:

[TheReader]

We have used banana, cheese, peanut butter, meat, etc. but one thing our vet suggested and usually works is to offer a plain treat (or two), then the one with the pill in it, then another one or two after. This way he sort of gobbles them all without noticing as much.

 

otherwise, we just do the "shove to the back of the throat, hold mouth closed, wait for her to swallow" thing.

 

:grouphug: It's hard when our pets are so sick and failing. :grouphug:

[Lolly]

I'm another just cram it downer. Have dog sit. Open its mouth. Toss in pill. Push it down with your finger as far as you can. Hold mouth closed. Stroke throat in a downward motion. Do not let go of mouth until he swallows. (It won't take long.) Give treat.

[melissad2]

We have used banana, cheese, peanut butter, meat, etc. but one thing our vet suggested and usually works is to offer a plain treat (or two), then the one with the pill in it, then another one or two after. This way he sort of gobbles them all without noticing as much.

 

otherwise, we just do the "shove to the back of the throat, hold mouth closed, wait for her to swallow" thing.

 

:grouphug: It's hard when our pets are so sick and failing. :grouphug:

 

:iagree:

[Acorn Island]

Our dog was pretty crafty at removing the pill from whatever it was in. Like you, we tried wrapping it in deli meat, cheese, pill pockets, and that HORRIBLE pill gun. (Which also resulted in the pills coming out with a waterfall of drool. On my feet.) And she needed 10 pills per day. Uuugh!

 

So I absolutely sympathize! :grouphug:

 

In the end, what worked best for us was to frequently change the item the pill was hidden inside --- she would get wise to it after a few days.

 

Some of our favorite 'cloaking' foods were: braunschweiger (liver worst), soft bread (it's kind of mushable and you can make your own 'pill pocket'), cream cheese, baked chicken (cut a slit in it and hide the pill in there - usually a 2" square piece), a corner or sandwich (or any human food -- because she was VERY interested in human food), and most pathetically, at the very end I even resorted to putting a little bit of frosting on the pill, or hiding it in frosty paws ice cream. (And yes, I know that isn't the recommended diet for dogs. But desperate times call for desperate measures!)

 

I really wish you the best of luck. It is an incredibly frustrating experience to try to get a clever dog to eat a pill when they don't want to do so! And if my vet told me one more time to put it in her mouth and blow on her nose I would have gone insane! That did not work at all!

 

So sorry your dog is sick!

[Pawz4me]

Get three small pieces of sliced cheese. Squish one piece around the pill. Give him a slice of cheese, then the slice with the pill, and then the last piece. All in quick succession.

 

If that doesn't work, pilling a dog isn't difficult if done properly. If he spit the pill out then you didn't get it far enough back in his mouth.

 

There are pain-relieving medicines available that are flavored, but I believe they're NSAIDs and Tramadol is an opiate (not an NSAID). There may be some underlying health reason that caused your vet to not prescribe an NSAID.

[TravelingChris]

I just cram it down too. My dog takes a few pills both in the morning and evening. He doesn't really resist anymore since he knows he gets a treat.

[Alicia64]

I'm another just cram it downer. Have dog sit. Open its mouth. Toss in pill. Push it down with your finger as far as you can. Hold mouth closed. Stroke throat in a downward motion. Do not let go of mouth until he swallows. (It won't take long.) Give treat.

 

Lolly -- How? He has teeth! And while he's never bitten in his almost 13 years I'll admit that I'm scared of getting bit.

 

Alley

[TN Mama]

The velveeta trick worked for my dog for about 7 or 8 months, then he finally got wise and would take it into his mouth, eat the cheese & spit out the pill. He actually won't eat velveeta (even by itself) anymore. :glare: Now we just pop it in (still w/cheese), hold his mouth closed & rub his throat. It really doesn't take long, but I still hate doing it.

[DarlaS]

Lolly -- How? He has teeth! And while he's never bitten in his almost 13 years I'll admit that I'm scared of getting bit.

 

Alley

 

Quickly.

 

Keep a bit of his cheek over his molars. This is also how you get them to open up in the first place. Put your hand over the top of his snout and push the cheek in-between his molars until he opens fairly wide. Drop pill in, release cheek and and clamp his mouth shut. The whole thing should only take a couple of seconds. Your dog will not bite through his own face to get to you over a pill. Especially if you cover it in peanut butter or butter.

 

You just got to get it over the rounded hump of the tongue as far as possible. Once over the hump far enough, it's nearly impossible for them to spit it out.

 

It honestly never occurred to me to try to get them to willingly swallow a pill. Neither of my dogs is a snarf-it-down type though. (Even our GSD will nibble gently at treats. He's such an oddball. :tongue_smilie:)

[kitten18]

The best thing for me was to put the pill in a glob of peanut butter and then wipe the whole thing (peanut butter and pill) on the roof of his mouth. Then as he was licking the pb from the roof of his mouth, he would swallow the pill.

 

I'm sorry about your dog, it's so hard. :grouphug:

[Jann in TX]

Ask for liquid or pulverize the pill and add it to wet food or raw hamburger meat.

 

I trained my big german shepherds to tolerate me jamming a pill down their throat-- they KNEW a cookie would soon follow!

 

PS-- I prefer the liquid-- especially with older dogs...

[ktgrok]

Have you tried velveeta?

I give the dog the pill in a treat, and then immediately offer a few more treats, so the dog keep eating instead of spitting the pill out.

:grouphug:

 

:iagree:

 

I give one treat with no pill in it, to build trust, lol. Then the treat with the pill, then hold more treats in front of his nose so he keeps eating fast rather than taking time to search for the pill.

[Joker]

I can only get my dog to take his meds if I put it inside a large marshmallow. He eats the marshmallow so quick he's never spit it out. He has to take meds every other day, and this has worked for us this past year. He didn't like those Greenie things either, and he seems to be allergic to everything else.

 

ETA: I agree with the pp about giving more than one treat. He gets two marshmallows. One without the pill and one with the pill.

[Lolly]

Lolly -- How? He has teeth! And while he's never bitten in his almost 13 years I'll admit that I'm scared of getting bit.

 

Alley

 

Quickly.

 

Keep a bit of his cheek over his molars. This is also how you get them to open up in the first place. Put your hand over the top of his snout and push the cheek in-between his molars until he opens fairly wide. Drop pill in, release cheek and and clamp his mouth shut. The whole thing should only take a couple of seconds. Your dog will not bite through his own face to get to you over a pill. Especially if you cover it in peanut butter or butter.

 

You just got to get it over the rounded hump of the tongue as far as possible. Once over the hump far enough, it's nearly impossible for them to spit it out.

 

It honestly never occurred to me to try to get them to willingly swallow a pill. Neither of my dogs is a snarf-it-down type though. (Even our GSD will nibble gently at treats. He's such an oddball. :tongue_smilie:)

 

This. If you are having to go back to the vet, they can probably show you. You could try it with something pill sized but tasty first.

[canadianmomtofour]

Please don't crush the pill. It is time released, and crushing it will give all the medication immediately; overdosing the dog.

 

I can sympathize. We just put our sweet, old dog to sleep one week ago today. He was in a lot of pain, and was on Tramadol, Metacam, and then stool softeners to counteract the first two. It was time to let him rest. :crying:

 

My guy was always difficult to give meds to; he always just knew when there was something hiding in that treat! I second the advice to give a no-strings-attached treat first, and then try to sneak it in with the second. The peanut butter on the roof of the mouth trick might work too. I wish I had thought of that one a few years ago. :glare:

 

I'm sorry about your dog. I hope you can enjoy him as long as possible.

[momofkhm]

At the end with Tawny, I had to put the pill in peanut butter then wrap the peanut butter wad in lunch meat. It sounds gross but it worked for her.

[TravelingChris]

I take tramadol myself and so I decided today to taste it- the human version has a very bland taste nothing like prednisose--AAAAAAH. Now that stuff is bitter.

 

If anyone has questions about how medications taste, PM me and I might have an answer, unfortunately. :tongue_smilie:

[dirty ethel rackham]

Can you open his mouth, put the pill down his throat, hold his mouth shut, and blow in his nose while stroking his throat? <snip>

 

:iagree:This is how we got our dog to take pills. He became very adept at eating the treat and spitting out the pill. Once he has licked his lips, we know he has swallowed. Then we follow up with a treat for being such a good boy:).

[MercyA]

My arthritic old dog takes Tramadol, too. Hiding it inside a small ball of canned dog food works 99% of the time for us.

[Shawndrese]

We also have a senior dog who knows how to eat around the pill, no matter what we hide it in. And when we try cramming it down her throat, she pukes it up. The only thing that works is a pill crusher and a little water in her food. We crush the pill up into dust and sprinkle it in her food, then add a little water (and she loves when her food is softer)

Hopefully this will work better for you :001_smile:

[Caitilin]

I have hidden pills in liverwurst for my dogs, and even the ones who can sort out the pill from other kinds of treats will snarf the whole morsel without a problem.:D

[claire up north]

Try crunching it up and then mixing it in with something yummy and soft.

[celticmom]

I have used the spray cheese to cover the pill. If that doesn't work, Istick it to the roof of their mouth with peanut butter. I have also stuck my hand in their mouths. Ours figure out pretty quick that the pill is going into them and if they take it nicely with cheese they won't get pestered further.

[KarenC]

For our dog, I pull the pill apart and pour the powder into canned dog food and mix it up well. Or, I pour the powder into chicken broth and he will lick it.

 

Karen

[StephanieZ]

The vet might be able to get it compounded in a very tasty treat or even liquid.

 

The vet could teach you how to pill him using the shooter thingy or your finger. If you get it back far enough behind his tongue, he can NOT spit it out, and he won't even taste it.

 

Hth.

[KidsHappen]

I just hold my Golden's mouth open and put the pill so far down the back of his throat that he doesn't even taste it. It only takes a few seconds and he never gives me a hard time about it. I always give him a fish oil pill after as a treat because he loves those. I learned that when I was first trying to get him to take pills. He would regurgitate them almost, pushing them up his throat and out his mouth so I rolled them in fish oil to make them palatable and easier to slip down his throat and that worked. Now that he knows he will get a fish oil he will just let me give him any other med he needs.

[Walking-Iris]

Hi Guys,

 

I'm having a bad time. My black Lab is really going down hill. The dr. put him on tramadol for arthritis pain, but the pill is so bitter he spits it out.

 

I tucked it into some meat stuff that he loves, but he's wise to that now.

 

I also bought those Greenie "pill pocket" things. He won't even eat those without a pill in it.

 

I've tried coating the pill in peanut butter and he won't eat it. Although I thought I'd get chunky instead of smooth which is what we have.

 

I also bought a $4 shooter thing that shoots the pill into the back of his mouth. That wasn't fun and didn't even work. He spit it out with a ton of drool.

 

I think we're nearing the end of the road. I called the vet just now to see about another med that might work better.

 

It's hard at the end. :sad:

 

Any more ideas?

 

Alley

 

:grouphug: I know this feeling. We had the same situation with a family owned yellow Lab. (my dh's dog as a puppy and youth, yet lived with my in-laws in her senior years and we all had a hand in her care--she wasn't a pet. She was a family member.)

 

We did lots of things. Rolled it up in lunch meat, a hunk of bread, hamburger and there was the just sticking it in there and making her swallow.

 

It was really hard at the end of her life. Hard.

[Alicia64]

Thank you everyone! You've been wonderful. Well, my Lab has had a bit of a turn around today which I really needed.

 

I finally got him to take a pill in -- of all things -- bow pasta with red sauce. All of a sudden he'll get up and eat for pasta. :001_huh:

 

And with even one pill in him today he did so much better -- so now I'm committed to getting that pill down him!

 

Thank you!!

 

Alley

[Guest DorianHector]

Try swaddling the dog in a big towel before doing the shoving-down-the-throat thing.

[celticmom]

Thank you everyone! You've been wonderful. Well, my Lab has had a bit of a turn around today which I really needed.

 

I finally got him to take a pill in -- of all things -- bow pasta with red sauce. All of a sudden he'll get up and eat for pasta. :001_huh:

 

And with even one pill in him today he did so much better -- so now I'm committed to getting that pill down him!

 

Thank you!!

 

Alley

 

Maybe he will make the connection with how much better he felt after the pill. One of our dogs seemed to make that connection after she was hit by a car and was being medicated.