My Chihuahua has to have 2 liquid meds and 2 pills twice a day for her heart. I'm afraid I'm hurting her with the liquid and she out smarts me with the pills. Help?
By Sandy from Excelsior, MN
Add your voice! Click below to answer. ThriftyFun is powered by your wisdom!
Does she have a special treat that she loves? Something wet? A little bit of meatloaf, a small amount of canned dog food, even a little bit of people soup (not the creamed kind, but beef soup is good) or stew. Doesn't take much. But put the liquid meds into the food and also grind the pills up and put them in there too. Don't use much food. Just enough to get her to eat it, but only enough so it's not a meal but a treat for her. She should gobble it right up. Especially if you make a big deal out of "it's treat time!" so she thinks she's really getting something special.
For the liquid, use a syringe w/o needle and if you cut a hot dog up and insert the pill inside one piece, the dog may eat it easily and not even notice the pill. I take a paring knife and insert it through each middle piece and the pill inserts easier w/o going through the middle and out the side. I do this with my dogs and have no problem with them getting it down, but sometimes it takes a second try.
If this doesn't work for your chi, try crushing the pill and mix it with vanilla pudding or as Cricketnc stated, meatloaf.
Try a small spoonful of peanut butter. I mix my dogs pills with this. might work to mix in the liquid meds first, then roll pill in this mixture. Most dogs swallow small bits of food whole so this might work.
I find that putting the pill in a bit of peanut butter works. Just roll the peanut butter into a ball with the pill in the middle. It works. I used to have a dog that when I gave it a pill in a bit of ground beef, would eat the beef and spit out the pill.
When mine needs pills, I plan on giving the treat in 3 pieces. I break up, lets say cheese, bologna, peanut butter on bread,etc, I feed him the first piece with no meds. second piece gets pill, third piece no pills. If I give him med in first sampling, he figures it out and wont trust another piece. I use a syringe for liquids. good luck. :)
I use a syringe to get liquid medicine down. Pills I use grated cheese. It warms in your hand to completely enclose the pill or place a small amount onto a plastic spoon and pop in the microwave for 10 secs until it starts to melt, poke the pill into it and roll the cheese around. Careful it's hot, but my Topsy loves it.
Our vet used a piece of cheese; worked great and when we tried it. It worked again.
For pills I had to give my pets I always ground them into a powder and then put it in a very strong smelling wet food that they couldn't resist. Strong smelling is good because it masks any flavor of the pill better. I don't know about the liquid, but you could try to hide it in food as well and have her lick it off your fingers like a real "treat."
My dog had to take 3 pills 3 times a day for a couple of years and she always outsmarted me until I tried cheese. If I made the ball of cheese too big she would eat the cheese and spit out the pill, but a small cushiony ball of cheese she couldn't resist and it worked like a charm.
Add your voice! Click below to answer. ThriftyFun is powered by your wisdom!
Have folks found any treats that work for giving dogs liquid medicine? Our dog will be cared for by a cat-lover who is intimidated at having to open her mouth to squirt the syringe contents in.
I'd love to find something he could fill with the tsp of liquid medicine, seal with liverwurst, and then offer to her on a plate or on his open palm.
By Pet Lover from Seattle
Our Dalmatian has epilepsy and I've been giving her medication for eight years. I added liquid medication to bread and she would eat it that way. When she was tired of that, I asked a compounding pharmacy to make the Rx into a capsule form that she can swallow with dog food. This works great! Check with a compounding pharmacy for other methods to make the Rx. They can make it into different flavors too like peanut butter! Good luck. (03/14/2010)
By JillyD
Practice at home and see if your dog will accept the liquid med mixed in with a spoonful of peanut butter. After mixing it in a bowl or cup, get it back on the spoon and your dog should lick it right off. I even let my dog lick the bowl, but don't tell my husband! He thinks that's gross! (03/16/2010)
By Lee Taylor
Try putting liquid medications in low-salt beef or chicken broth. My dogs will drink it right out of a shallow dish. Most times I can just mix it in peanut butter like others have mentioned. I give it to them on my fingers or a small plate if it's a lot of liquid. Dogs are so gullible! They just love their treats. (03/16/2010)
By Debby
I think if it were me, I'd make two decent-sized balls from the liverwurst and split the liquid meds up into two doses of 1/2 tsp. per syringe, then squirt those into the middle of the ball (and quickly give the dog the dose before it seeps out).
Liquid is such a pain! Surprising that the vet couldn't substitute a tab or capsule to make it a little easier. (03/16/2010)
How can you give a dog medication if he won't take it orally?
Bear's Owner from Rockford, IL
It depends on the medication, but you might be able to hide in his food. I'd give your vet a call, he'll be able to instruct you. (09/06/2006)
Our Australian Shepherd rarely gets any "people food", but we noticed that he loves cheese. When we need to give him his monthly pill we put it in the center of a small cube of soft cheese. He almost turns inside out with excitement when he smells the cheese and just gulps it down without a clue. We usually use Velveeta, but other kinds work as well. (09/06/2006)
By Grandma Margie
I take a piece of cheddar cheese, cut into several small pieces (or any treat Bear might like). Bury the pill into one piece, show the treat give one then quickly the medication one and then finally a third piece. Hopefully the medication one will be downed very quickly in order to get the 3rd or 4th piece of treat. (09/06/2006)
By Doreen
Sausage, or as we call it "magic sausage" for Charlie. We would give it to him with baby aspirin (just one) when he sniffed a porcupine or hit a truck. He didn't know it made him feel better.
If it is large, you may be able to split it into two, or grind it into ground meat. Call your vet to make sure it will not affect absorbency. (09/07/2006)
By Kelly
Go to Petvetdirect.com and you'll find pill pockets.
They look like a treat that you slide the meds into. My Cocker loves them and they come in lots of flavors. (09/08/2006)
By Annie
Dogs or cats, they all love a pill in peanut butter. I put a small amount of peanut butter on the end of my finger, "fold" the pill into it. Then turn your finger up, (my dog is dying to get it at by now), and I wipe it on the roof of their mouth, and we're done. All the licking gets the pill down. (09/08/2006)
By Glinda
We have to give my Bichon allergy pills every day. We got some fat free wieners at the grocery store and put the pill inside a piece of the wiener. This is also her treat for the day. My mother has often told me that my father (who used to raise dogs for extra money) would put the pill into the dogs mouth, hold his mouth shut and would just stroke his throat. The dog would swallow the pill.
(09/08/2006)
By Peggy
We have large dog that will not no let us give him pills, so the pill goes into a teaspoon of cottage cheese, or a spoon of moist cat food, or we are now using a dab of Cool Whip and put the pill in that. He thinks he is getting a treat. (09/10/2006)
By Rosa
