5 ways to get your dog to take their pills

Tips on Oral Dog Medication

 Don't we all wish our dog would just take their meds without ever giving us trouble? The fact is, that dogs rarely, if ever, will understand why they need to swallow that awful tasting thing.  While there are many dog-friendly medications that help to hide the taste not all medications can be found in chicken and beef and in some cases they can be much more expensive. 

 So how can we make this a less miserable and lengthy job for both of me and my pet?  Well, remember that just as children are all different so are dogs. Different ways of making it more pleasant will work only with certain dogs while others will hold out on almost anything it seems. Here are some ways to have your dog take what it needs while doing it safely for you and your pet.

1. If your dog is hyper and active and seems to chow down on food without thinking, the answer to your problem may be as simple as placing it in his food dish with the rest of his dogfood. Make sure to check the dish and areas around it for the pill to make sure he did swallow it. Another thing you can do to help is to put a spoon full of canned dogfood in the mix with the pill inside.

2. Some dogs who love food (especially larger breeds) may be given a small cut of hotdog or cheese with the pill inside as a treat. This you may do even if the pill is not supposed to be taken with food.

3.  If you give your dog soft canned dogfood try cutting the pill into smaller chucks and letting it sit in the food for a few minutes to soften. this way your dog cannot spit it back out. However if they just refuse to eat you may still need to read further.

4. If your dogs aims to please you and will do anything for a treat. Try just tossing them the pill instead of the treat for a job well-done. Most dogs with this temperament will just swallow as a natural reaction and end up not even noticing the taste. Then you can give them a real treat and praise them.

5. If all the above fails your dogs still needs their medication whether or not they want it.  The last resort I would try is to "pill" your dog. This can be done quickly and humanely and your dog will get their pill. However, when you pill your dog DO NOT stand in front of them and try to force it down their throat. This will scare the dog and will cause them in some cases to spin out of control. Instead squat down next to them and place your arm firmly over the dogs shoulders and place the hand at the back of their jaw. Holding the dog firmly (and speaking calmly and assuredly) tilt their nose up and gently squeeze the back of the dogs jaw where it hinges together. This will force them to open their mouth so that with the other hand you can place the pill as far back in the mouth as you can without shoving your hand down it's throat (this is not inhumane and it only takes a split second to place the pill in the mouth). After this hold the mouth shut with both hands while slightly tipping  the nose up (not straight up, just slightly up). You can see on their throat when they swallow it. But if this does not occur in a few seconds gently stoke the underside of the throat with one hand while still hold the dogs snout up with the other. When they swallow.... Victory! And now you can spend some extra time playing catch instead of getting frustrated and worried that your dog hasn't taken their pill yet.