Recently, Patricia McConnell wrote a great post about giving a dog a pill. If you haven’t read it, especially if your dog is a Pill Ninja, go check it out!
These guys take a lot of pills. Emmett has his thyroid medicine, his liver medicine (the size of a horse tranquilizer… that one’s a toughie), two different chemo pills, an acid reducer… and that’s just at breakfast! With the exception of the giant liver pill, the rest get mixed in his food (Dr. McConnell’s first suggestion!) along with his supplements. Which we’ve switched to powder form. Due to the million pills.
Lucas takes his joint medications and, periodically, a doggy aspirin or eight. Really, for his weight, the current formula we have suggests eight. That’s a lot of pills. And he doesn’t like them. At all.
Of our three, Lucas is the only one who’s earned Pill Ninja status. Before we found a daily that he liked, he used to pick it out of his kibble, finish eating, then carry the pill off to spit out – presumably thinking he was pulling the wool over our eyes.
Over the weekend he hurt his foot. It wasn’t his joints, like he was stiff or sore, but his front right foot was clearly aching. He hobbled around. Cried a bit. Paced (because climbing in his bed wouldn’t make us feel bad). Stared. Hobbled some more.
We knew it was time to give him his Pirin Tablets (please tell me someone else loves that movie, too???). Our go-to solution with him has been a peanut butter lollipop!
Instead of smearing the pills with peanut butter – he sees right around that ruse – we LOAD a spoon with peanut butter, then tuck the pills deep in the mound of yumminess. He can’t resist it!
Three crazy adorable pictures to illustrate:
Is your dog a pill ninja? Or, like Em, can you just toss them in your dog’s bowl? What’s your go-to pill technique?
Fully agree! It works great. Also, wrapping the pill in a small piece of a cheese slices works as well. Most dogs love cheese slices.
Yes!! Absolutely! These guys all LOVE cheese! With a pill ninja like Lucas, he can manage to eat the slice and still spit out the pill, but I wonder if a soft cheese like brie would do the job?
Yes, I love that movie!
I have a dog right now that needs several pills a day. He has severe allergies – can’t have peanut butter or cheese or hot dog or anything that I could hide it in. He also will NOT open his mouth and its very very hard for me to pry it open. SO. I can get the pills between his teeth on the side of his mouth and then I use a syringe to squirt a little water in to make him swallow it. He is really the hardest ever.
Lucky is so cute all the time but with peanut butter on his nose, its over the top cute.
Oooh, Ann! Did you see Amanda’s comment below? Could coconut oil work for this guy?!?!
We use peanut butter and coconut oil. At the same time. Coconut oil because it keeps her skin and coat healthy, but the pill slides right out! So the peanut butter makes it stick. We’ve tried everything else, but she learned how to eat around the pill and spit it onto the floor. This has led to two unfortunate outcomes:
1) She gets peanut butter stuck in her beard ALL THE TIME.
2) All the family dogs think “Medicine” means that everyone gets a spoonful of peanut butter. And of course we hand it over!
Coconut oil is BRILLIANT, Amanda!! Thank you so much for sharing your experience! Also, I have to think pb in the beard is pretty darn cute 😉 though I can see how it would be unfortunate on your end!
It is adorable. And disgusting.
Which pretty much sums up life with dogs.
HAHA!!! Exactly! 🙂
[smacks forehead] – Peanut butter!! Why didn’t I think of that the other night when I was trying to get Blueberry to take her Tramadol? I ended up having to give her like 5 pieces of cheese along with a teaspoon’s worth of white rice. She kept spitting it out. I was at my wit’s end when she finally swallowed it. She’s not bad about taking her supplements. Even the fish capsule she’ll reluctantly eat. She mostly is resistant to it because she doesn’t like it when it bursts in her mouth – although she does enjoy the fishy taste of it.
If you give PB a whirl, let me know how it goes!! The fish capsule grosses ME out when it bursts, so I don’t blame her resistance. 🙂
OH yes…Dante is a pill ninja! Thankfully for us it’s just heartworm prevention meds, and glucosamine supplements.
We’ve tried all sorts of tricks but what has been working well for us is I put a scoop of peanut butter on my first 3 fingers, bury a pill in the mound of goodness, and then scrape it off inside Dante’s mouth so that it sticks to the roof of his mouth, and then let him clean off my hand! Haha!! Genius! It works great! He loves peanut butter and can’t stop licking until all the peanut butter is gone, he’ll lick me, his sister, the floor all because he can taste it on his tongue. 🙂
~DZ Dogs
http://www.dzdogs.com
Sticking it to the roof of his mouth is fantastic! Sometimes I’ll scrape the mound of PB down Lukey’s bottom teeth, but I imagine the roof would be even better… no way he’s getting around that!!
We cant even say the pb word around here. Thanks to all the meds over the years for my 3. It’s the same reaction to the word walk:)
I ADORE the pic you posted on Instagram, Crystle! So dang cute!
Seriously, I just said “pirin tablet” to my husband the other day!
I use a schmear of cream cheese for the joint pills and since they presumably taste ok, Ray has no problem with those, but for all other meds I squish them into a small piece of Baby Bel cheese. That cheese is squishy and pliable so it goes right over the pills. If I ask for some behaviors I can usually just intersperse them like rewards.
What exactly are Doggy Aspirin?
HAHA! Deb, we soooo have to get together sooner than later. 😉 Love that you just said pirin table. Cream cheese is a great idea! We may have to try that next time because Lucas loves cheese maybe even more than PB!
So, the doggy aspirin is just an OTC pain reliever. It’s safe to take in conjunction with his joint supplement, so his joint meds are dailies, and we save the pirin for when he has a stiff/sore/injured day. You can get them at most pet stores or online.
I totally agree about the getting together! I’m going to look into some pirin tablets for Ray. He has the DGP and also Tramadol for when he really needs it, but I’d like to have something less potent on hand.
For Haley, the trick is…disguise the pill in peanut butter or cheese, but have another treat ready to give her. She’s so focused on getting the second treat, she quickly swallows the one with the pill. 🙂
LOVE that strategy, Elaine!! Thanks so much for sharing – I’m definitely trying this one next time!
It’s a good plan to get some peanut butter!
Your Pals,
Murphy & Stanley
HA! Lucas definitely agrees with you guys!
I used to use peanut butter but my golden retriever got wise to it and would lick all the PB off and spit out the pills. Now I use liver sausage (Oscar Mayer Braunschweiger). I just scoop some out, smush it around her pills, and give it to her. She’s usually sitting, waiting with anticipation, to get her “treat.” I use OM because (1) it’s pretty bland (there are some out there that have a lot of spices in them) and (2) some of the more solid (sliceable) kinds are hard to smush around her pills. I haven’t had a problem with her spitting out pills ever since!
Ooooh, if he gets wise to it, I’m in trouble! But thanks for sharing your experience with the liver sausage. I do always wonder about all the seasonings and stuff that sometimes can come in those – I’ll put the OM recommendation on my list! Thank you!!
I always ask for a behavior , then when I’m squealing and praising profusely I sneak it in the reward and have a second reward ready before they realize.
Perfect trick, Nancy! 😉
So far we’ve been lucky to not have any trouble giving our dogs pills. But Luke hasn’t been tested yet, and since he’s difficult about so many other things, that will probably also become an issue! But he loves his food, so your technique will probably work with him if needed.
That’s a great idea! I typically smash it into a slice of cheese that has been rolled and pressed into a ball.
Liverwurst. That’s what I use. Sampson would spit the pills out too. But the liverwurst. I have them cut a 2 inch chunk at the deli. Then I slice it myself. Slice off four slices. Hide the pill in one. Give one slice, second slice, pill slice, last slice in quick succession. NOW Sampson watches me hide the pills and still takes the liverwurst and he only gets two small slices as opposed to the four.
Great tip! I’ve never purchased liverwurst, but will have to give it a try!!