Tricking a dog to take pills

I do what Callie does, I let my dog see the pill as I put it into a small glob of canned dog food (a treat).  I tell him "This is for yooouuuu!" Make it extra special. If I do not have canned dog food peanut butter works as my cairn loves it, and it is hard for him to spit out a pill when it is covered in gooey, yummy PB.

 I've had to give Nemo motion sickness meds and benadryl since day 1.  I discovered early on that he was also very adept at finding the pills in just about anything I tried.  I decided to try cheese...specifically swiss cheese.  I know this is probably "awful" but a few seconds in the microwave makes a nice puddle of cheese that you can drop the pill into and as it cools shape into a ball that slides down no questions asked.  I usually cut the benadryl in half so it's not so big and he gets 3 bites of "sleepy cheese" usually once a day but maybe twice if the itching gets too bad. I don't know if he knows there's a pill in there but he gets very excited when I ask if he wants "sleepy cheese".  It's worked with him for 4 years now

I hope Penny is feeling better.  

We are onto day 3 of pate and it's still working. In fact, she's very keen on it. Unfortunately, she's having a bit of a bad day today and she's very stiff and cold, but I tucked her into bed with her heat pack and hopefully that's made her more comfortable. She's had more good days than bad this week, though, so that's good. 

 You need sausage.  Break it into segments.  The first two segments = no pill.  Third = pill.  Last = no pill. Or blobs of peanut butter, soft cheese, rolls of bacon or ham, bits of liver....

calliecritturs

When you're part German it can come under the heading of "old-timey comfort food" LOL**

Dam' straight!  I love it on toast.

corvus

We are onto day 3 of pate and it's still working. In fact, she's very keen on it.

Keep something else "just in case".  One of my biggie fallbacks tends to be meat babyfood.  It tends to be slippery, and of course it's usually pretty danged yummy but it's an easy thing to keep on the shelf for WHENEVER.  But always keeping your brain working ahead "in case she decides she doesn't LIKE that today" will help you keep your sanity. 

Can you get hold of either peppermint or wintergreen essential oil??  They can be a huge help with arthritis.  And the essential oil doesn't gob up the fur -- you just part the coat and dribble a drop or two on the skin (feel for where she's already 'hot' -- that will likely tell you where the inflammation is).  You can cut it with a bit of olive oil if you feel the need.  But the more you massage the more heat she'll get and I tell ya - it can be SUCH a relief!!!

 Wow....

We just mix Jack's supplement pills into his kibble whole and he eats them.  Sally also eats her benadryl whole mixed into the kibble.  When we have to give bigger/ickier pills I'll slip it into a hot dog or for Sally a blueberry if the berry is big enough--she LOVES blueberries....

I just use pieces of hot dog or 'pill pockets'.  Rex has allergies and has to take meds every day.  These work for him!

Taking meds is one of those things that is easier trained earlier rather than waiting til they *gotta*.  But with an elderly dog it can all change -- because so often, just like with Penny -- suddenly the old dog grumpies take over and what they did before they aren't going to do ... now! *sigh*