If you’ve ever had to give your dog a pill, you know how hard it can be to make them swallow it. I’m lucky in that, with four dogs, I can just put the medication in their food and they’ll hoover it down without tasting it so no one else will get it. How do you give pills to your dog?
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Until next time,
Good day, and good dog!
I tried everything with my dog (chow/border collie mix) in the beginning, but leaned mostly toward hiding it inside a bite of meat or cheese. He was fine with that for an occasional pill, but when he had to take a pill regularly for an extended period of time, he quickly learned to eat the snack and leave the pill so I started opening his mouth and putting the pill in the back of his throat. Eventually he was taking allergy pills and glucosamine twice a day, and he got so used to it that all I had to do was tell him that it was time for his medicine and he would open his mouth and let me put the allergy pills in, and then he would chew the glucosamine like a treat. During his last few months though, he was taking a lot more and developed a bit of an attitude about it. Some days he was very cooperative (although I had to break the glucosamine into much smaller pieces and give him a treat after each pill) and other days he would simply look at me like I was crazy, turn up his nose and walk away. When that happened, I just mixed it with his food and he usually didn’t notice it. The point is that I believe there is no right way to give medication. It depends on their age, size, stage of life and health, and it can change drastically throughout a dog’s life. As you can see, we went through many changes, but he still stuck by me for more than 15 years, so I think we did ok.
Our 12 year old E. Setter is currently on a pill for leaking urine. It is chewable but she is not that wild about it. My solution is to mix it with a spoonful of canned dog food.