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Need advice on administering Meds

Molly's mom

Well-known member
Due to Molly's SM surgery, she is currently on 5 different pills (one a capsule) a day some of them 3X plus a liquid 2X a day.

We started out with pill pockets which she loved, but for some reason (maybe the jig is up icon_whistling ?) she won't eat them anymore.

The liquid we won't discuss, she just hates that. :yuk:

She doesn't like peanut butter.

This morning I crushed it in her food, but with so many, i'm afraid she can taste them, and she also has the uncanny ability to lick up the food and spit out anything that might have the smallest of med pieces.

Whipped cream seems to work with crushed pills, but she can identify the capsule and spit it right out.

Any advice/experiences would be greatly appreciated :xfngr:

Molly's thread on her SM surgery can be found here:
http://www.cavaliertalk.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=77619#77619
 
Have you tried wrapping the pill or pills in a bit of cheese??

Cheese slices or creamed cheese might work.

Our Charley could spit out pills....didn't matter how we hid them.

We ended up with a gizmo from the vets, a rubber tipped syringe type thing. The pill was placed into the rubber tip and then you shoved the long, thin syringe right to the back of his mouth and pushed....the pill usually went down. I always felt bad about doing it that way but it had to be done.

Good luck....I'm so glad that Molly is doing better. :flwr: :flwr:
 
We used the same type of thing for out cat for her chemo meds. It wasn't a pleasant experience but at least we knew the pill went down.
 
I use those laughing cow cheese wedges -- just take a bit of one of those and hide the pill. Leo gets very excited at the word 'Pill!" It can help if they get this 'treat' like a normal treat. Ask for a sit or whatever and the dog is more likely to see this not as a pill session but as a normal reward. I often just put the pill right on his food and he eats it down as well. You could try a bit of hot dog or cooked liver with the pill pushed inside -- that is something most dogs like even more than cheese.
 
If you give a piece of whatever you are going to give the pill in first, then another piece, then the one with the pills in, hopefully by then they are so excited with the treat that they just swallow them.

The only thing that works for TedBear though is to smear his pills in butter - then put it in his mouth, and give him some more butter on my finger to distract him so that he swallows it. He finds pills in just about anything, even hidden in his favourite chicken :(

Good luck!!
 
I dab a bit of jam or butter on the tablet, put it in his mouth. If it didnt go down immediately, I massaged his throat! :badgrin:
 
Peanutbutter is our guys favourite, but I see Molly doesn't like it. If she likes cheese, cut a cube of cheese, place it on a plate inside of your microwave and then nuke it for just a few seconds. You want it to start melting but not turn into liquid. It has to look a bit like a little cow pat. Now place the tablets on the cheese and stand by for a minute until the cheese starts to firm up again, about the consistency of putty or play doh. Now roll it all up into a little ball & pop it into your dogs mouth. Make sure it is just warm, not too hot.

Sometimes you do have to use the strong-arm approach though. I had one dog that could smell her medicine a mile off and there was no hiding it in anything. In this case you need to get your vet to teach you how to administer the tablets. I hated having to do it this way, but sometimes there just isn't any other choice.
 
I have given lots of pills to cats and THAT is not fun. Though there is a technique to hold them and push down on the shoulders, pop open their mouth like a hatch, push the pill to the back of the throat, then gently hold their mouth shut til they lick their nose...

You can get plastic pill poppers for dogs/cats that make the 'forced' method pretty easy but if you can find a way of just getting them down normally that sure makes things easier.

All mine will eat anything -- Leo never even notices his capsules at all anfdthinks 'pill!' means 'special treat!' -- so pills thankfully aren't a problem for the dogs.
 
Does molly chew her food ?

I use banana, its perfect for mashing around the pill but my men don't chew it, its just striaght down the hatch. If this is no good think of a food that she loves and devours and then try and think of a way to use it ?

For example if she loves fish, mix it with a bit of mash and mould etc.

For harry's liquid he gets every night I use a syringe to put gently down the side of his mouth so he doesn't have to taste it as much.
 
I don't know whether you would want to do this with a dog that has SM, but for the one that I had to force the pills upon her, I'd slip my fingers right up the back of the mouth beyond the molars (they can't bite you here), lift upwards so that the nose points up in the air, making the mouth open wide, and then slide the tablet over the tongue and down into the gullet. It was easy with the Boxers as they have flip-top-heads & a mouth you could drive a truck through, and with them it wasn't a case of pushing it with your finger, but you whole hand.
 
Cream cheese is wonderful! The whipped kind that comes in the tub seems to be the easiest to work with. I had been using the fat free kind that's in the block but it's a really strange consistency and the pills started coming out. The whipped kind is really airy and you can just grab a small hunk and stuff the pills in it.

I have to give my cat Prozac every morning- let me tell you, NOT FUN. I have to do the pry the mouth open thing. But my vet gave me this stuff called val syrup to squirt in his mouth right afterward. It's really sweet and evidently all animals love it. As soon as I pop the pill in Angus' mouth I squirt some of the syrup, which gets him to swallow. If all else fails with the treats this may be something to try.
 
Spencer'sMom said:
I have to give my cat Prozac every morning- let me tell you, NOT FUN.

Hey Spencer's Mom... I know my question is totally o.t. but I am so intrigued. Was your cat on Prozac for depression or is it used in cats for other purposes?
 
God, I must be sooo boring!

To get pills down my two I sit them between my knees, finger in the side of the mouth, pop pill down the side towards the back and then stroke their necks holding their heads a little higher than ususal. that way there is no chance of a spit out! half melted worming tablets are not nice :lol:
 
I had this problem with Daisy Boo after her patella surgery. She had a liquid painkiller and I had to disguise it in a little yoghurt. I've done the same with tablets by crushing them and mixing with yoghurt.
 
Caraline said:
Spencer'sMom said:
I have to give my cat Prozac every morning- let me tell you, NOT FUN.

Hey Spencer's Mom... I know my question is totally o.t. but I am so intrigued. Was your cat on Prozac for depression or is it used in cats for other purposes?

Actually it's because he refused to use his litter box to pee. We tried so many other things such as medical tests for everything, new litter, a different location and other medications. We did this as a last resort and I'm happy to report that he's been using his box since we started him on the medicine. He's a little loopy but that is one million times better than the alternative.
 
I never had problems getting fussy Izzy to take his tablets, three times a day,as I moulded them into a ball of pate. The cheapest type that comes in a plastic sausage is easiest to shape and being slippery slides down the gullet quickly.
 
Spencer'sMom said:
Actually it's because he refused to use his litter box to pee. We tried so many other things such as medical tests for everything, new litter, a different location and other medications. We did this as a last resort and I'm happy to report that he's been using his box since we started him on the medicine. He's a little loopy but that is one million times better than the alternative.

Oh wow! Thanks for explaining. I learn something new every day on this forum. 8)
 
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