You can’t really blame him, if your dog grimaces and runs away when you try to give him his pills.
Who likes eating pills?
Dogs are very much like humans when taking their pills. Some dogs may be obedient and take their pills with a meal, while others may need more cajoling to have it.
Let’s read on to see how you can lovingly encourage your canine friend to have his pill every day as scheduled.
Compound Medications
Compound medications are flavoured and chewable treat tablets. These medications are great for dogs who are not comfortable at swallowing their pills.
Though compound medications are more expensive, they certainly help with getting the pill into your friend’s body.
Take care to note that not all medications can be compounded and consulting your veterinarian is recommended. They can also guide you to pharmacies noted for compounding medications.
Pill Pockets
Many medications cannot be given with food. Pill pockets are useful for sneaking in pills to your dog so that they end up having their medicines timely.
If your dog wolfs down his treat without properly chewing the food item given to him, pill pockets are good options.
If your canine friend has a habit of chewing his treats nicely, he cannot be tricked into having pills with his food. For few dogs, the ingredients in pill pockets can be allergic.
Consulting a veterinarian is an excellent way to identify and ensure that no allergic ingredients make their way into the food or pill pockets.
Pill Device
Directly putting your hand into your dogs’ mouth may be challenging. Though you can manage to get the medication into his body, accidental bites can occur from putting your hands or fingers into your friend’s mouth.
Stop exposing your fingers to any danger by using pill devices to put the medication safely into your dog’s mouth. Since your friend has a hump inside his mouth, the medicine needs to be placed behind the hump.
Close his jaws carefully once you place the medicine as above. Gently patting and stroking his throat can help him to swallow the pill.
Dogs can be picky and choosy about what they eat. In fact, few medications may trouble their taste buds and cause them to lose their appetite. It can even give rise to nausea in some dogs.
Random Games
Wrap up the pill in one of his favourite foods like chicken or peanut butter. Keep it away for a minute and give him a treat which has no pill. You can now offer him the second treat too but stop short and don’t give it to him.
Get it closer to your dogs’ nose and pull it away after half a minute. Keep teasing him like this and let him eat it on the fourth try.
Empty Gel Caps
This is one of the most simple and best ways to make your dog eat his pill. Just get empty gel caps from any drug store. Now put the pill you want your dog to eat. He is not likely to say no and ends up eating it.
Try not to pull your dog’s head very high. Placing the head horizontally to the ground is ideal and make him open his mouth wide.
You cannot even restrain a dog when you are administering his medication. Getting help to hold your dog can help in better concentrating on delivering the medicine.
Use Rewards
Use treats and other rewards to make the process fun and ensure that your canine friend ingests the pills. Being calm help. This gives a better motivation for your dogs, and they end up having the pill on a regular basis.
Consult Your Veterinarian
If you like more information on administering pills to your pet, consult your veterinarian to show you the way forward.
A close demonstration can help in understanding the proper medicine administering technique and help your dog get well.