I am at my wits end on trying to give meds

jake2250Somebody has to be the alpha,, Just grab the lower jaw, and open the mouth, place the pill on the back of the tongue, push it and close the jaw, hold the snout closed and massage the throat. It may take a few minutes but they Will swallow.. At five pounds you need to take control.. My Hank is 78 pounds,, and I will not wrestle him to take medication,,, He needs it,,, he's getting it!!

LOL. I had Great Danes for years and yes you are right you need to be the boss.

I used to stick my thumb behind the top fang and open, shove and slam shut. Piece of cake. Yes "I" was in control and could wrestle down any one of my Danes in 5 seconds flat to trim nails, pill, whatever was needed.

.........Then I got a Toy breed!
Here to tell you, it's a whole nuther world with those little slippery snappers :W

Have you tried cream cheese? One of my dogs didn't like peanut butter, so my vet suggested cream cheese. It works for my dogs.

You could try the pill pockets. Not sure they'd be small enough for your dog, but I think they make different sizes.

Does your dog eat treats? She's probably so stressed now when it's time to take the pill that she refuses.

Dale

jake2250 wrote:
Somebody has to be the alpha,, Just grab the lower jaw, and open the mouth, place the pill on the back of the tongue, push it and close the jaw, hold the snout closed and massage the throat. It may take a few minutes but they Will swallow.. At five pounds you need to take control.. My Hank is 78 pounds,, and I will not wrestle him to take medication,,, He needs it,,, he's getting it!!

In my experience the larger the dog the easier it is to medicate. Large jaws are easy to grab, large mouths give you a LOT more real estate for getting the pill in. Smaller dogs are exponentially harder. They require a lot more skill and agility. And kittens are hardest of all.

OP, my suggestion would be to try to find several food items she'll take the pill in. The more the better. And then rotate through them, never using the same one two times in a row so that you avoid having her figure out that there's medicine in the food. Liverwurst is something I've heard of people having good luck with. I'd also consider some of the rolled food products for dogs. Natural Balance makes one. I've also heard of using marshmallows, but I've never had a dog who would take one. Whatever you use, make sure the first and last treat is just a treat (no medication). So . . treat/treat with medicine/treat.

Does your dog like ice cream, sour cream, yogurt, or gravy (chicken, beef, etc)? Pills can be ground and mixed in with these. We use these or raw eggs for monthly ivermectin heartworm preventative and other dewormers; a whole raw egg every day for a 5lb dog would not be good.

Thanks all of you for the suggestions!! I like the baby food and also trying different things and rotate. I will prevail!!! Jan

Dogs are smarter than many of us give them credit for.

They know when your routine for preparing their food has changed. They will be able to detect that you are doing "something extra" and will be suspicious. So don't let them be in the room as you prepare their bowl, ever.

If you mix the meds with some food that they really like that has a strong natural aroma and flavor......like tuna or liver for example and they don't see you fiddling with the pill, there shouldn't be a problem. They WILL eat when they get hungry enough (assuming that they are not seriously ill that is).

Our Vet told us to use marshmallows. She just scarfed it down. With the size of your dog you may have to use part of one I guess.

I have a doggy daycare and have tried most of the suggestions here but their effectiveness was short lived.

The dogs eventually figured out how to get the treat and drop the pill.

THE one thing that has worked without fail is BUTTER.

Shave two VERY thin slices off of a hard/cold stick of butter. Sandwich pill between the two slices of butter and give to your dog.

The dogs LOVE the butter and I think it makes their tongue to slippery to manipulate the pill.

Viola!

I used to think I was pill-giver extraordinaire UNTIL I fostered my first shih-tsu. Holy Moly! It was like trying to give medication to the Tazmanian Devil! Those little teeth clamp down hard, and they don't have as large of a gap between their front teeth and their molars as a larger dog has, which helps when prying the dog's mouth open and holding it open.

I hope you can find something that works. Does the medication come in liquid form? I was able to slip a small syringe (without needle, of course) into the mouth and give liquid meds much easier.

Again,, if they need the meds you gotta give 'em, my daughter has two small dogs, one is a long haired mexican Chihuahua that thinks he's a 150 pound dog,, hes a tough son of a gun!!
Very finicky eater and does not do the medication baiting game, That dude will eat off all the coverings and at the last minute just plop that pill somewhere under the furniture.
As i stated earlier with my 75 pound pointer lab mix, gotta take control at some point.
My vet showed me a technique that works,, If you hold them in your lap firmly with your fore arm holding them down you can palm their heads and apply pressure at the lower sides of their jaw, pushing slightly forward with your fingers he will open his jaw, have some one or yourself push the pill or tablet in and release forward pressure, keeping his head palmed come up below to help hold his snout closed,, talk calmly to him to assure him and hold pressure until they swallow.
You might wanna wear a glove!

I gotta tell you it does work,, it takes practice and not every time is the same,, after the first time I gave him a pill he was no longer my friend and kept a rooms distance away from me, also the little bugger clawed the heck out of me,, lesson learned he adapted and so did I.
By the fifth or six pill he gave the crying whining and then growling and trying to bite me deal,, But after the pill was inserted,, he swallowed and moved on..
By the tenth pill he was getting it and allowed me to open his mouth..

Now this may sound like its torture but it needs to be done... Why do I say that,,,Gotta friend thats a vet,, what do you think happens when you take your pet back in an tell them you haven't been able to give them there meds..
They will be compassionate and say Ok,, lets us take him in the back and see what we can do...
I guarantee he didn't go thru a series of banana's,butter,marshmallows etc.

One other thing i can pass on,, We did try the liquid form with this little determined guy!!!
More got on me and the floor then in his mouth!! And when I finally got him to gulp some down,, he jumped out of my lap and hurled it back up!!

When he comes over here or I go over to visit them,, he keeps a distance at first,, but then butters up to me after a while!!