smartypants71
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,701 
Location: Houston, TX
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Post by smartypants71 on Sept 18, 2017 12:32:15 GMT
I woke up on Friday to a VERY sick pup. I dropped him off at the vet, so they could figure out what's wrong. They did bloodwork, xrays and an EKG. Fortunately, his kidneys, liver and heart are very healthy, but the xrays showed pneumothorax possibly caused by pneumonia. Oddly enough, they also saw a BULLET in his films! I got him from a German Shepherd rescue in November, so I was shocked to hear that he had been shot at some point! The bullet isn't causing any problems though, so that will get left alone.
Because he was really struggling with his breathing, we transferred him to the vet hospital. There he received nebulizer treatments and oral antibiotics. Lucky for me, he still has somewhat of an appetite, so I didn't have to pay for IV antibiotics. On Saturday, they felt like it was ok to send him home but I have to give him a ton of pills! He takes 6 i the morning and 9 at night. OMG, I've tried every trick in the book, but he's got a good sniffer, and he knows when there's a pill hidden in there!
I'm at the point of just forcing him to take them, but I don't want him to be mad at me (is this normal LOL?). Do any of you have any tried and true tricks to getting your dog to take pills? I've already tried painting them in peanut butter (he just licks the pb off). I put them in hot dogs which worked the first day, but now he's on to me.
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Post by christine58 on Sept 18, 2017 12:36:32 GMT
smother in peanut butter!!! Put them in a hunk..lol...as he starts to lick the PB off...be quick and get them in his mouth. I had to kind of close Abbey's mouth gently and she would swallow them.
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Post by Skellinton on Sept 18, 2017 12:40:26 GMT
Does he catch treats if you toss them to him? We used pill pockets and would toss them to a dog we had. He would gulp them down and then we would toss a plain treat to just make sure nothing was spit out.
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Post by just PEAchy on Sept 18, 2017 12:46:18 GMT
Pill pockets worked very well for us.
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Post by leannec on Sept 18, 2017 12:48:02 GMT
Our dog, Lucy, has to take meds twice per day ... we wrap her pill in what you would call a slice of American cheese ... usually just half per dose  Lucy isn't the sharpest tool in the shed so this might not work for you  |
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Post by elaine on Sept 18, 2017 12:50:04 GMT
Hiding it in American cheese molded around it, or hiding in a small hunk of cream cheese works for us.
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Deleted
Posts: 0
May 3, 2024 11:23:31 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Sept 18, 2017 12:56:57 GMT
Turkey lunch meat worked for us. She loved it so much that it was gulped right down, no chewing. Cheese also worked. Because we never have American cheese on hand, it was always a slice of Swiss.
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moanicac
Shy Member
Posts: 45
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Post by moanicac on Sept 18, 2017 13:16:55 GMT
Pill pockets worked for us. Your post reminded me of a cartoon:  |
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Post by Merge on Sept 18, 2017 13:17:45 GMT
Cream cheese works best for us.
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Post by shamrock on Sept 18, 2017 13:22:31 GMT
Our old dog could find a pill in anything. Peanut butter, american cheese, hot dogs, bread, anything! She'd eat everything but the pill. The only thing that worked was Pill Pockets. I have no idea why she'd accept a pill in those but not the other things.
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Post by idahomom on Sept 18, 2017 13:25:50 GMT
The only thing that worked for me was wrapping pills in pastrami since it smells so strong - covered up the smell of all his pills.
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Post by teepea on Sept 18, 2017 13:36:16 GMT
I have a very fussy dog who can smell a pill a mile away! I've tried everything-peanut butter, cheese, and making pocket in a piece of steak etc. The only thing that finally worked for us was putting the pill inside a small ball of cream cheese. I just formed a small amount of cream cheese around the pill. She couldn't smell the medicine so she swallowed the cream cheese. That was a life saver.
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Post by LuvAgoodPaddle on Sept 18, 2017 13:54:39 GMT
Our Pippy took pills his whole life and got very good at figuring out how to eat around the pill, then spitting the pill out. When we took him to a dermatologist, more pills were prescribed and I mentioned the pill struggle to her. She said to try mini marshmallows and they worked great! I would just push the pill right inside and he ate them up whole. I gave him a few without pills first so he knew it was a special treat. He would even wait patiently for me to fill his marshmallows each morning. It was the best advice I had ever been given from a vet, LOL!!! I hated forcing pills down him multiple times a day, so this was a game changer.  The times when he would need a lot of pills, I would change it up with pill pockets. Sometimes he would figure those out too if we used too big of a piece. So we cut them in half and then smooshed them around the pills. Pill pockets are very strong smelling, so they hide the pill smell really well. |
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Post by crazy4scraps on Sept 18, 2017 13:59:23 GMT
I make a little pocket out of a piece of Babybel cheese, and down it goes every time! The bad thing is that our other dog sees her getting a "treat" and then insists he should get one, too.  |
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Post by yoursweetwhimsy on Sept 18, 2017 14:12:40 GMT
I have a senior dog that requires a lot of pills so we use pill pockets. They are like chicken flavored play-doh. I just pull off a chunk of one (she's a small dog) and bury the pills in it. She loves it and waits for it every morning.
I hope your pup gets better soon!
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caangel
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,446
Location: So Cal
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Post by caangel on Sept 18, 2017 14:15:36 GMT
Fyi costco has pill pockets if you have a membership!
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Post by gryroagain on Sept 18, 2017 14:29:08 GMT
I always had Labs and they are basically Walking garbage cans, so imagine my surprise when I got Olaf, a senior Pyrenees, and he would turn up his nose at lunch meat, peanut butter, etc! We resorted to crushing pills and mixing them with ice cream and prying his giant jaws open and squirting it in..not recommended depending on the dog but it did work.
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Post by Bitchy Rich on Sept 18, 2017 14:33:45 GMT
We once had to administer very bitter pills that were easy to detect. I slathered it in peanut butter and stuck that in the center of a mini marshmallow. The peanut butter hid the smell, but the marshmallow prevented them from just licking it off. Our dogs never caught on, but they are not card carrying Mensa.
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Post by Jamie on Sept 18, 2017 14:37:04 GMT
Our oldest takes allergy meds daily. We have gone with cheese and peanut butter, which she would eat the good stuff and leave the pill. We then went to marshmallows which worked for quite some time. But within the last year she would just spit it back out without even eating any of it. We now use little chunks of hotdog and so far so good. I just shove the pill in and that's the first thing she eats.
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smartypants71
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,701
Location: Houston, TX
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Post by smartypants71 on Sept 18, 2017 14:38:16 GMT
Thanks, everybody! You have some really great ideas! I went to Kroger on Saturday night and bought different cheese, hot dogs and squeeze cheese. You could just see the judgment from the cashier until I explained it was for the dog!
Looks like I need to go back to the store for cream cheese.
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smartypants71
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,701
Location: Houston, TX
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Post by smartypants71 on Sept 18, 2017 14:39:29 GMT
Does he catch treats if you toss them to him? We used pill pockets and would toss them to a dog we had. He would gulp them down and then we would toss a plain treat to just make sure nothing was spit out. normally yes, but he doesn't have the energy to do it right now  |
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Post by alexa11 on Sept 18, 2017 14:40:51 GMT
If it's Cephalexin capsules- good luck! I've tried everything known to man, but when Louis bites into it, it's over. So now I have to pay 3 times as much to get different antibiotics. Everything else I just throw in his bowl with food and he eats it.
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Post by stampnscrap1128 on Sept 18, 2017 14:56:28 GMT
My oldest dog takes three pills in the morning and two pills in the evening. I buy Pill Pockets by the half dozen from Amazon. Since I have 3 dogs and they all love treats, I give an empty Pill Pocket to the other two dogs when Belle gets her pills. They all associate Pill Pockets with yummy treats. Now giving a cat a pill is a whole 'nother story!!  |
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Post by Scrappyhappy on Sept 18, 2017 15:13:12 GMT
Liver Sausage!!!! My Sheltie takes pills twice a day, he absolutely loves it. He hated the pill pockets.
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Post by buddysmom on Sept 18, 2017 15:18:07 GMT
Pill Pockets worked great for our "you're never going to get a pill down my throat" dog.
Cheese, peanut butter, goodies--none of these worked.
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Post by ChicagoKTS on Sept 18, 2017 15:25:04 GMT
Our old gal had to take a bunch of pills and we tried all the things mentioned here but it would only a few times before she caught on. I finally had to resort to forcing them down her. I found by coating the pills in coconut oil and freezing, made them go down much easier and harder for her to spit out.
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scrapaddie
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,090
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Post by scrapaddie on Sept 18, 2017 15:34:22 GMT
Does he catch treats if you toss them to him? We used pill pockets and would toss them to a dog we had. He would gulp them down and then we would toss a plain treat to just make sure nothing was spit out. I could never get past the smell of a pill pocket! They stink and they're expensive. My dog had to take cardiac meds for three years and I put them in liverwurst. he would find the pills and anything else that we can set a liverwurst to be a real treat and swelled it without question. |
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Post by paperamy on Sept 18, 2017 15:36:06 GMT
You've gotten some good advice, so I have nothing further to add.
But I hope your sick dog has a positive and speedy recovery. Hugs!
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Post by internetmama on Sept 18, 2017 15:36:28 GMT
I'd mix it up too...so a plain yummy treat first and last with the altered pill treat in between. So plain hotdog for example, pill hotdog, plain hotdog...but vary the pattern so the dog can't learn it. Good luck!
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Post by JustCallMeMommy on Sept 18, 2017 15:40:40 GMT
Have you tried just holding the pill out like a treat? My silly dog will sometimes take them that way, after spitting it out coated in peanut butter or cheese.  That is a lot of pills though! Could you smush them up into a PB mixture? |
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