[JustTess]

Oh No!...... things are going crazy here.


Ilya has killed a brand new roll of paper towels in 2 minutes after I took in the groceries and left to get more bags out of the car. he's never done that before. He's also opened and scattered 200 paper plates.... good thing he didn't find the bag with food in it... that was on the counter.

He has been pestering me to go out side every 15 minutes... and it looks like his nervous stomach is back. I peeked in his ear and it has turned bright red.

He won't let me touch his ears... he knows I'm trying to put drops in his ears so he has one eye on me and still manages to smile. He doesn't want his pill... he licked off all the peanut butter and spit out the capsel.

I tossed some kibbles in the air because he likes to catch them and then threw the capsel and he caught it .... then spit it across the room. Where did he learn how to spit?

He's nervous, but willing to play... anyone got ideas ? (tried reverse psychology but, he said "thank you" when I told him to leave it... guess it only works on stuffies)

 

[melgrj7]

I put honey on pills my dogs need to take, seems to work better than peanut butter for us.

 

[PitBully]

Soft, meaty treats. They'll never know.

PB

 

[Pepper]

once your dog realizes theres a treat in the food they won't eat it.

I just ended up having to open the mouth and put the pill(wrapped in something that will go down easily) semi in the back of the throat, close the mouth, tip it up, and rub the throat until they swallowed.

 

[JustTess]

once your dog realizes theres a treat in the food they won't eat it.

I just ended up having to open the mouth and put the pill(wrapped in something that will go down easily) semi in the back of the throat, close the mouth, tip it up, and rub the throat until they swallowed.

That's the problem ... he knows I'm up to something and his anxiety is starting to act up. If I upset him any further, he'll won't recognize me until he calms down. Right now, he's letting me rub his belly... I'm thinking of emptying the capsel in his mouth if I time it right... or maybe in some hamburger.

 

[Pepper]

Yes, my dog had anxiety problems too and resented me horribly afterwards for a few minutes, but I tried to make up for it and played lots of games before and after the pill so it wasn't as bad..

 

[ioreks_mom]

i have to use the method that pepper described to give pills to my cats. luckily iorek will take a pill if i coat it in peanut better. how about trying pill pockets? maybe they will be smelly enough for ilya to just swallow and not spit the pill out. btw, that is a pretty neat trick, him spitting the pill across the room! you should work on that and get him spitting other things across the room like that, that would be so funny! heehee!

 

[PitBully]

If you have to literally give him a "chunk" of meat with the pill inside, (LOL) do it. Not many dogs can resist a hamburger.

PB

 

[rosemaryninja]

Ice cream worked for my friend's very stubborn dog.

 

[kimsum]

Poor Ilya and poor you!!

I use cheap hotdogs and peer pressure for any meds I'm lucky because I've been able to trick my dogs into thinking that it's "treat" time..though in truth I've worked hard to make pill taking a positive experience. Generally I call out.."who wants meds??" and all four leggers come running and then sit and excitedly wait their turn. Everyone gets some pieces though not all contain meds. Seeing each other waiting for their "treat" means that there is little hesitation in taking their turn.

Since you have such an aware dog..I'm wondering if you could "stash" the pills in something like hotdogs or hamburger when he isn't watching. That way he sees you reaching into the fridge for the "treat" and not reaching for the pill bottle.

I know with my frankenpup..if he saw me going to the cupboard where his eardrops were he would make himself scarce and/or get hysterical. I had to "sneak" the bottle out when he wasn't around so that he wouldn't stress himself out in anticipation.

Good luck in your endeavours. Hope he's feeling better soon!!

 

[katthevamp]

COuld you break the pill down and mix it with some baby food? That's what we do for most of our animals.

 

[SaveTheDogs]

I always stick my dogs meds inside a piece of hot dog or something similar. they usually just swallow it whole so they never know the difference. If that doesnt work, you could always open your dog's mouth and stick the pill on the back of his/her tongue if it's not to big. That works well with my dogs too if I'm out of hot dogs.

 

[JustTess]

Success last night I hid it in a bit of hamburger and he didn't know a thing.

btw, that is a pretty neat trick, him spitting the pill across the room! you should work on that and get him spitting other things across the room like that, that would be so funny! heehee!

Well, it looks like he spit it across the room... it's more like a flick of his head and a release at the right moment. He's been doing it with the insides of stuffies for a while trying to find the squeaker

Peanut butter on the wall didn't work for ear drops, but i did find it easier to put in his ear when he's drowsy and I'm rubbing his belly.

We may be off to the vet again... he's so upset that he's eaten 3 cups of food this early this morning and already poo twice and acts like he wants to go again.

 

[Dog Tracks]

Best solution I've found is to make the "pill" the second treat out of four.

First treat is a little ball of cheese. Second treat is a little ball of cheese with the pill in the center. Third and fourth treats are little balls of cheese.

Assuming your dog wolfs down treats like mine, she's so focused on swallowing the third and fourth treat that she doesn't have time to realize that the second treat had the pill. The trick is that you have to deliver the treats rapid-fire; boom, boom, boom, boom. Not enough time in-between for your dog to recognize the cheese-pill.

 

[UrbanBeagles]

Have you tried using butter?

Butter will work in a stick or spread, just dip the pill in and roll into a ball. Unlike peanut butter, it goes down very smoothly, there is really notheing to lick at. If I have a stubborn one who wants to investigate what's inside the butter, I will pretend I am giving it to another dog, or show it to them then take it back. Builds up the suspense when they think they can't have it, lol. Good for their coats too

 

[zimandtakandgrrandmimi]

I click trained her to take her pills with a reward of me spitting a mouthful of either milk or soup stock into her mouth.

she takes them on cue now.

 

[FilleBelle]

Don't forget you can always open/crush meds so that they aren't in pill or capsule form.

 

[jesirose]

Can you give him some calming gel before his real medicine? I put the gel on roast beef and the dog that wouldn't eat anything with me in the room ate that. Then fell asleep

 

[JustTess]

I like the idea of opening up the capsel or crushing it. He's now on pain med and he's driving me crazy with his restlessness . I had to muzzle him at the vet because he didn't want the vet to touch him.... that was tricky because if he knew what I was going to do he would have pouted.

Jesirose -- what is calming gel? Sounds like something he could use. He's been upset the past few days I think he dropped a couple of pounds. (not a bad thing though, he was starting to get a bit overweight at 58 lbs.)

 

[winniec777]

I'm sorry Ilya is sick. Poca has been on meds a lot and hates taking them so I've tried every trick there is. It doesn't take her long to figure out what's going on and reject whatever method I try. I've tried meat, cheese, cottage cheese, yogurt, etc.

The one thing that has been working lately is combining the pill contents with peanut butter and putting it into a kong. If it's a tablet, I crush it and stir it into the PB. If it's a capsule, I twist the capsule open and dump the contents on top of the peanut butter and mix it all up and put it in the kong. She'll even take crushed metronidazole this way, which is really bitter. Peanut butter seems to be the only thing that hides the taste/smell of the medicine.

Hope he's better soon.

P.S. I use about 2 tablespoons of peanut butter. If you stuff it to the bottom of the kong it may be enough to keep him occupied while you put his ear drops in. Just a thought. This is how I get Poca to sit still for nail sanding & application of her heartworm & tick topicals.