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ways to give pill?

2419 Views 25 Replies 25 Participants Last post by  poodleholic
My dog is not well and has to take antiboitic pill. Any suggestions on how to give a pill to dog, if not taking in food?
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This is what we do, though there may be better ways: Hold the pill between your index and middle fingers. Open the dogs mouth tilting his head back. Place pill as far back in throat that you can, remove hand, keep his chin up and stroke throat until you see him swallow. Take a quick look around his gums to make sure it didn't wind up there.
I agree with Peppy. Never thought I would say that...;) Just do it fairly quickly and they won't know what hit them.
i agree with the other 2! i do it every day at work and its the easiest way!
with my dogs i have never had a problem giving pills, they have been taking pills since they came home ( usally vitamins) and they eat them like candy..

the only ones i have issues with is the ones that tast funny to them, then all i do is put it in something they love to eat, in my case hot dogs, and they have no idea that the pill is inside ;) good luck
i cut a slit in a hot dog and give that to him :)
Hot dogs here also. They are wonderful way to trick them. I did have one thought that would always eat around the pill, so I did the fingers down the thoat for that one!
My dogs love to eat pills... dunno why..
I still give them hot dogs so they know it's a good thing to eat pills:p
My dogs love to eat pills... dunno why..
I still give them hot dogs so they know it's a good thing to eat pills:p
Man I wish we had more dogs like yours at work!!

I have had to pill SO many dogs and cats in my job...it's insane! But I also second the popping it back in the dog's throat. I do it with Bridgette and she does just fine.

At work most dogs will take them in a little wet food meatball, but a tiny bit of cheese or hot dog will work too.(although we don't use this at work).
I take some cheese and squish the pill in the middle of it then roll it in my palms so its a cheese ball , hasn't failed yet .


My dog is not well and has to take antiboitic pill. Any suggestions on how to give a pill to dog, if not taking in food?
If your dog is not eating and you have a tough time getting the pill in him/her. One other thing you can try is to crush the pill mix it with a little water, put it in a syringe (ask your vet for one) and squirt into his/her mouth. Some dogs are easier to pill this way. Just depends on the dog (and the human administering it.) How is your dog?
Thanks for all the great suggestions. Will now eat and put pill in slice bread. Tough giving 6 pills a day! Have to cut the larger ones up. Slowly coming around, but not back to crazy self. Acts like a good dog now. Taking rimadyl and clavamox, perhaps makes him tired.
Try putting the pill in a glob of peanut butter.

Or, open his mouth and push the pill down his throat - sounds evil but not really. I would then syringe some water into his mouth to make sure the pill goes through the esophagus.

Your vet may have a piller - it's like a syringe or sorry, like the applicator that you would use to insert yeast infection medication up your you-know-what. You put the pill in the one end, put the piller in your dog's mouth and depress the plunger in a quick motion so the pill is propelled into your dog's throat. You have to put the piller in far enough so as not to choke him but so that the pill is aimed toward his throat and will go down. But as I said, follow this with some water. My dog will drink from a glass so it makes that easy!
I put pills in a little bit of raw honey. They can't eat around the pill like with cheese or meat wrapped around it and its easeir than forcing it down their throat.
I've had the best luck with:

Pill Pockets
Cream Cheese
Hotdogs
Bread
Regular Cheese

Good luck!
I have the best results with hiding it in food also. But, my guys a smarty pants and tends to smell it a mile off. also, he's not like a normal dog who just gulps everything up, he has to "chew" his food (if you don't mind :)

What I do is hide it in the smallest possible amount of food i can, and something he really likes but doesn't have to chew on (hard cheese wouldn't work). A small piece of chicken works well. I start off by giving him chicken without anything in it and once he's excited about it, give him the "trick" one, lol, with another one ready to go ... so he's already looking at the second one coming.

Just one more suggestion to add to yur list! That's a lot of pills a day ... poor guy, hope he's on the mend soon.
This is what we do, though there may be better ways: Hold the pill between your index and middle fingers. Open the dogs mouth tilting his head back. Place pill as far back in throat that you can, remove hand, keep his chin up and stroke throat until you see him swallow. Take a quick look around his gums to make sure it didn't wind up there.

Just did this about an hour ago,worked great(two pills)just to bad she tossed it up with some water she just had.No more water for a while after pill time.:eek:
if you are weary of fingers getting crushed, go to the pet store and buy a pill popper, or pill gun. you load it like a syringe, stick it in the back of the throat and depress the plunger. Simple and painless for both. I especially like them when dealing with angry cats.
Thanks for all the great suggestions. Will now eat and put pill in slice bread. Tough giving 6 pills a day! Have to cut the larger ones up. Slowly coming around, but not back to crazy self. Acts like a good dog now. Taking rimadyl and clavamox, perhaps makes him tired.
+1 on bread
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