Taking a pill

[kingalls]

So far we are at a 1:4 ratio to getting Shiloh to take an antibiotic pill. She has a bladder infection and is to take 1 pill a day for 10 days. I ground it up and put it in her breakfast meal...she took 1-2 sniffs and let it sit for the entire day - twice in a row. Next I added alot of extra chicken broth and thought she took the pill. Well, in the evening we checked her bowl and found the one and only thing left in the bowl - the pill. The vet suggested peanut butter - all I got was a turn of her head as though she was insulted that I would try to give her that. A co-worker suggested liverwurst...that had more success with several attempts. I buried the pill in liverwurst and she spit out half the pill. I covered the half with more liverwurst and she spit out 1/4 of the pill..finally, after covering the remains of the pill in more liverwurst, she consumed her pill. I think the liverwurst might be good for a least one more round before she figures it out.
I am open for suggestions. It's amuzing that vets thing that Chows gulp down their food like a typical dog. I've never seen an animal analyze their every bit - and even then, so carefully eat each morsel.

Thanks,
Karen

[Zhuyos mom]

Karen, I forget... does Shiloh let you open her mouth?

[Lily Griffin]

Lou and Karen
The only thing that works with mine (2 Chows and 2 German Shepherd), is I sit on the floor with them facing me, put my fingers in the side of their mouths and open and put the pill right at the back of their throats, so they are forced to swallow, They don't like it and it sometimes takes a couple of attempts, but eventually they eat them. Pills in the food don't work at all well for mine either - it's like they know.
Lily

[tekendall]

Our old chow used to have to take a huge pill (glyco-flex). The only way we could get it down was grind it up and put it in some tuna fish. The tuna had such a strong smell it covered up the smell of the pill. We tried the peanut butter and cheese...she just ate around it and spit the pill back out. Good luck!

[Mandy]

wrapping it in cheese works for us... but if I don't have cheese, I also do the putting it far back in the mouth as possible and he is forced to swallow it.

good luck!!

Mandy

[Judy Fox]

Mandy,

I always wrap a pill in cheese - that never fails. Milly Mabel however, I have to split it in half and give her a bit of cheese first then the cheese pieces with the pill halves in.
If I don't she will spit it out.
Once, I gave her her pill in the kitchen - in cheese- and I thought she had swallowed it!
Not on your life!
When I next went to the bathroom, I noticed the pill under a stool in there.
So the naughty, deceitful little baggage had bumbled through to the bathroom and obviously spat it out there!
Failing that, a little boiled ham! Give a bit without the pill first - to gain her confidence then the doctored bit!!

Good luck.

[kingalls]

Lou - I thought about putting the pill down her throat for about a second or less. If I did that she would never come near me again - or at least a very long time. I'm looking for other options and that would be my last choice. I would do it if it meant her health.

I will try some of the othe mediums - cheese, tuna, etc. Unfortunately, Shiloh nibbles and as soon as she feels that pill, out it comes. The liverwurst worked yesterday but today it doesn't. I talked to the vet this afternoon and will also try boullion cube.

Thanks for the tips!

Karen

[Zhuyos mom]

Karen,

I wasn't sure if she let's you open her mouth. My two do. If you resort to that, if you don't know already, tilt her chin up to drop the pill into her throat, after you drop the pill down her throat immediately massage the bottom of her chin while it's up with an upward and downward stroke. That always works with my two. It's sometimes more time efficient too. Oh, I also have a little block of cheese as a chaser for them. I hide the cheese in the palm of my hand when I tilt their head up to open their mouth. The hand that's closest to their nose. It sounds complicated, but it's rather easy and for me, its much faster than the process of hiding the pill in cheese, etc...

Good luck!

[MybabyBear]

Bear was on pills 3/4 of his life. I can remember different things that we used, but he was different. First, we tried lard. He liked it. Eventually, we used fat scraps off of meat, but that's because he needed the fat. But we also used ham or cheese. Sometimes, he'd just take the pill right out of my fingers. I remember when I fed him his pills. Whenever you picked up his pill box, he'd come running, knowing he was getting "a treat." I miss that. I miss him.
Anyway, you can try those. Stephanie and Homer

[Auddymay]

Wouldn't it be wonderful if they flavor- coated animal pills? Lily is a nibbler, and it's hard to get the whole pill in her at one time. She is a cheese hound though, and cojack cheese sticks do the trick so far...lol

[kingalls]

We're at our wits end with this pill taking. Shiloh is just tooo smart! Now she is suspect of every "treat" or meal I give her. Of her last prescription, she took 3 out of 10 pills. I had to reorder another set of pills at $50. I just spent a bit at PetSmart - the stuff you put in Kong balls and pill pockets at $10 a bag (especially designed/made by vets). Already tried the raw hamburger, more liverwurst, cheese and now with the kong ball stuff and the pocket pills...argh! nothing is working. She is weary of every treat - sniff, sniff, nibble, nibble - she's just looking for that foreign pill.
All the things I've tried either worked once or not at all...I might need to do a daily visit to the vets for an injection. Her infection needs to be dealt with but pill taking doesn't seem to be an option.
Putting a pill down her throat is the absolute last result as it would mean she will not let me near her again.
Thanks for all the advice but nothing is working yet

Karen

[Judy Fox]

Oh deary me, what a difficult girl!
I have no more suggestions - M & M can be difficult but cheese usually gets the better of them in the end.
I cannot think of anything else. The only thing I suppose is to grind the pill up on a teaspoon and pour it down her throat but she is going to really take offence at that isn't she.
What a baggage!

[kingalls]

Oh, she is such a baggage about this whole thing. Today I picked up more pills - capsules this time, hoping she can't smell them and will swallow them like a good girl....The vet said he could only give her a couple of injections a few days apart because the injections will cause some irritation but we still have the problem of having the antibiotics in her system at a consistent level for 10 days. I would like for the capsules to work but she has caught on too quickly on all other attempts

Karen

[Zhuyos mom]

I have another suggestion. I haven't tried this, so it's a non-tested suggestion. First, make sure that the antibiotics you are crushing or opening from the capsule is safe to crush or administer as pelletts. Some medication loose their effectiveness and can even be toxic if taken crushed or taken out of their source container. Anyways, do you remember the "chicken liver cupcakes" that was served at Zhu's birthday? If not, perhaps Shiloh can fill you in. That was actually Hill's Rx canned Z/D. My two loved it. Perhaps if you bought a can, use about 1/4 of it, stir in a little finely crushed kibble and then stir in the crushed antibiotic finally, this is key, top the whole thing with grated parmesan/reggiano cheese... hopefully you'll be able to trick Ms. Shiloh. Give it a try.

Good luck,

[Auddymay]

I had Lily at the vet yesterday, where she got a shot and worming pills. While waiting for the vet to come into the exam room, I noticed a little ad on the wall about flavor coating pills for dogs. I asked the vet when she returned, and she said they could coat Lily's pills for $19.00. I told her I'd just go buy the cojack cheese sticks instead! I may take her to my former vet for her spaying. My current vet has it priced at 150.00 base- and we know nobody ever pays that! My former vet moved acrossed town, But he quoted at $120.00. The way the current vet wrote my estimate, I could end up paying $300.00!

[kingalls]

Success with the capsule this morning. I teased Shiloh with a few pieces of baked chicken then wrapped the capsule in the chicken skin. She gulped it. Not typical but I think it was because I was teasing her. Hoping this will work for the next 9 days...
Argh - vet bill - yes it does get expensive, doesn't it. I don't think coating the pills would work for us - as you said - much less expensive to use cheese or in this case, chicken.
Shiloh's initial vet bill was over $200, the 2nd set of pills was $50, the 3rd set (capsules) was $20 for 6 pills and will cost more if the chicken wrap works and I need to pick up more capsules. Once the pill are completed, a second test for the infection will be about have the cost - so about another $80-$100 dollars.
I have a couple of new cats that need to be fixed and I inquired about the cost. It is $120 per cat - without the shots. No wonder we get situations where people don't get their pets fixed and we see litter after litter being generated. I don't remember the costs of having my two fixed but it wasn't inexpensive.
Karen

[kingalls]

Hooray!! Day 5 of consistently taking the pill via the chicken trick
So I've learned my lesson - make sure they're capsules which don't give off the smell that a pill does. I go back to get more pills on Monday and complete the pill taking.
The vet wants to wait about 3-4 days after the last pill is taken and then do a second urine test to confirm that the bladder infection is gone.

Karen

[Judy Fox]

Excellent!
What a baggage Shiloh is - but you are getting the pills down her. We had a Great Dane who was such a good girl and when she needed pills, she would just take them and swallow them with no problem.
Chow Chows - no way!

[Sandie]

That's great!
Beatle doesn't like pills either and will also eat whatever it's tucked into then spit the pill out. I have to give him his pills by the method Lou mentioned. Lucky for me, he still comes around.