Any advice on how to get a dog to take pills?

[Guest]

These are apparently very palatable for dogs but I've tried,  mixing it with wet food, breaking it up small, putting it in a treat and nothing he gets it every time and spits it out. I've seen where you can put it in his mouth and hold the head up but I can't do that as dog has a back problem atm.

So ideas for a stubborn dog!

Had to contact vet again..NOTHING worked and I really didn't want him missing his meds till he's scanned on Friday. So vet told me to dissolve it in water and I got to squirt it in his mouth..pure stubborn dog.

[Birdy]

Does the outside have a taste or smell? I put tramadol in a capsule for my dog. I had to give him 8 meds a day for a few months, so when all the easy tricks stopped working, I got canned chunky dog food and stuck a pill in a piece with hand feeding. Lots of gravy. As long as he couldn't smell the pill it usually worked. Then he expected hand feeding ALL THE TIME.

[Dianne]

Butter or cheese. Wear rubber gloves. Careful to not get the odor of the pill on the outside of the treat. They can smell it and refuse to eat it.

[Danielle]

I had a very picky dog who needed 13 pills twice a day. She caught on to all my tricks, always found the pill and would eject it out. Pill pockets didn't work, meat, cheese, "accidently dropping it" or even tossing it to her. Forcing them was my only option .. until I discovered cheese whiz. Total game changer. One shot of whiz to prime the pump and then just coat the pill in it and shed lap it right up. Good luck!

[Angela]

Does your dog try to inhale food or no? If no you might have to hold their chin upward but ive always wrapped it on a piece of Kraft cheese or lunch meat, closest to the back of the throat as possible if that still wont work you might be better off just holding their mouth shut after stuffing the pill as far back as possible, ik it sounds awful but if they absolutely have to take it and you absolutely cant get them to take it you gotta make do, I had to do this with one of my dogs when they got older and needed an antibiotic, it was awful we both hated it but it had to be done

[Katie]

Peanut butter is the ONLY thing that works for my dog. She'll literally refuse steak with a pill in it, but break it up and mix it into pb, she can't refuse.

[Shayla]

Mind over matter lol. If he sees you mixing his food like you said and knows that’s pill time; try mixing his food at random times with no pill. Then he won’t associate a pill with mixing. Try giving him a few random soft treats after he does a trick, and after a few give him the one with the pill in it. Then he will just think it’s another one of the treats.

[Marie]

My pup is the same. What worked for me last time after trying most mentioned above was breaking it up a lot and smooshing it into sliced cheese. Then it was so small it was hard for him to separate the cheese from the bits of pill and he did not want to leave any cheese on the floor. So he ate it all up. It was even one of the pills that were suppose to be treat flavored but he knew. Smh

[Michelle]

Sliced cheese.... rip it in a few pieces.... wrap the pill in one piece.... give pup a couple pieces one right after the other then slip the one in with the pill and then a couple regular ones... I do it fast that way all they think that's happening is snacks! Lol works every time

[Amanda]

Have you tried hot dog segments or cheese cubes as pill pockets? You can also try things like Spam or even baby food. I use Pill Wrap, which my animals love, and it comes in bacon, meat and cheese, and peanut butter flavors. My dogs get multiple pills every day, so I had to fund something that worked because I hate shoving pills down throats.

[Amanda]

Spray cheese or pb. Put pill in cheese/pb, open the mouth, and wipe the pb/cheese on the roof of the mouth. The dog will lick it off and swallow. If they still spit it out, hold the muzzle closed enough so they can’t do that, but try to leave them a little room so they can easily lick the top of their mouth. This only works if your dog is fairly tolerant of fingers in their mouth, of course. I work in a boarding facility and this works on most dogs when non-invasive options fail.

[Cydney]

My dog had surgery on both legs and had to have a lot of pills every day for weeks. I'm an expert at this! What I do is use pill pockets. I pinch off pieces to wrap around the pill. Then I have pieces with no pill in them. When you're first starting, probably give the dog a couple of plain pieces of pill pocket, so they see it's just a treat. Then when you're ready, this is what you will do in quick succession. Give them a plain piece, followed by one with the pill in it, followed immediately by another plain piece. Bam, bam, bam! They're so busy gobbling down treats they don't have time to fuss about pills!