PetHealth

Tricks to Giving Your Dog Medicine (Pills)

“How do I get my dog to swallow a pill?”

“How do I give my dog a pill?”

“Help! My dog keeps spitting out his pill!”

“What foods can you use to hide a pill for your dog?”

Getting your dog to take a pill can be a difficult task; a task that’s made even more stressful when the dog’s health depends on him taking the pill medication. Fortunately, there are a few ways to get your dog to eat a pill - without a struggle!

How to Give a Dog a Pill - The Most Common Mistake

The biggest mistake that dog owners make is this: they try to hide a pill in the dog’s normal dog food.

This method will not work! A dog’s nose is hundreds of times more powerful than your own human nose. Pair those keen canine olfactory abilities with the fact that the dog is very familiar with how his dog food smells. This means your dog will smell the pill hidden in the dog food from a mile away. Therefore, he won’t eat it!

Also, if you try to hide a pill in your dog’s food, there’s a chance he’ll develop an aversion toward the food, and then, the dog will refuse to eat the dog food, even when there’s no pills present. So don’t waste your time; hiding a pill in your dog’s normal food will not work.

How to Give Your Dog a Pill Medication Without a Struggle

There is one very easy method that can be used to give a pill to a dog: hide the pill in a food that the dog’s not extremely familiar with. If you put your dog’s pill in a food that he rarely eats, he’ll assume that the smell of the pill in the food is just part of the food’s normal aroma.

The best foods for giving a pill include:

• Peanut Butter
• Cream Cheese
• Deli Cheese
• Cold Cuts
• Hot Dog Pieces

The first two options - peanut butter and cream cheese - are the easiest foods to use when giving your dog a pill. You can hide the pill in a glob of peanut butter or cream cheese and feed it to the dog. If your dog decides he doesn’t want to eat the peanut butter or cream cheese, it’s an easy food to “force feed.” You simply put the glob of cream cheese or peanut butter on your finger and wipe it on the roof of his mouth, just behind the front teeth.

You can also hide the dog’s pills in other foods, like a piece of hot dog. Or you can give the dog his medication by wrapping the pill in cold cuts or cheese. The key is to hide the pill in a food that the dog doesn’t normally eat.

These tricks are sure to make giving your dog a pill an easy proposition, and you can avoid worrying about whether your dog cheeked the pill or spit it out - problems that often occur when a dog owner tries to give the dog a pill the “old fashioned” way by attempting to toss the pill down the dog’s throat.

More Tips for Dog Owners and Parents of a Sick Dog

Are you wondering, “Is my dog sick? ” Is your dog dehydrated ? Is your dog refusing to eat and you don’t know why? Do you know the proper dose of aspirin for a dog ?

Check out my other articles on The Pet Health Blog for answers to your most common pet health questions, with new articles added daily!

Also check out Tips for Giving Medicine to Pets.