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Our dog has CHF and takes 7 different medications. At first I was gving them to her in hamburger with no problems. Now, she is refusing the hamburger. She takes 7 different medications, but she takes 1 1/2 of 1,
2 of another, 3 of another, etc. So, when I give her the meds, she is taking quite a few pills. I try to give her the most pills in the fewest morsels, or whatever you want to call them. Has anyone else had to deal with this? Your suggestions are appreciated!
For long term meds ask your vet about having them compounded into a transdermal. Not all meds work with that method of delivery, but the ones that do it makes it so much easier to rub onto the skin instead of taking pills. I do this with meds that my cat takes and he never even knows.
I've had dogs that have had to take a variety of meds. We always just had them come and sit in front of us, opened their mouth and placed the pills way back in their throat, held their mouth shut for a minute and rubbed their throat until they swallowed. Then follow up with lots of praise and a very yummy treat....they never minded the meds that way.
Location: Montreal -> CT -> MA -> Montreal -> Ottawa
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Artie is the most finicky eater EVER, I do believe, and when we were moving into a new house, the vet gave us (oh, how I would have loved to have taken some!) Xanax.
Anyway...
Artie's most favorite treat is peanut butter, which I give to him on special occasions. What I did with the Xanax was scooped a dollop of peanut butter out of the jar, pressed the Xanax into it, and Artie licked my finger dry -- Xanax, peanut butter, and all.
I realize that you're talking about a lot of pills, but maybe some in the hamburger and some in some peanut butter would work?
I'm able to buy cheddar cheese that comes in small cubes and I have been using those for a long time. Recently my oldest dog started refusing them and I switched him to liverwurst. He gets 6 morsels over the course of the day. each with just 1 pill or half pill at a time so they are small.
I also grind up his glucosamine tablets with a mortar and pestle and mix it into his canned food, cottage cheese, yogurt and kibble mix. Ask your vet if you can do that with any of your dogs meds.
Hope you find solutions that work well and easily.
For long term meds ask your vet about having them compounded into a transdermal. Not all meds work with that method of delivery, but the ones that do it makes it so much easier to rub onto the skin instead of taking pills. I do this with meds that my cat takes and he never even knows.
Sorry, but from a pharmacologic standpoint this is NOT a very good idea. How will you know how much is absorbed? And not EVERY drug is able to be administered anywhere near reliably like this. How do you know that the pharmacokinetics (peak plasma concentration, exposure, etc.) are anywhere NEAR what you'd get from orally administered drugs? Nope, I would NOT recommend this. I do this for a living and cannot condone this suggestions.
However, I DO like the 'Three gobs of cheese' (or liverwurst) method:
Put three gobs of cream cheese on the counter/cutting board.
In the SECOND gob put the evil pill.
Call your unsuspecting pooch, and get ready to move QUICKLY.
Give gob #1 (no pill), followed VERY QUICKLY by gob #2 (with pill) and then even more quickly with gob #3 (no pill). 99% of the time the dog swallows them all and never realizes the pill was in #2!
And if you're feeling flush, you can buy pill pockets and use half a pill pocket per tablet.
I don't know how big your dog is, but a lot of heart medications come in liquid. Your vet can also get a compounding pharmacy to compound the meds into whatever flavor your pet may like most, in pills or liquids. There are quite a few veterinary compounding pharmacies.
Thank you all for the suggestions. All together, our dog takes 13 pills (2 of 1, 3 of another, etc.) 2x per day. We will defintely try some of these! I'm interested to hear of any more suggestions.
You should try using 'pill pockets'. They are hollow treats I found at PetsMart that are specifically designed for pills. They arent located in the treat section. I believe they are in the aisle with flea medicines or something like that...just ask someone who works there. Good Luck!
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