Getting a dog to take pills

[lavender444]

My Poor Rottie is so sick of taking medication. She's been having some heath issues and was finally diagnosised with a brain tumor (comfirming with MRI tomorrow). She now is on 14 pills a day for the next 30 days. Yes, 14!  she has a very poor appitte and is not food driven right now. Plus, she has wised up to all my tricks and has become a pro at seperating the pill from the snacks. She use to just swallow food whole with very little chewing, but now she chews everything very slowly. I could just shove them in in the back of her throat and wait until she swallows, but I was hoping you ladies had some tricks that I haven't thought of yet that will make it a bit more pleasent for her.

Thanks!

[patches31709]

Does she like peanut butter? My guy is actually pretty good about eating pills, but on the rare chance he doesn't eat them in his bowl, I roll it in peanut butter and he'll lick it off my finger and swallow the pill.

My only other thought is can any of them be smashed up? If so, I would mash them and mix them in her food. Poor baby, 14 pills sounds like a lot!

[coribelle26]

Oh man, poor girl. Our dog was on some antibiotics which, judging by how they smelled, must have tasted horrific. We shoved them into as small of a piece of cheese as possible to cover the taste and then basically rubbed his throat so he swallowed them both whole. It was a delicate operation because we didn't want to choke him with cheese, but he really fought us if we skipped the cheese step.

[sebd12]

That is a lot of pills. Use "people snacks." Our dogs will eat anything wrapped in American cheese. The trick is to give them the cheese wrapped pill, then immediately another piece of cheese. In their greed they scarf the first piece in anticipation of the next. You could even chase cheese with bacon. Something with lots of aroma and not something she's usually allowed to have. At this point the health benefits of the 14 pills going down outweigh the health "risks" of bacon and cheese.
If she is even refusing cheese, you might have to just force them. I would make a little pill package in rice paper or something so you are only sticking your hand in her throat 2-3 times a day instead of 14.
And instead of just handing them the cheese, I make our dogs do tricks first so they think it's a treat.
Good luck! poor pup!

[lavender444]

She will unwrap the pill in cheese, lunchmeat, licks off peanut butter,and pumpkin leaving the pill behind. I tried cottage cheese hoping she would just swallow it down and wouldn't notice the pill within the curds of cheese. No dice. If I crush them, she will not eat at all. Yesterday I had a leftover carrot cake cupcake from Easter. I shoved the pills in that and she did eat them all. Can I give her cupcakes 3 times a day?

She currently will not eat any dog food, dry, wet, treats-she'll refuses it all. We had to start cooking for her to get her to eat at all, and even then all she wants is canned chicken. It makes it infinatly harder since she is not food motivated. Hopefully once the steroids are in her system more, she'll regain her appetite again.

I know I make it sounds like she is really unwell, but outside the occasional seizure and extremely poor appetite, she really is happy and active and acts normally. I will have to force them down, but I just wanted to use that as a very last resort.

[sebd12]

If you are following up with another tasty morsel to distract her and she still picks through it, then yes, give her three cupcakes a day if that's what works. Maybe make peanut butter low-sugar cupcakes?
If I get Dxed with a brain tumor and all i want is canned chicken and cupcakes then dammit, that's what I'm having.
Hopefully the steroids make her hungry soon!

[mala]

I have no advice that hasn't already been said, but you should check with your vet before you crush pills. Some are meant to dissolve and release medicine slowly. Crushing them means the dog gets the meds all at once and that is not a good thing.

[lavender444]

Thanks, I did make sure they were okay to be crushed.

Her MRI came back and it's not a tumor, but inflammation on her brain. Encephalitis. They started her on another medication yesterday, a liquid Potassium Bromide. It's salty and we soaked it up with bread and oddly enough she liked it enough to use the bread to get all her pills in this morning. I hope that continues!

Thanks for all the good suggestions.

[Deleted]

Burying a pill in butter helped me with a recent foster. I then wrapped the butter in a piece of bacon or pepperoni and it worked.