Here are 5 Tips on Managing and Medicating Your Dog
What foods work the best for hiding pills and medicating your dog?
Peanut butter, cream cheese, hot dogs, and lunch meat usually do the trick. It’s important to make sure they don’t spit it out. Tip: Hold your hand under their jaw while they are eating the pill to ensure they do eat the pill. Pill pockets always work wonderfully as well.
Are any foods that are inappropriate for certain medications?
Most foods are just fine, and cheese is fine. No, there are not certain foods that would have an adverse reaction or the like… Tip: You should only be using a very small amount of food to hide the pill, about a teaspoon.
How to medicate your dog with a liquid medication?
It’s important to ensure the dog is getting the medication, usually, liquids are much easier than pills. You can either squirt it into their mouth as directed or if that is not an easy task, you can do some of the following:
- Mixing the liquid with a small amount of butter, stage two baby food, apple sauce, or a small amount of your dog’s favorite food.
- There would be no problem with also putting it in a capsule if that is easier for the owner. Most owners know their dogs quite well, so these things really vary dog to dog.
Can you freeze your dog’s pills or alter in any way to help disguise?
No, you should not freeze your dog’s pills. Just like with people, freezing something would not change the fact that it still has to be swallowed. I would not recommend doing this in any situation. The right thing to do would be to use a mortar and pestle and crush the pill or empty the capsule and mix it with something that has substance. This would be baby food or applesauce or the like.
If your pet has difficulty swallowing whole pills, can you crush them and hide them inside food?
Yes, you can crush them or hide them in food, if a pill could not be crushed or manipulated in some way your veterinarian would let you know. Usually, you have to give pills with some sort of food and use a disguise as most dogs will not just eat them free-standing.
Tip: Use your dog’s most favorite food, usually the smellier the better. Remember dogs don’t taste food until they almost swallow it, so dog judges their food 95% of the time based on smell.
