Great Ideas to Give Your Dog that Nasty-tasting Pill

If you own a dog, you must have gone through the exhausting task of giving it a pill. Many dog medications are nasty in taste and smell and are instantly rejected by the pets. However, if it is necessary that your dog suffering from a health condition takes the pill, you really need to learn some wonderful techniques that actually work.

Hide It in Food

Well! That’s the most common technique and works most of the times. Make sure you choose super tasty nice smelling food or treat that cap the taste and smell of the pet medication. Some examples include cream cheese, peanut butter, ice-creams etc. Not only are these tasty, they also make swallowing easier and faster. To make the technique even more effective, hide the pill in a small amount of food which doesn’t require chewing.

Buy Some Help

• Gel Caps: You can easily buy an empty gel cap from a pet pharmacy, place the pill in it and give it to the dog. Make sure you consult with a vet about their efficacy.
• Pill Pockets: Tasty pill pockets are a great aid to give dogs the pills (work also for the cat medications) conveniently. Again, consult the vet if your dog is allergic.
• Pill Guns/Devices: As the names suggest, these can be used to directly put the pills behind the dog’s hump.

Some Cheat Games

The idea is to tease the dog so that it grabs the pill-hidden food from your hand. A recommended technique is to give it a treat 2-3 times and then tease it with a treat that contains the pill. Take it close to its mouth and quickly remove as soon as it tries to take it. Repeat it 2-3 times before it becomes impatient and grabs the treat.

Another game is possible if you have two dogs at home. Ignore the target dog and start feeding the second one. Watching that it is not getting the treat, it would grab it (the one with hidden pill) when offered the chance to. Be sure to give the pet medications to the right dog only.

Other Ideas

• Ask the vet about tasty chewable flavored compounded Rx pet meds as replacement to the oral pills.
• Learn the technique to physically give it a pill by opening its jaws tactically. A vet can demonstrate it to you.
• Reward the dog after it takes the pill to inspire it for future.