We like to be proactive with our training and I always try to train things before we need them. At some point in a dog's life they will need to take medication. I decided to make sure my dogs were prepared for this by teaching them to take supplements.
The dogs are taking: probiotics, fish oil, vitamin E, glucosamine, cranberry
Zoe takes half of a trazadone for anxiety, Phoenix takes a cornsilk to help her not pee herself and the puppy is getting a half of a benadryl because she's been super itchy with the allergy season upon us.
We rub our pills in peanut butter but any sticky food will work. I've heard cream cheese or even mayo works well. Once the pill is covered in peanut butter, I pop them in their mouth and they swallow.
Puppy Alice learned how to take a probiotic the second day she was home and has been successfully taken vitamins with zero issues.
You don't need to spend a ton of money on pill pockets and you don't need to hold your dog down to take their meds. Teach them this skill before you need it!
Note: Please make sure your peanut butter does not contain xylitol.
Finley has to take lotsa pills (allergies and a heart murmur) - she's pretty good about it.
ReplyDeleteYes! Thanks for pointing this out. What a difference it made to have a trained "time for pills" behavior. Our dogs don't take daily pills but we still do pill time before bed with little cream cheese balls. When we had to dose our new girl Rowan with an anti-anxiety med before a long car trip, she didn't even notice that this "pill ball" was loaded with a real pill.
ReplyDeleteCheers,
Chris from Boise
Oh, Ma said she's gonna try this one! I gets the pill pockets, butts I knows what's in there and 'patooooey' them lots...until she rolls them in freeze-dried chicken dust (from the bottom of my freeze-dried chicken bag)! Ma said this would be easier too.
ReplyDeleteKisses,
Ruby ♥
I think I would like some of your pills, friends! Can I sit in your lineup?
ReplyDelete