Any tips on getting medicine into a dog who seems to find the pill in whatever its hiding in?


My mom's 17 year old golden retriever mix has decided she is not going to take any medications these last two weeks or so. She will not eat her chewable prevacox anymore, she finds the tiny half a tramadol inside of whatever it is hidden it, and we have tried everything from velveeta to raw ground beef, to chunks of hot dog with a slit in them and pill inside, pill pockets from the store, peanut butter etc etc.

Today I even made tiny balls of summer sausage and stinky havarti cheese, gave her three of them with no pill and then one with, and sure enough she spit the one with the pill right out.

She will still eat her glucosamine treats but that is about it.

She is severely arthritic and really needs medication to have any sort of quality of life, especially in this cold weather as she is an outside dog and she gets stressed when my mom tries to bring her inside.

We doubled up the padding in her house and my mom is putting a heated rice bag in the bedding as well to add some extra warmth and relief, she also thinking of getting one of those heating pads for whelping rooms in the leerburg store.

But the dog needs medication no matter what.

My suggestion was to crush the tramadol into some milk or water and use a medicine syringe to squirt it in her mouth, But then I was worried about aspiration in such a feeble dog.

or to call and ask the vet for a liquid pain medication, either oral or injectable, I am willing to go over and give her the shot as necessary if need be.

In all honesty it is getting close to the end for her, and I sometimes wish they would make that decision sooner rather than later because she is just so old and wobbly and painful looking. But she just lost her cat to sudden and acute renal failure so it will be some time before she is ready to let poor Caramel go as well.

Ms. Lee,

Well... You described all and more of the methods I might use to induce a pet to take a med. I have zero ideas.

If it were a younger dog I'd open its mouth, tilt its head, drop in the pill, and close its mouth while stroking in a downward direction from chin to mid throat until I was sure the pill had passed. Very hands on but it is effective, doesn't seem to traumatize the dog, and usually quite a short exercise.

I read your last paragraph. Perhaps the dog is signaling its feelings. 17 years is a long time and albums of memories. I admire your sensitivity and compassion. Moms need daughters who understand and are supportive.

I wish you, your mother, and the dog peace.

It is tough, she lost her dear sweet cat of 18 years to cancer two years ago, then the other cat the week before Christmas to renal failure and now her dog is just so very old.

I think it was probably time to let go of Caramel months ago, but I also know that is a very hard situation to be in, and with my aging dog I fear the inevitable decay of quality of life that will be coming soon, I just hope when it comes to be that time I don't drag it out for my own reasons.

Right now my main concern is her being as comfortable as possible in her last weeks or months.

I have read that sometimes fentanyl patches are used on dogs as well as a topical preparation of ketamine..maybe I will see if my mom minds if I call the vet for her to find out if there are other options.

I don't know if its an option for you, but I like Metacam as a pain med. My dogs LOVE it and its liquid form. They're like lil drug addicts when they went through their pano.

Pills, well, I'm not too nice about giving dogs pills if they won't take it with food. I just hold their mouth open by squeezing the hinge of their jaw, keeping my thumb and forefinder between their teeth through their cheeks and slide the pill toward the back of their throat with a finger, then hold their mouths closed. They stop fighting it in less than a week.

Mr. Schoonbrood,

I enjoy your comments.

Happy New Year.

Mike,

Your method is the one that worked so well with me with our dog Buster (pitbull) while he was still alive. Also for some reason, blowing quickly on the dog's nose while you still hold the mouth closed will cause him the swallow. I think it's because the breath of air causes him to stick out his tongue/lick his nose which causes the swallowing action. Anyway, it worked for me. (P.S. This or any other trick does not work on cats!!)

Thanks for the input, my dogs have always been super easy to medicate, Nico will eat her medicine without anything around it, I don't think she has a sense of taste! LOL
and the others just gobble up cheese or whatever I hide it in.

I didnt know metacam came in liquid form, that might be just perfect, I will let her know.

I hate to do anything that is going to cause her to struggle or fight, she just seems so fragile, and god forbid she should slip or fall in the process.

I just put my 15 year old lab down 9 weeks ago and for the last 2 years of his long life I had him on DGP (Dog Gone Pain). He would not willingly eat them. I opened his mouth by inserting a finger or two towards the back of his mouth, put the pill(s) in, and followed with a syringe of Synflex. I'm not aggressive with administering care to my animals but somehow I figured out how to do this and did it daily for 2 years.

If your mother is anything like me she may just need to muster up some aggression to get the pills in her.

Drsfostersmith.com has a bunch of different ways they can compound medications including transdermal gels, gel tabs that melt in their mouth too fast to spit out, concentrated liquid(a few drops on a treat might work), and probably a few I'm forgetting. They can also flavor liquid about 30 different flavors. I can't get the page to load but the main website has a phone number. Or you could ask locally whether any pharmacies do custom compounding and if they are willing to do veterinary compounding.

I got a hard to pill dog for dog sitting once and bought a bolus gun. Problem solved and it's over in about 2 seconds. No fighting with dog at all. I just get him to open his mouth and shoot the pill down his throat. I'm with the others though. It might just be this dog's time to go and he's trying to tell her that.

I had no idea about dr. fosters and smith doing compounding, that is good to know for when I need cat medication as they are boogers to medicate!

I think she talked to the vet today about doing a liquid metacam and a transdermal narcotic type pain reliever.

I wonder if Tramadol can be compounded into a transdermal gel or given in liquid form, or even the fast melts as it doesn't seem to make her feel too wonky but does seem to make a difference in her walking and her pain level. I will let her know about the drs foster and smith web page to see if she is interested.