When our furry baby is under strict medication for a particular health condition or injury, it’s our duty as pet owners to convince them to take their medicine. Whether it’s a pill or liquid medication, cats and dogs are known to be averse to taking medications, often resulting in missed doses and stressed fur parents.
This isn’t good, especially if your pet needs to get better soon, so let’s discuss some simple strategies to get them to take their medicine and ease your worries.
How to Trick Dogs Into Taking Their Medicine
Do you notice your pet developing jaws of steel each time you give them a dose of medicine? And each time you pry apart your furry companion’s mouth, you know you can only have one chance to drop the pill or squirt the dropper of liquid medication in their mouth. When you miss this chance, the liquid medicine or the pill will only drip down your pet’s face and get wasted.
However, giving medicines to your pet doesn’t have to be challenging if you try the following tricks we’ve gathered.
1. Consider chewable medications
Although some liquid or pill medicines are specifically designed to treat particular health conditions, always ask your vet if a chewable or flavored medication is available. Most dogs will eat it like a treat, and you’ll have no problems.
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2. Add a capsule to take away the flavor
Some medicines have a bitter or bad flavor to them. However, putting them inside empty capsules can remove the smell and taste your pet will not want. You may hide the capsules in their food, and they won’t notice it inside.
If your pet encounters a minor or severe accident following a rigorous exercise or activity, bring them to an emergency veterinary care facility immediately to address the situation.
3. Use pill pockets
Some dog food manufacturers produce delicious treats designed to hold pills or capsules inside. Not only are they tasty for dogs, but these canine pill pocket goods can also be molded to cover and surround the medicine to prevent the medication from touching your dog’s mouth.
4. Try pill pusher
Pill pushers are widely available from vets and work best for small dogs. You can use this small tool to push the pill to the back of your pet’s throat while keeping your fingers intact. This method is not infallible and requires practice, but it can be effective once mastered.
5. Hide the medicine in strong-smelling or wet foods
Cats and dogs have a more sharp and more keen smell than humans, which drives them away when you’re giving them their medicines. However, this problem can be solved by hiding medicine in strong-smelling, wet foods. The smell of the food will naturally lure your pet and eventually ignore the scent of the medicine.