Creative ways to administer pills other than pill pockets?

@hungphatads123 I have a 9 mo old corgi that's the same way. He has CMO and is on a low maintenance dose of prednisone, but when he has a flare-up, the dose is increased. On days when he feels fine, I can hide the pills in various things...cheese (he loves goat cheese), marshmallows, the small soft training treats, even blueberries. He gets fed home cooked meals, so I make several small cheese balls (or blueberries, marshmallows, whatever), and stuff a pill in 1 of them. Then I disburse throughout his food. It seems like if he sees several pieces of cheese, he's less suspicious vs if he only sees 1. My other option is I use a snuffle mat...mostly I'll use small pieces of kibble, but I will put a few training treats around, 1 of which will have a pill stuffed inside. I make that one somewhat easy to find and I will sit and watch him until I know he has found it.
 
@hungphatads123 I think peanut butter is the best to mask the scent, I will ass peanut butter on a treat and put the pill in it and cover with peanut butter and another treat. Helps that if she bites it the PB keeps some of the powder from going everywhere. If she tries to spit it out I gently close her mouth, tilt her head back and rub her neck while lightly blowing on her nose to trigger her to swallow.
 
@hungphatads123 I always find Cheesy Singles (the cheese you put on burgers) to work a treat. You can put the pill inside and mould it into a ball.
In my experience I've only had one dog who has taken issue with it, so I popped it in his mouth, gave him a cuddle and held his head up while rubbing his throat to encourage him to swallow.
 
@hungphatads123 I know you said not big on PB but I used to put It on a spoon with the pill tucked and then stick It to the roof of their mouth and worked every time.. could maybe try something else that’s sticky
 
@hungphatads123 My 11 year old Pug has a very sensitive tummy and our vet said to use the Pepto chewable when she gets tummy cramps, is nauseous and isn’t hungry. I crush it between 2 spoons, can also use a mortar and pestle, and either have someone help me open her mouth and dump it in, or I smear it onto her gums with my finger. Pepto is of course made to be eaten so it has a better flavor than like Prednisone but the same idea can be applied.
Give something really high reward right after like wet cat food or pureed plain boiled chicken. Also which works to give her Benadryl tablets for when her allergies act up. I break in half a 25mg tablet and shove inside a piece of chicken, but first I give a few pieces of plain chicken so she gets thrown off and stops sniffing to inspect for meds. Then give a med filled one followed immediately by a plain one, like I hold it right up to her mouth so she quickly swallows what she has so she can get more. I’ve also used wet cat food mushed into a little ball to give Benadryl and Pepto when she’s not as nauseous as other times and will eat it. Side note a heating pad helps with tummy cramps so much! I’ve had her since she was 7 weeks old 🐾❤️.

I’ve also used the pill pusher/plungers for both Pepto and Benadryl which makes giving her the meds so much faster and easier! Definitely recommend one if the other ways fail because sadly the medication still has to be taken even when they don’t want to cooperate.
 
@hungphatads123 I cook stew meat from Aldi in the air fryer. I slice a piece very thin and place the pill in the thin fold. I always have a second treat in my other hand. He quickly gobbles up the first piece with the pill and I immediately follow up with the second treat to keep him from spitting out the pill. I’ve made meatballs like someone else mentioned and he loved those too. Cheese is also great. My advice is the follow up treat.
 
@hungphatads123 Butter. I have room temp butter and gabapentin pills 3x daily. I take the pill, drop it in the butter, and scoop the pill with about half a teaspoon to a full teaspoon worth of butter on it and my boy eats right up.
 
@hungphatads123 With my dog we used to sneak it food (either mold some cheese around it or cut up a little bit of hotdog and place the pill in) and make a game out of it by throwing and getting him to catch it in his mouth.

If you throw a real treat or two first, he might not give it much of a sniff and try to catch it.

Just an idea for you. Good luck!
 
@hungphatads123 A very finicky dog that I sit for is a master at finding pills and spitting them out. So far the one thing that will get him to take them is cream cheese. I just cut a small square for each pill and push the pill into the cream cheese. He takes it just fine every time.
 
@hungphatads123 QOur dog is on anti-anxiety med 2x daily. I make homemade beef bone broth and freeze containers. I warm about 1/4 cup or less in his bowl. Take a couple of treats and I Crush them in a morter and pestle and add to the bowl. Then we open his capsule and dump the powder in. He drinks it up. You could also crush up pills and mix. Dogs love bone broth and it's the easiest way to get him to take the full dose.

Edit: you can buy bone broth in the pet store but it's expensive. I put 2 lbs beef bones in the instapot. 1/4 cup AC vinegar, Carrots, Celery, Rosemary, Parsley. Pressure cook 3 hrs. After you take it out, separate and discard the fat. Same process could be done in a slow cooker for 24hrs.
I make a double batch monthly and give to my sisters dog that had ACL surgery. It's been a God send for him as well to take meds and it's very healthy and healing.
 
@hungphatads123 One of the dogs I watch has a heart condition and has to eat these giant horse pills that are broken in half and still huge. He needs 6 halves a day (plus loads of other pills) and for awhile the owner was using lunch meat steak and stuff, it eventually stopped working. Now she uses his canned wet food and makes them into meatballs with the pill in the center, throw it in his food bowl with normal wet food meatballs too. Works every time even tho he used to take every piece of food away and fully inspect it for pills before eating it haha. I feel like we got lucky getting that to work bc nothing else did.

Teaching him to be pilled like an above comment said would the best way to go tho so no matter what he can get his meds. It’ll be dramatic at first but will get better. Follow it up with his fav treat. Maybe the steak or lunchmeat lol. It’s kind of like my dog and her eye drops. Gosh was that terrible for the both of us at first haha but with enough treats and training and practice with it (pretending but not actually dropping, still treating) she begins to cooperate eventually in order to get her treats. Treat his cooperation! Give breaks. Practice the ritual with no real pill. Works like a charm with eye drops, nail trims, brushing, blow dryer, any form of restraint or thing the dog doesn’t like. It’s ok to practice restraint with your dog so they are more cooperative. In your case, forcing him to keep his mouth shut and swallow something he doesn’t want to👍 it’s not natural to them so they resist, but can learn to trust the process and get a piece of steak after! All dogs should learn restraint anyway so vet visits and grooming can be as painless and stress free as possible
 
@hungphatads123 Techniques that have worked for me is, like what the first person said, just pushing it to their back of their mouth far enough that any movement swallows it and then rewarding after that. With one of my very food obsessed dogs I didn't have to do that, I took a piece of dog food and the pill and a squirt of the kong filling and made a BIG FUSS about this AMAZING TREAT he was gonna get to have. Lots of anticipation and enthusiasm about it and letting him smell the food and cheese parts. Then he just swallowed it whole 😂
 
@hungphatads123 I used to have a picky pill sniffer too. What I found was most helpful was mixing it up. Similarly to you, things would work for a bit and then she'd start sussing out the pill.

I found her top items, and started making up pill planner boxes a week or two ahead of time so it was super easy to keep switching it up. Ie, string cheese on Monday, pill pocket on Tues, tuna of Wed, etc etc. If I found something she liked more, I'd work it in or sub out the less-liked items. Then I just popped open the fridge at meal time, grabbed the pre-covered pill, and popped it in her food bowl. She didn't get bored and start sniffing out the pill and I didn't have to spend a bunch of time hiding a pill twice a day.

You can also look up if there are chewable versions of the medication. My current dog is not super picky, but she hated the taste/smell/etc of fluoxetine. I asked my vet about it, and she changed us over to reconcile which is a chewable tablet. I just throw it in with her food bare and she eats it right up. It's a little more expensive, but she's an old dog and I think it's worth the extra 15 bucks a month to make mealtime enjoyable and eliminate the stress of pilling.

Best of luck!

ETA: when my boy, who also got an early-life cancer diagnosis, lost his appetite I started feeding him canned rawble turkey puppy recipe. I don't know what it is about that particular canned food, but every dog in the house wanted it desperately. They'd seek him out after breakfast and try to vacuum any remaining atoms of it from his mouth. When nothing else, even old favorite like honest kitchen, could get him to eat, rawble turkey puppy had our backs. My heart goes out to you, wishing him a fast and effective chemo
 
@alexandru Thanks, this is all really helpful. I have thought about mixing it up and pre-packing them but I had wondered if some more of the odor kind of leeches out into the surrounding food if it’s left together longer? Like you know how sometimes the pills get kind of powdery after they’ve been stuffed in something— like maybe they can taste it more?

I think something extra tough is going on right now because he’s been picky in general but this weekend he started turning his nose up at everything, including food and some of the more yummy suggestions here. If we can get back to a place where he will eat something, anything, I think mixing or up with a few of these suggestions will work. He’s at the vet now so fingers crossed.
 
@hungphatads123 With my sister’s old dog (who figured out the cheese and peanut butter tricks pretty quick) we used to get the chunky stew-like dog food and push the pills into one of the chunks and then give him a few spoonfuls. He loved it!

If that doesn’t work , you might consider getting a piller / pill shooter and just popping them straight down his throat. It’s sometimes unpleasant or difficult but if it’s the only way to get the meds in , sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do for their own good

ETA: some meds can come in either pill or liquid. Maybe ask your vet if his meds can come in liquid form and just pop it right in his mouth with the little syringe
 
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