Giving pills

[Lisa]

Does anyone else have dogs who will voluntarily eat just about any medication given to them?  I first discovered this with Koda, who ate a few of my vitamins I had sitting out ready to take when he was a young puppy.  Now I have to keep them out of his reach and he actually looks for them.  One supplement I take is glucosamine chondroitin which he especially seems to like, so I tried hand feeding those to Artax since he takes two every day, same as me, and to my surprise found he'll crunch them up with his teeth and gobble them down too.  All those years of placing them on the back of his tongue and holding his mouth closed for nothing!    Then I tried feeding Artax aspirin and he chews those right up too!  I haven't tasted GC but know aspirin doesn't taste good.  Artax was prescribed a two-week course of antibiotics to be picked up tomorrow and I suspect he'll voluntarily consume those too.  When he hears pill bottles rattling he comes over like it's treat time.  Such easy dogs to medicate. 

[BoxerWB]

Yes, Xena will swallow pills whole happily. The only problem is giving capsules - if they crunch them, they may not get the full dosage. So I normally give her those in PB because they lick and swallow rather than chewing.

Dash does not like pills, so he gets a little PB twice a day for his thyroid meds.

[Sophia Sadeyes]

Sophia will eat at pill if you put it in with her food.
Strummer will NOT take a pill ever. It's soo hard to trick him into eating it. PB, hide it in cheese or meat...NOPE.
He's such a brat about it.

[Rubidawg]

Rubi will if it's covered in cheese, peanut butter, yogurt, ice cream, lunchmeat, and hotdogs....but then she eats all the goodies around it, walks away and spits the pill out on the floor when she thinks you're not looking.

Haven't had to give Grady pills (knock on wood) yet, so no idea. Altho, he's a chow hound so maybe if I tell him it's a treat, he'd take it. LOL

But our first boxer (Koho, who lives back home with Shawn's Grandma) will eat pills like it's a treat. She'll even beg for em. Sucha weirdo. But she's also a chow hound, even opens cabinet doors to get to the treats, so I'm sure she just thinks they're treats tooo. LOL

[BoxerPerson]

Tyler used to eat his pills...but haven't had one since! I have to use PB or cheese to get them down!

[whitepupzoe]

Abby will eat pills if I just throw them in her kibble, LOL she just gobbles them right up.   

Zoe on the other hand will spit them out unless you give them to her in peanut butter...and even then...if she sees the pill in there she won't eat it. Brat.    She does eat her Rimadyl and Chewable vitamin with no problem tho...which shocked me.

[blynn03]

I've never really tried to just give them plain pills.  I just put whatever I'm giving them on my finger with a little PB, open their jowls and smear it on the roof of their mouth.  They are just happy to be getting some PB!   

[Bruins_Boxer]

Edy will eat her Vit E pills willingly .
All other pills can just put in with her food and she eats them .

[linz and ellie]

JJ is easy, he doesnt care and will eat anything....Ellie on the other hand is a complete nightmare - Tried alsorts, cheese, PB, ham, chicken you name it ive tried it and she will not eat it - she even knows which pieces dont contain the pill coz she will eat those.

Last time i put each pill inside tubes of pasta and mixed them in with other pasta tube and added it to her dried food, i am not joking here, she ate the whole lot apart from the twp pieces of pasta that had the pills inside.

I have to crush the tablet inbetween two spoons them mix it in with peanut butter and put it in her kong.

[Lisa]

So most everyone tries to convince dogs reluctant to take medicine by masking it with food?  I've always put pills on the back of their tongues and just made them swallow.

The verdict is in; Artax will indeed eat even antibiotic capsules on his own with a little encouragement. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wk5-E2TvnWs