Giving medicine to your dog

I was talking with a co-worker the other day and he mentioned that his dog was prescribed antibiotics to take for a week. He was on day two and wondering how they both would survive since getting his dog to open up and obediently swallow the medicine was NOT happening. With Xena every morning, she knows that before I leave for work she gets a piece (or two) of ham. What I don't think she has figured out is that the ham contains her dose of prednisone. She is on a very small dose, and it is a VERY small pill, so this works for us. My co-worker's dog wasn't going to be fooled by that trick though, as her pill was considerably bigger. Peanut butter (another great trick) was also a bomb. Another option is to check with the vet to see if the meds may be crushed with no ill effects. They can then be added to food or a tasty treat, but you have to make sure all is ingested.

I encouraged him to check out Pill Pockets. I don't sell them, I'm not making money by mentioning them. But they work!  They come in two sizes...one for tablets and one for capsules. They are stinky and squishy.  You stick the pill in them and squeeze the end to seal it inside. Fido will never even know (kind of like putting carrots in cupcakes for kids that won't eat veggies.  They can be found at almost anyplace that sells pet products, and they look like this:

And now for a little brag! In addition to the daily prednisone pill, Xena gets an injection of a medicine once a month. Last night was the first time I did it myself at home, rather than having to drag her to the vet. Normally she doesn't even seem to notice when she gets her shot. She did turn around and look at me last night, as if to say "hey!  what the heck?!".   I'm telling myself that it wasn't because I was any less gentle than the pros, but that she just wasn't expecting it since we were on home turf. 27 more days till I have to try again!

Stay tuned tomorrow for the sequel to this posting. How to pill a cat....it's a good one!