How do you get your dog to take their flea medication?

[Waxonwaxoff0]

He used to take it fine but he's suddenly turned into a stubborn old man and won't take it. We've tried coating it in food but he just licks it off, tried wrapping it in a piece of ham but he ate the ham and spat the tablet out help!

Try putting it into some dairylea cheese spread

we grilled bacon & waited for the drained fat to cool then rolled the tablet in so it was completely coated. It never failed. If it was big we would split it & coat both halves. One lick and it was swallowed.
Before we discovered that trick we would gently open her mouth (lovely soft girl) and drop the tablet as far back as possible, hold her mouth gently closed and stroke under her jaw to encourage swallowing then give her a treat afterwards.

I squidge it into a piece of cheese too. Greedy spaniel wolfs it down and it doesn’t touch the sides!

Feed multiple delicious treats at speed. So ham, ham, ham, ham with secret tablet, ham, ham, ham. He will probably just wolf them down in anticipation of the next piece.

Mine would take his easily and then grew very reluctant. So I tricked him into eating it by crumbling it up into a bit of cheese sauce.

Within a few hours he was lethergic and dopey. He then wet himself without knowing he'd done so (he is always clean). He was like this for about 48 hours. My vet agreed it was probably the flea tablet.

I think it made him sick and I think it had been making him sick each time - clever bugger had started to link the tablet to the sick feeling.

I use spot on now.

If yours has changed his behaviour towards the tablet, it might be worth being vigilent if you do convince him to take it.

Our sneaky trick for getting tablets into dogs is to make an incision in a cocktail sausage, insert tablet et voila!

I warm some cheese up in my hand and then stick it inside. It’s the only thing that works for him!

Thank you everyone, will try some of these!

Mine can discern a tiny piece of hers in a whole cocktail sausage, appear to wolf the sausage then sneakily spit the bit of tablet out afterwards. Sneaky.
I just go full cat tablet mode now. Sit her between my feet with her back against my legs, open her mouth, half the tablet right at the back of her tongue and close her mouth. If you get it right at the back she swallows it straight down. Second half the same way and a nice tasty treat afterwards (she know that's coming). It's done in 10 seconds start to finish.
She is a Good Dog.

@GhostPepperTears

Mine would take his easily and then grew very reluctant. So I tricked him into eating it by crumbling it up into a bit of cheese sauce.

Within a few hours he was lethergic and dopey. He then wet himself without knowing he'd done so (he is always clean). He was like this for about 48 hours. My vet agreed it was probably the flea tablet.

I think it made him sick and I think it had been making him sick each time - clever bugger had started to link the tablet to the sick feeling.

I use spot on now.

If yours has changed his behaviour towards the tablet, it might be worth being vigilent if you do convince him to take it.

Thanks, I will keep an eye on him.

I have to crush the tablet until it’s crumbs and then scoop it all up into a spoon of peanut butter.

My secret weapon for getting meds into dogs is Aldi's low fat Brussels paté, the one in the white rectangular plastic tub at about 49p. It's doggy crack, apparently. Warm it a bit in the microwave to soften it and make it extra smelly.

Big Dog was on quite a few drugs for several months and she loved her evening paté treat.

I use cat method too but Bravecto tablets are ginormous so had to persuade fuss arse to eat it. If it’s a small tablet and not coated, I crush it to powder, cover in salmon oil and squish into his food.

Unfortunately Covid restrictions prevent the option my grandmother used with a cat she had, getting the assistance of her friend who visited each week for a chat.

Which worked until the cat realised her arrival meant time for the tablet, and would hide under the bed.

One of my dogs has to have six tablets a day, four of one and two of another. I bought a pestle and mortar just for him and crush them to a powder and mix in with a little bit of wet food.

Before this I used to crush the tablets in kitchen roll using the back of a spoon.

Put your left arm round his neck, open his mouth with your left hand, holding down the tongue, use your right hand to slip the tablet down his throat (past the bump at the back), let go, and stroke under his chin until he's swallowed - then give the treat afterwards.
Obviously, reverse if you are left-handed and avoid if dog is handy with his teeth!

Mine is a hugely fussy eater and with ones he really won't eat, I'm afraid he's just not given a choice! If you are quick it's over before they know it.

PS - for fleas I just use Spot On and save us the hassle!

I do the placing at the back of the mouth thing other posters have described. It is tricky the first few times but when you get it it is effective and takes seconds.

You need to wrap it in something that completely conceals it. I wrap mine in liver paste. A really thick coating, so there is far more liver paste than tablet. Dog smells liver paste and eats the ball of it without realising there’s a tablet in the middle. I also give him this treat without the tablet in the middle so he can’t associate the treat with tablets.

My dog was very hesitant to take them
Ended up having seizures and going lame couldn't walk for weeks
She was only 8 months old

I googled it and turns out it's hideous stuff and kills many dogs per year

Haven't given it to her since

She's fine now! 😅

I use the liquid treatment. Goes straight ont the skin. Much easier.

My dog has Advocate which is given as drops on the back of the neck. Really easy. Any other tablets are hidden in cheese or a bit of a dog treat.

I pretend to take it out of the treat box and ask for their paw. The muppets would eat shit if they thought it was a treat.

Ask your vet for a decent spot on treatment.

Use a decent spot on from the vets. And don’t do them if they haven’t got/recently had fleas. I haven’t had to do mine for years.