Can’t get tablets in my dog

[statetrooperstacey]

My dog is very ill, to be clear he’s been to the vets 3 times in the last week and a half and was there this morning as an emergency appt, he is having treatment on Weds. he has maybe an abscess, an infection, something wrong with his face anyway which is incredibly swollen and looks like he’s been eating bees.

Today I have been given antibiotics and painkillers for him ( which they had been trying to avoid so it didn’t affect his biopsy results) however he is not eating much, his face is so stiff and swollen and obviously painful that the usual way of giving him tablets won’t work and forcing them in won’t work and covering them in lpate and letting him kick it off won’t work and I am out of ideas!! Any suggestions? Can I grind them to a powder maybe or would they not work then? Also any suggestions for soft food which is irresistible and not too bad for his dodgy kidneys?!

I’d ring the vet and ask if they could do some kind of long acting injection for both instead of the pills . Re the food my picky dog eats Applaws chicken in broth , it’s in small tins and not at all like normal dog food . Hope he feels better soon . If it does have to be the pills could you cook some sausages / chipolatas and then squash the pills into little cut up pieces

Thank you I will look for some allpaws, I’m guessing after his treatment eating will probably still be painful. So he will need something like that for a while.

Could you crush them into a powder and mix them with something delicious and smelly like sardines?
Would he luck that off your fingers or a spoon?

Or perhaps make it runny enough to use one of those calpol syringe things and poke it into his mouth with that?

I know certain human tablets can certainly be crushed and mixed into food. I'd check though with the vet, because some tablets are slow acting with a special coating and not meant to be crushed. Best of luck.

My dogs on tablets and I wrap them in pieces of ham, chicken and something similar. My dog also adores rice pudding so I hide a tablet in there and he wolfs it up.

Ice cream

I’ve used tablet covered in cream cheese wrapped in wafer thin ham to make a cigar shape and “posted” into the mouth. He won’t have to open his mouth too wide, the cream cheese keeps the tablets hidden and hopefully he won’t unwrap it before swallowing. Would that work?

I echo above but I also have a second piece of ham/cheese whatever ready with no pill in. I hold this up so he is looking at it while he eats the first one with the pill in so he focusses on that rather than what he is eating. Also keeping his head up stops him spitting the pill out.
Works every time.

Cheese

Cut up 4 or 5 small squares of cheese. Stick the tablet in one of them

Feed him 3 squares without the tablets separately so he gets excited about the next one. Then give him the tablet cheese and they usually scoff it without noticing. Give him the last cheese square as a reward

@Goingtogetflamed

I’ve used tablet covered in cream cheese wrapped in wafer thin ham to make a cigar shape and “posted” into the mouth. He won’t have to open his mouth too wide, the cream cheese keeps the tablets hidden and hopefully he won’t unwrap it before swallowing. Would that work?

Oh this is exactly what I used to do with my dog! They barely touched the sides and he loved them.

Good luck op, hope he gets better soon

I soften grated cheddar and mould it around the tablet. If too ill to swallow something like that would ground-up tablets mixed with cream cheese, smooth peanut butter or thick gravy off a spoon work?

I grind them with the base of a glass and then tip the powder into a little pocket of cream cheese/meat paste/tuna. Sometimes works better if you give him a couple of non pill ones first. My dog will swallow it immediately waiting for the next one, whereas when I give him just one he can be a bit suspicious.

We used to wrap it in butter. was easier for her to swallow esp in later years when she didn't have many teeth

recent dogs have all been pretty good, but one of our old gsds could be a bit awkward, so for him I used to be all secretive and sneaky in the kitchen away from the other dog and the cats.... pretending not let him see, pop it out onto a saucer with some little yummy bits of cheese and ham and then eat some myself and slide a couple of things his way slipping the pill in once he was in full sneaky treat mode

otherwise another one would desperately try and snaffle anything dropped so "accidentally" dropping the pill whilst milling about would guarantee he would scoff it.

hope you get something inside him and he gets well soon.

The other thing my dog loves is the Natures Menu Junior pouches (they have a pink front). They are very soft shredded meat and could be swallowed without chewing so a hidden tablet or crushed might work.

Thank you all, some ideas to try. He has just shown me his teeth and kind of told me off, which he has never ever done, so I’m going to leave him alone for a while and then try crushing them up and hiding it in something liquid or soupy.

Corned beef worked for us, we moulded it round the tablet, our dog inhaled it every time.

😁 I’ve just read some more of all your ideas, you’re all so clever and sneaky! There’s some really good suggestions there! Many I’ve tried before with varying degrees of success, it’s so hard isn’t it. And so expensive when you’re picking it up off the floor and shoving it back in for the 5th time thinking this cost me £15!!🤣

Mine will eat them cut into quarters and hidden in a squished up bit of cheese, if yours is able to open his mouth enough for that then it could work. Like a PP I also pretend I am eating some and give his brother a bit of cheese too so he thinks everyone is getting treats and stops being suspicious

I have to get our vets to give her all her antibiotics and pain medicine by injection as my girl is not good driven at all and if you force something into her mouth she spits it back out, honestly it’s a nightmare and a battle I have never won! It’s a few £ more for injections but I know she’s getting the medication she needs

That Should have said not food driven

A slice of burger type cheese moulded around it always works for mine-where it’s a bit claggy,for want of a better word,she can’t move it around her mouth to fish the tablet out.

I got the vet to give a long lasting injection instead. Much easier

Another one for cream cheese. My dog spits out all tablets even when covered with ham etc but I found the cream cheese idea on YouTube. He wolfs them down.

Squirty cream. Works a treat!