Have you ever needed to give your dog or puppy oral medication? If you haven’t yet, more than likely, at some point in your lives together you will.
I give my Dawson pills three times a day now. With that much practice, I have come to realize, if I didn’t make this as easy and pleasant as possible, it would be a very long and difficult road ahead of us.
Dawson takes Prozak and Trazadone. They are very small pills (he gets ¾ of a tiny pill of Prozak; and ¼ pill of Trazadone per dose) so I thought I’d hide the pills in his food. It was working great for a while. Then Dawson began avoiding the food that contained his medicine. One day I licked the residue from a Trazadone pill on my finger and discovered why. It is VERY bitter.
The last thing I want is to cause Dawson to distrust food that was otherwise of high value to him. That process needed to stop immediately.
I switched my process to one that is referred to as ‘pilling’, which is when you administer the medication directly into your dog’s mouth. A friend talked to me about first coating the pills in butter to make them go down easier.
Now, instead of the high value food (like a piece of cheese, meat or home-made dog treat) being a predictor of the awful taste of his medication, the process of his getting a pill is a predictor of his getting something he REALLY enjoys. And, the process is simple. By very gently opening his mouth, putting the pill toward the back of his tongue and keeping his mouth shut, the pills slides down his throat quickly. And when it is all done, he gets a piece of something awesome.
Now, when I take out the pill and move to the couch where we do this, he quickly jumps next to me to get started.
If you’d like to try, pilling, I thought I’d share some steps below. However, you do not want this to be a stress event for your dog. If your dog is uncomfortable with you opening his mouth and placing your finger in it, begin teaching him a positive association with this process BEFORE you actually need to administer medication. At the bottom of this post is a link to a video that shows you how you can do that.
Pilling A Dog
Prepare your pill in advance by coating it with a thin layer of butter or a pill pocket; and hold it between your thumb and index finger of your dominant hand.
Then, sit or kneel next to your dog on a comfortable and safe surface.
With Dawson I can tilt his head up once I’ve inserted my pill fingers into his mouth but if your dog will not open his mouth that way, you can tilt his muzzle up first.
To do that, softly hold onto the side of your dog’s mouth with your other hand (your thumb can be behind the canine teeth on one side of the upper jaw and fingers on the other) and gently tilt your dog’s head upward.
Then open your dog’s mouth further with your inserted pill fingers by gently applying pressure downward. Quickly put the pill as far back on the tongue as possible; however, do not put your fingers too far back as it could stimulate a gag.
Then gently close your dog’s mouth, holding it closed for a few seconds as you move the head back into a normal position. With Dawson, I immediately give him something else to lick and followed by treats which helps him swallow. You can gently massage your dog’s throat or blow on his nose to also stimulate a swallow.
