Over the years, I have tried a lot of "trick your pets" into taking the pills. I have done the cheese, the pill pockets and the peanut butter just to name a few. However, I have found the best way to ensure they take their pills is the "shove it down the throat method" followed by a treat. I have saved some of the favourite treats to go with this, after all I am a behaviour analyst and understand the power of reinforcement! When they hear me get the treats, they both coming running (ok Hailey runs, Phod comes because he is called).
Pill time looks like this in our house:
 |
| The set up - 2 pieces of Hero Lamb Liver (the treat of the week), Hailey's little pill, Phod's big pills |
My reluctant boy:
What pill method do you use?
Well done, finks you've got your pill taking routine cracked!!!!
ReplyDeleteEr.....can I haf a treat as well pleeeeease???? I might not haf had a pill but I did watch
Loves and licky kisses
Princess Leah xxx
Hari OM
ReplyDeleteWell done Lee and Phod - you found a way to tease some extra treats outta Lady!!! Hugs and wags, YAM-aunty xxx
that are fabulous good kids, bravo Lee&Phod :o) our pill ritual is weird (of course lol) Easy's dad has to pretend that pill is a tasty treat and the greedy guy is there to grab it immediately. if I have to give Easy a pill, I hide it in a piece of farmers cheese, it nearly works always :o)
ReplyDeleteExcellent pill taking technique! I never mind taking medicine because there is always a treat afterwards...and I love treats.
ReplyDeleteOz
The only pills we take are glucosamine and they are chewable tablets so dad just hands them to us and we eat them. You can buy them at Costco. Our heartworm medicine isn't a pill but it tastes wonderful too!
ReplyDeleteYour Pals,
Murphy & Stanley
I am big on cheese or pill pockets! I have "medicine time" after dinner each night for all pups! Of course, they just look at it as "treat-time" because all meds are "hidden" :-).
ReplyDeleteUmmmmm well mom feeds us a three course meal and then we finally feel sorry for her and eat the pill.....she is going to try cheez in a can next..............we are spoiled. You have very good kids.
ReplyDeletestella rose
Momma puts the pills in her palm and squirts some spray cheese on it. We lick it right up, and we LOVE it! Any of us who aren't having pills still come over so we can get our lick of cheese.
ReplyDeleteMomma puts the pills in her palm and squirts some spray cheese on it. We lick it right up, and we LOVE it! Any of us who aren't having pills still come over so we can get our lick of cheese.
ReplyDeleteLOL, well it used to be simple to give my boy Koda pills when he needed them, but then he got smart, and started to spit them out, so I started putting the pill into a spoonful of peanut butter (which he loves) and that worked wonders!
ReplyDeleteღ husky hugz ღ frum our pack at Love is being owned by a husky!
Bailey takes his Deramaxx easily like it is a treat, joint supplements we put on Bailey & Hazel's food.
ReplyDeleteWhen Bailey was taking antibiotics putting it in a spoonful of pure pumpkin did the trick
hugs
Mr bailey, Hazel & Mabel
Sam has his with a dollop of baby food.....has to be crushed though - chokes on a "whole" pill. Sometimes he refuses the baby food so I try his next fave thing yogurt......he's getting VERY good at "knowing" if there's hidden stuff in there though. I tried pumpkin, raw chicken, EVERYTHING. Oh well......we do what we have to do right?
ReplyDeleteHugs, Pam (for Sam the Stubborn)
MOL MOL MOL Hailey and Phod. What great videos.
ReplyDeleteHailey you faced it head on
Phod buddy I've learned the hard way the peeps WILL win just a matter of when. I'm very proud that you gave in w/o too much of a problem
I had to have 2 kinds of eye drops twice a day last fall...Mom had never even given me a pill she knew drops would be a disaster. Surprise surprise I was good but only because she at me from behind when I was sleeping and lickety split drop drop...
Hugs madi your bfff
Yuppers! When I don't feel good, and won't eat my pill pockets, Ma does this too! I gets Freeze-dried Chicken breast though! My fav! Butts, usually, Ma can gets me to take most pills in a pill pocket, and I takes my Glucosamine in a beef chew and it's delish! Um....I thinks I can smell those Lambie liver treaties from here.....gots any extra for a deprived Airedale??? ☺
ReplyDeleteKisses,
Ruby ♥
I've done all those things when pilling my dogs, too! Phoenix hates taking pills. I found out that if I save a mostly empty peanut butter jar (we use all natural peanut butter, no xylitol) and just rub the pill in the peanut butter she will eat it just fine. It makes pill time so much easier and stress free!
ReplyDeleteWe use the 'poke and cheese' method, too. Luckily, we only have worming tablets once every three months at the moment!
ReplyDeleteI use cream cheese!
ReplyDeleteWe still fall for the old peanut butter on the roof of your mouth trick! Yum!
ReplyDeleteWe now use a spoonful of Solid Gold dog food - easy enough to mold around the tablet and it gone a gulp :)
ReplyDeleteSuch sweet babies! When our angel Abby was fighting bone cancer she had to take many pills over the course of each day. I eventually found the shove/treat method was best as well. I'd read to always follow something not fun w/ something good, so that's what we'd do. Shove & then a treat! Otherwise, hiding it all in cheese or peanut butter would have meant she was getting WAY too much of those things.
ReplyDeleteWith Rita, she takes a pill 3 times/month. I hide it in a bit of cheese, but the key is to have ANOTHER piece of cheese held out to her. She's so focused on getting that 2nd piece of cheese, that she swallows the first one with no problem. If there's no 2nd piece of cheese, she will find the hidden pill and spit it out!
None of those tricks work here!
ReplyDeletelove
tweedles
My momma just shoves it too.
ReplyDeleteOh no. Getting meds is never fun :-( I typically drop any pills down my cats' throats and then give them a treat followed by a 'good girl\boy'. I think most pets are just too smart for the 'trick your pets' ways -- they just always know what's inside!
ReplyDeleteHi hi hi! Ojo here! I LOVE pills!!! I'll take them for you!
ReplyDelete(Our person tricks us. She asks for a wave, gives a treat. Asks for a roll over, gives a treat. Asks for a spin, gives a pill. Asks for another wave, gives a treat. This happens so fast that by the time we realize we've gulped something Not Right it is already down the hatch! At least for Cobi. For me... Well... I will eat anything! Except for lettuce. Lettuce sucks. But kale is yummy! And so are pills! Yum!)