Help! Dog won't take tablets

hethmar

I always use liver pate. It wraps round the tab and they cant separate it from the pate

HannahIOW

darlyd wrote: »

What ever you do, don't crush them, because they may be slow release tabs and they will act fast when he swallows them, which could make him crash..

Thanks for this... everytime we have given our dog worm tablets he has always thrown it all up again, we didn't realise they weren't meant to be crushed into food (OH always does it...men don't tend to read instructions ) so going to try them whole tomorrow and hopefully it will work this time.

Frugalista

darlyd wrote: »

What about a bit of chocolate spread? This is what we used.

Please don't use chocolate spread - chocolate is poisonous to dogs.

Why would you want to feed him small amounts of poison to get him to swallow the medication?

scheming_gypsy

Also, crush the tablets and put in the food rather than full tablets.

Frugalista wrote: »

Please don't use chocolate spread - chocolate is poisonous to dogs.

Why would you want to feed him small amounts of poison to get him to swallow the medication?

it's a wide statement..... 'chocolate' isn't poisonous but the theobromine in it is, and that depends on how much they eat and the size of the dog. So if a Yorkshire Terrier eats a box of chocolates then it's a trip to the vets but a smear of chocolate spread isn't going to do anything especially to a collie.

Darlyd

Frugalista wrote: »

Please don't use chocolate spread - chocolate is poisonous to dogs.

Why would you want to feed him small amounts of poison to get him to swallow the medication?

To much chocolate can be dangerous yes, But when I was struggling to give dog tablets, VET said to use choc spread.

Darlyd

HannahIOW wrote: »

Thanks for this... everytime we have given our dog worm tablets he has always thrown it all up again, we didn't realise they weren't meant to be crushed into food (OH always does it...men don't tend to read instructions ) so going to try them whole tomorrow and hopefully it will work this time.

Certain wormers can make dogs sick, my dog can only take jonstons ones. The other ones we tried made her sick.

The crushing thing is mainly to do with slow release tablets, My Doc warned me not to crush my slow release BP meds due to the crash, so I guess it would be the same for dogs slow release tablets too.. Do check with the vet though.

p00pieb0tt0m

About to be flamed but here goes.

Our dog is very suspicious and we can no longer use anything you would initially hide tablets in(cheese, ham, butter, milky way, pate) just licks off the good stuff and leaves the now sticky tablet.

We now buy jam teacakes( the chocolate covered ones). We cut one in half, put the tablets in the jammy hole and after having some of it ourselves, make her sit and give the rest to her as her treat.

PaddyPaws

p00pieb0tt0m wrote: »

About to be flamed but here goes.

Our dog is very suspicious and we can no longer use anything you would initially hide tablets in(cheese, ham, butter, milky way, pate) just licks off the good stuff and leaves the now sticky tablet.

We now buy jam teacakes( the chocolate covered ones). We cut one in half, put the tablets in the jammy hole and after having some of it ourselves, make her sit and give the rest to her as her treat.

That sounds just like my dog, one very soggy and sticky painkiller from this morning ended up in the bin - I will have to look out for jam teacakes when I'm next at the shops.

I think I'm also going to try to make my own 'pill pockets' - not sure how yet, but if it works I'll report back. I think I need to introduce a new 'treat' and give it without a tablet in initially as he's suspicious of everything at the moment. Once he's trusting us again then we can use if for the tablets

Fortunately the painkillers are a recent addition for his arthritis and we were in two minds whether to start them now or try and hold out for a bit longer. So we're going to give those a miss for a couple of days and see if we can get him back on track with the other tablets then start again

Thank you everyone for your contributions - all good stuff
cheers
PP

PS if anyone is wondering, yes the dog in question is the one I use as my avatar:D

Mrs_B

Your dog looks lovely.

I am going to reiterate what has been said - please don't feed your dog chocolate - I wouldn't take the risk that my dog wouldn't be poisoned by a small amount of chocolate, particularly an older dog that might be more vulnerable.

http://www.rspca.org.uk/media/news/story/-/article/EM_Chocolate_Heaven_Easter_Apr11

I use butter, or stuff tablets into a piece of hot dog sausage (cheapest tin available!), piece of cheap cheese (at training we have discovered that dogs prefer cheap supermarket Cheddar to more expensive types), or wrap the tablet in raw minced meat (you can buy blocks from pet food shops) - perhaps even ring the changes so they don't always associate a particular treat with tablets. I make some of my own treats with liver and tinned fish, so again would force a tablet into a square of that if needed. I have also found that my dogs are canny enough to know if I'm skimping on the disguise, so I tend to be generous in the expectation that greed will carry the treat down before they realise.

I have also been advised not to feed farmed salmon to my dogs - the intensive methods may produce toxins which are OK for us but not dogs.

PaddyPaws

Mrs_B wrote: »

Your dog looks lovely.

I am going to reiterate what has been said - please don't feed your dog chocolate - I wouldn't take the risk that my dog wouldn't be poisoned by a small amount of chocolate, particularly an older dog that might be more vulnerable.

http://www.rspca.org.uk/media/news/story/-/article/EM_Chocolate_Heaven_Easter_Apr11

I use butter, or stuff tablets into a piece of hot dog sausage (cheapest tin available!), piece of cheap cheese (at training we have discovered that dogs prefer cheap supermarket Cheddar to more expensive types), or wrap the tablet in raw minced meat (you can buy blocks from pet food shops) - perhaps even ring the changes so they don't always associate a particular treat with tablets. I make some of my own treats with liver and tinned fish, so again would force a tablet into a square of that if needed. I have also found that my dogs are canny enough to know if I'm skimping on the disguise, so I tend to be generous in the expectation that greed will carry the treat down before they realise.

I have also been advised not to feed farmed salmon to my dogs - the intensive methods may produce toxins which are OK for us but not dogs.

Thank you Mrs B

We tried butter but it didn't work, he still spat the tablet out. I think what you said about needing to be generous with the disguise is very true

I'm interested that you make your own treats - would you mind sharing the recipe?

Raw mince beef sounds like a possibility, and cheese sometimes works, but he's supposed to be on a low protein diet due to his kidney problems (although getting his blood pressure tablet into him is probably more important)

I didn't know that about farmed salmon, will have to check next time I buy it whether its farme or not.
thanks
PP