Tablet time...how do you do it?

PaddyPaws

Hi Pulliptears

Really feel for you on this one, my old boy (16yr old collie x) is on long term medication so all the tricks I used to use for one-off or short term tablets just don't work. And each time I think i've got a solution it works for a week or so and then he goes back to spitting the tablets out. We've tried peanut butter (complete non-starter), cooked ham (worked for a week), chicken (one week) beef (couple of days), meat pate or sandwich spread (worked for a few days) - you get the picture? And when they take so many tablets its difficult to give two or three of an item without a tablet for each one with a tablet to keep him guessing.

Anyway, after much thought we decided it was because he doesn't like the same thing every day (he's abit like this with his food too, so we have to mix a little bit of different flavours of cheap dog food into his special kidney diet food) so we've gone back to wafer thin ham, beef and chicken. To get all his tablets down it takes two slices of meat a day (cut into thin strips, just enough to wrap around each tablet) so we buy the packs of 10 slices, split them into 2s and freeze them, and each evening we take the next day's pack out of the freezer ready for the morning. So he has day 1 ham, day 2 beef, day 3 chicken and so on. It also helps that when I call him for his 'sweeties' the cat also comes into the kitchen and gets the odd small morsel which means the dog wolfs his down.

Hope this helps a bit and Jack gets his tablets
XX

krlyr

Is he OK to lick at things? One of mine is having capsules at the moment and I'm sprinkling the contents in a bowl and mixing with their salmon oil. It has quite a strong smell (and I'm guessing flavour) so it's gone in seconds.

You could maybe try some raw mince as an option too - you could pre-roll into little balls and freeze, then defrost one or two a day and pop the tablets inside defrosted/partially defrosted meatball.

pulliptears

Ive got some great ideas now!

Paddypaws, sounds like your dog is just like mine. I think you are probably right and we need to vary the tablet carrying vessels lol. Variety is the spice and all that

pawsies

Alternatively my dog loves warm meat rather than cold meat? Could you maybe try that?

I also use cooked egg which when warm they wolf down!

cassie55

I agree with soft/sticky stuff.

Chino would spit out his tablets when hidden in cheese/chicken etc but rolled inside a little ball of smoked salmon pate or tuna pate and it was gone in seconds.

dawnie1972

Hello

As you know Milo is also on a mixture of tablets. Up until now I've been putting them down the back of his throat as he was hiding them in his mouth etc, but then he started refusing to swallow. Also because the Milk Thistle is a capsule it was getting wedged at the back of his throat and the other day he was gagging n wretching trying to move it. I then saw a Royal Canin video that should you how to give them the tablet (down the back of the throat) and said to squirt some water down after as they can damage the oesophagus - panic!! So i asked the vet re this and he said its a load of nonsense. Anyway, we've found an answer this week in cheese spread - I checked with the vet first if it was ok to give him and he said as long as its only enough to take the tablet then its not going to do him any harm and if it means he's definitely having his tablets then thats the better option. They're doing the Dairylea tubs of cheese spread and the cheese triangles on Buy One Get One Free in Tesco at the mo - been using the triangles this week, cutting a little wedge off, hiding the tablet in it and bobs your uncle straight down - i'm much happier with this method as i know they're not getting stuck in his throat. I also give him his tablets before he has his dinner so that he's uber hungry.
I expect Jack, like Milo, is getting fed up of the whole tablet routine/chore.

PixieDust

Primula might be a cheaper option for you?

albacookie

I agree with that sticky consitencies seem to work better - sausages, potted meat paste, cheese spread or the middle of a Milky Way all seem to work well! (Though with 15 tablets he might get quite chubby!)

dizziblonde

We use a blob of pate and either the solid or crushed tablet with ours. The open gob and shove it down tactic has never worked for me - however long you hold the gob shut for and massage the throat - the second you let go the tablet is hurled into the air like water in a fountain.

pulliptears

Success!!!

The powder based tablets (Milk Thistle, Acidophilus and Propolis) I emptied into a tin of sardines in tomato sauce, the rest went on a round of bread smothered in butter. All tablets gone. Todays battle won!

On to tomorrow.....