how to get wormer tablet down??

asparagus1968

morning all,

ok- puppy 8 weeks old. been to vets-need to give him a worming tablet today.
How???
whats the best way? he eats his dry food meals x 3 a day,but never seems interested in the "treats" tou can give as rewards etc.
any help much appreciated

Person_one

Which tablets has the vet given you? Mine take Plerion, which tastes like a meaty treat so they just have them neat!

Freshly cooked chicken is normally irresistible to most dogs.

krlyr

Yup, many are flavoured so dogs will just eat them as they are. If he will eat from your hand, one trick I use is to have a handful of food/treats and then just pop the tablet amongst them. Dog grabs mouthful of treats, along with tablet, swallows the lot and doesn't notice the tablet at all/until it's too late.
If you want to just get it over and done with, gently opening the mouth and popping the tablet near the back of the tongue will get doggy to swallow it, though be careful if it's a large tablet (I do this with my dog's Soloxine tablets because they're not to be administered with food but they are very tiny, like anti-histamine tablet sized)

On a semi-related note, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJY8Hee7ewc&feature=plcp may be worth a read in regards to what treats to use for training, if he's not that interested in the ones you're using.
You might want to work on building food motivation while he's young too - a dog that's into food can be very easy to train as you have something more motivating that naughty behaviour. Obviously be careful of going to the extreme though, you don't want a dog who forgets all recall in the presence of food scraps around rubbish bins in the bark or anything.
http://leerburg.com/usingtreats.htm?set=1

asparagus1968

thanks
its a half tablet of bone flavour(!) drontal.
I'm probably over stressing myself!
right,here goes.....


oooh,well,he sniffed at it but didn't want to eat it,so i popped it down like you said and gave him lots of praise,he was fine!!

thanks for the confidence boost,I'm such a chicken.:)

pacific4130

Put it in a blob of peanut butter. Either that, or squish it into a small piece of cheese. It'll be gone in seconds!

krlyr

Oh, just a handy tip if you're going to disguise tablets in food - give the dog a bit of un-"spiked" food first to check the dog actually likes it! I've wasted a few doses of meds before by using something I assumed the dog would like, but turns out they don't

floopnoodle

pacific4130 wrote: »

Put it in a blob of peanut butter. Either that, or squish it into a small piece of cheese. It'll be gone in seconds!

I was told pate for my cat which worked really well, can't see a dog being any different.

neneromanova

I just put the tablet in Dave's mouth and rubbed his throat. Didn't seem to hate it as he looked for more when I'd finished. :rotfl:

Katiehound

My dogs can suss out a 'meat flavoured' worming tablet at ten paces! It's a fight to get them down without some irresistable wrapping- chicken, cat food, sausage cheese... mind you they are also adept at eating the treat and spitting out the tablets!!

asparagus1968

krlyr wrote: »

Yup, many are flavoured so dogs will just eat them as they are. If he will eat from your hand, one trick I use is to have a handful of food/treats and then just pop the tablet amongst them. Dog grabs mouthful of treats, along with tablet, swallows the lot and doesn't notice the tablet at all/until it's too late.
If you want to just get it over and done with, gently opening the mouth and popping the tablet near the back of the tongue will get doggy to swallow it, though be careful if it's a large tablet (I do this with my dog's Soloxine tablets because they're not to be administered with food but they are very tiny, like anti-histamine tablet sized)

On a semi-related note, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJY8Hee7ewc&feature=plcp may be worth a read in regards to what treats to use for training, if he's not that interested in the ones you're using.
You might want to work on building food motivation while he's young too - a dog that's into food can be very easy to train as you have something more motivating that naughty behaviour. Obviously be careful of going to the extreme though, you don't want a dog who forgets all recall in the presence of food scraps around rubbish bins in the bark or anything.
http://leerburg.com/usingtreats.htm?set=1

thanks for the extra info, you are such a friendly bunch over here!:)

minimad1970

Pate works brilliantly, it's sticky so its harder to spit out. Nothing else has worked with my dog.