We recently took Zoe to get her rabies shots updated, and per the vet’s recommendation got some heartworm prevention pills to start her on. This was the first time we’d ever tried to give her a pill, and I remembered how much trouble it was for my parents to get the family dog to take her pills when I was a kid. When we got home I wondered out loud if we should try the peanut butter trick, or roll it in cheese. My husband says “Let me try”.
Husband: holds pill up like it’s a treat You want this?
Zoe: wags tail
Husband: You want it? Do ya? Do ya?
Zoe: wags tail harder
Husband: Here you go! gives her the pill
Zoe: eats pill
Me: … huh.
How long is the course of treatment? A dog might fall for that once.
Our cat needs antibiotics for ten days, and we’re on day six. He definitely needs to be swaddled in a towel and have the pill shoved in two or three times before he swallows.
Are you giving her the pills that look and taste like treats? My dog takes such heartworm pills, and they’re no problem for her either. You’re cheating!
Now, if they are not tasty treat-tasting nibbles, then I’m impressed.
I think Dolly’s pretty awesome at taking pills. I’ve never had a problem with her. For non-heartworm pills, peanut butter or cheese and it’s gone in one gulp.
One of her cousin dogs won’t even eat peanut butter, for fear that there may be a pill inside.
The other cousin dog I have to trap in a corner and stick a ball of PB&Pills to the roof of her mouth, which is a very messy operation especially if Dolly is around and figured out that mommy has a hand full of peanut butter.
My Luna begs for pills and purrs when she gets them, as long as they are wrapped in Greenies Pill Pockets. Luna recommends the chicken flavor. When I was putting the pills inside them, she meowed at me to hurry up with her treat. They also make them for dogs.
Two of my dogs will take the heartworm pills. The other one I have to get creative. The other day I used a ball of rolled up cheesy casserole. Peanut butter, hot dogs, and velveeta are all out. Antibiotics are the problem - once he chomps down on one, it’s so bitter he won’t ever trust that particular food again. The other two are easy.
My sweet, dumb kitty needed a week’s worth of antibotics delivered in pill form, twice a day. It took him at least 4 days to figure it out and get resistant. The first few days were sure easy! Open mouth, pop pill way back there. Got trickier after he finally figured out he didn’t like it.
The last pill-able pets we had were the cats, 20+ years ago. Our senior fellow was the easiest cat in the world to pill, really - we’d rattle the container of treats, he’d come running, we’d pick him up, pry his mouth open, and drop that pill in. He never spat it out. And he always got a treat afterward.
My Willow is on daily prednisone but she’s super easy to dose. I tuck the pill into a soft Whiskas treat - any flavor - and she gulps it right down. Fortunate since she’s on it for life. She even comes and reminds me when it’s pill time then runs ahead of me to the bathroom. Quite a contrast to my old gray tabby. He never fell for any trick more than once and I swear he could tell if I was even thinking about giving him a pill.
My sweet collie, Isla, is fantastic about taking her pills. She’s had epilepsy since she was about 3 (she’s 12 now), and has to take pills twice a day, every day. That’s a lot of pills.
Initially we tried different kinds of treats to hide them in, but it soon became apparent that they weren’t needed at all. Now, as soon as you asked her to come and take her pill, she comes straight over to you, sits down, looks up and opens her mouth. You simply pop it in and you’re good to go. And they are not even nice pills - scratchy, chalky things. Can’t taste nice.
The other dog, though, is the devil dog when it comes to pill popping. It’s a whole other story, complete with wrestling, chasing, and wild, pleading eyes (both us and the dog!).
The pills are disk-shaped, and a bit bigger than I expected them to be. I don’t know if they’re flavored. The box doesn’t say, and they don’t smell like anything to me, but then I don’t have a dog’s nose. She didn’t seem too bothered by the taste, but she’ll eat just about anything, including lemon rinds and banana peels (stolen from the trash) and once a whole habanero pepper (accidentally dropped on the floor when making salsa), without batting an eyelash. Which is why my husband thought to try just feeding her the pill.
She only has to take these once a month, so even if she didn’t like it, hopefully by the time she’s due for the next one she’ll have forgotten about the last one.
My coworker tells me she feeds pills to her two dogs and two cats with cream cheese, which causes trouble when one is getting a pill and the others aren’t. Her cat is so enamored of cream cheese that at one point when she gave a pill to her Yellow Lab wrapped in some, the cat clapped both of its paws on the Lab’s face, as if to say, “Give it to ME!”
I used to also shove my old cats pills into treats and stuff. Apparently, it was effective enough that even when she ate the treat and the pill fell out, the pill still smelled good enough that she’d gobble it up off the floor.
Peanut butter, hot dogs, and velveeta are all out. Antibiotics are the problem - once he chomps down on one, it’s so bitter he won’t ever trust that particular food again. The other two are easy.