Dogs don’t want to take pills. Sometimes I really need my dog to take pills, like the bottle of antibiotics we’ve been working our way through for the past two weeks. This juxtaposition of opposing wills has been the source of frustration, and eventually an amazingly effective solution I’m calling the Meat Torpedo.
First attempt: pill pockets. My dog KNOWS what pill pockets are for, and he is NOT okay with it. He formed this association immediately, the first time I tried to use them. As soon as I pull out the bag he gets suspicious. If I give him an empty one, he has to tear it apart to investigate it before eating it. If I actually try putting a pill inside the pill pocket, he carefully dismantles it with his tongue in about 2 seconds and spits out the pill before eating the good bits.
Pill feeding method #2 is to shove the pill down the dog’s throat with your finger and hold his head up in the air so he can’t spit it back out until it finally goes down. This technique is effective, I guess, but unpleasant for everyone involved. Not recommended.
Instead, I’ve discovered that I can make irresistable treats that make my dog gulp down a horse-sized pill like it’s not even there. It goes like this:
Lay out a piece of deli-sliced meat on a plate. Spread a line of peanut butter down the middle. Stick the pill into the peanut butter on one side, then roll it up like a burrito. Divide the peanut-pill-meat-burrito into thirds, and feed them to the dog so that the pill is in portion #3. He gets so excited eating #1 and #2 that when #3 comes around, it’s down the hatch before he even notices the pill.
Believe it or not, my dog loves these things so much he gets excited and comes running when I shake the bottle of pills. Too cute.
bonnie barrilleaux 