Medications Givers
Giving oral medication to a cat or dog can be a challenge for pet parents. If your veterinarian recommends medication for your cat or dog, she has your pet’s best interest in mind. Fortunately, pilling a pet is not an impossible task once you learn a few tricks of the trade. Here’s how to increase your success.
Hiding Your Pet’s Medication in Food
A helpful strategy for administering medication to pets is using foodstuffs that are highly appealing. Items such as butter, peanut butter, cream cheese, deli meats (e.g., salami, liverwurst), and spreadable cheese or cheese in a can (human and canine varieties) work well to disguise medications.
Small amounts of ice cream or yogurt are not only helpful in hiding medications, but both items also help pets swallow pills with greater ease.
Commercial treats that can be moulded around a pill are available in a variety of flavours and are even formulated for pets with food allergies. It is important to disguise the pill in a small amount of tempting food so it will not be too bulky and require chewing.
In many instances, even using delectable treats does not guarantee success. Just when you pat yourself on the back for a job well done, your pet will spit the pill onto the floor, or you will find it behind your sofa. If your first endeavor fails, try a different technique. Wait at least 30 minutes between attempts in order to beguile dogs and cats that are too smart for their own good.
Another ruse that is particularly helpful when it comes to food-motivated pets is to offer a primer treat, then the disguised pill followed by a “chaser” treat. Making a fuss to build excitement over the impending treat is helpful in assuring the hidden pill will be ingested.