Someone tried to start shit with me on the internet, failed, and a lot of people jumped in to attack both ‘sides’ as wrong…
If you want to tell someone else what they are thinking, maybe you don’t get credit for being unbiased. Maybe you get an opportunity to examine your own bias. If you’re able. Hope you are.
Because I’ll tell you about it if you tell me what I am thinking, without ever asking. If you don’t like that, then ignore me and we can do that together. That’s what I do, when aggressed against. I name it. Don’t like that? Go find another of the 7 billion of the people on this planet to graind that axe on.
I only grind my axe on people who throw theirs at me.
I second that. The pills taste like crap, and likely make the pooch feel really weird. So it is doing what any mammal would do… Avoid, avoid, avoid.
My dearest Charlemagne, I had to syringe him daily. It is cruel to the animal and caregiver. It is more cruel not to treat if the method of delivery is simply uncomfortable.
I am really sorry to hear that. I hate it when they get sick.
I’m in the fortunate position of having a dog that is almost absurdly food-motivated (and still young and full of beans besides). Clearly, I also don’t know your routine around food with the pooch, but here’s what we’ve found that works to make giving pills and whatnot relatively easy.
We actively try to make all food a reward and give food rewards frequently outside of mealtimes. No free feeding, & creature works for every meal or treat.
We give her the same (really good!) food rewards like you’ve been doing, even when there’s not a pill or something to give her. This means that peanut butter sometimes involves a gross pill, but is usually just an awesome treat. Likewise for cheese, yogurt, fish, chicken etc.
On the theory that there is no such thing as a meaningful odor barrier to a dog, we don’t ever really try to conceal medications and such, we just try make them inextricable from something awesome.
So, you might be able to try giving the creature things that s/he loves routinely and only adding pills to any specific treat once in a while.
On the other hand, if you have many pills to give, or if your dog is already off the feed in the first place, none of that is going to help. In that case, I’d take @slybevel’s suggestion and go the manual delivery route (with great treats before and after, of course…)
When I lived in a small town in rural England I had 3 butchers within walking distance. Here in my city of over a million the only butchers I’ve seen are in Chinatown, and I’m not sure one can get old-world ingredients there. Snake is no problem.
[quote=“slybevel, post:966, topic:67518”]
opening the dog’s mouth wide, tucking the pill back behind its tongue, and snapping the jaws shut[/quote]
Not an option here; part of the illness is a growth constricting the airways, holding her snout shut for more than a few seconds might kill her.
She was pretty food motivated until she got sick, though she never took pills as treats as our previous dog did.
So in a bit of a Meta-Fuck, reading over this thread… are there any progressive straight, cis, neurotypical, able-bodied white men out there who aren’t mentally ill?
I played this game for years, then I moved to a walkable neighborhood, sold my car, started meeting people again, etc. Then got a decent job (finally), got another car, but kept the neighborhood and the meeting of people. I’m still fucked up in a human kind of way, but I’m not terrified that there’s anything drastically wrong with me.
At least, nothing that can’t be helped with caffeine, beer, and for-right-now-cigarettes.
So sorry to hear this. I know that when we tried to give our dog Robaxin, she did the same thing your dog did. Having been on this particular drug, I can verify that it tastes awful.
I ended up doing what Lady @slybevel does, which is holding her mouth open and shoving the pill down in the very back of her tongue/throat area. (For a pit bull, this can be difficult because they’re so stubborn.) And then reward with food afterwards as per @hotel. If your dog is a snapper, be sure to wear gloves.
We always worry that we’re doing more harm, don’t we? Since your dog has anxiety, maybe your vet could make a suggestion and reassure you. The important thing is that your pooch needs to keep eating and get her medication.
I wish you and her the best! Tell her I said hi!!!
Oops. Just saw my technique isn’t an option. Can the vet recommend a formulary pharmacy to mix a liquid form?
Eta: I could swear my dad took a liquid form of tramadol, but it has been a zillion years ago…
No, it’s because you are smart so now your brain is in a tizzy trying to figure out why they don’t realize that. Are they stupider than you had thought?
