How To Give Your Stubborn Dog His Medication

How Some People Give Their Dogs Medication
I marvel at the way some people can give their dogs medication so easily. they just call the dog, push the tablet into his mouth, close the dog's mouth and wait for him to swallow it. After that, the dog is rewarded with a treat.

How I Struggle

Things are not that easy for me. I have a dog who is fussy and temperamental. He has a temper. He's stubborn. 

Giving him his medication is a herculean task. He needs to be cheated into taking his medication. No amount of coaxing can ever help.

Finding Out About The Prescribed Medication

When your dog has been prescribed medication, the first thing to do is to ask the vet if it can be taken with food. Also, find out if there is any food that needs to be avoided while he's on that medication. I know that my dog was on Doxycycline several times and we were asked to avoid milk and other dairy products within a few hours of giving the tablet. Another thing to ask the vet is whether the pill can be crushed or not.

Ways In Which You Can Give Your Dog His Medication

• I have crushed his pills and mixed them with chicken. He loves chicken but he would get the smell of the tablet and then refuse to eat. I then discovered that he took the pills only if they were mixed with fried chicken. The chicken had to be tasty. 
• He also loves butter. If I wrapped the crushed pills in a piece of fresh bread smeared with butter, he would take it willingly. Of course, it had to be fresh bread and only Amul butter. 
• Another thing that worked for me was cow's liver. My dog loves cow's liver but will only eat it if it's cooked the way he likes it. It has to be almost raw. If it's cooked extra, he will turn away from it. 
• People say that wrapping the pills in cheese works wonders. You could try that. It never worked for me. 
• You could also try wrapping the pills in a treat. This never worked for me either, as my dog does not believe in dog treats. A treat for him would mean being able to eat what we are eating. 
• Salami and ham are known to work wonders at disguising the taste of medicines. 
• I was advised by the vet to try giving him his medication in a piece of sweet like gulab jamun. I have never tried that. 

My Own Ingenious Plan

There was no way I could ever give my dog the pill, wrapped in his favourite foodstuff, easily. He had to be cheated into eating it. The first few bites would be without the pill. Then, when he began to enjoy it, I would suddenly slip the piece with the pill into his mouth. He would swallow it without thinking. After that, I would continue giving him his favourite foodstuff without the pill. This would work only until he learned how I was cheating him into taking his medication. Then the fussing would become worse and I would need to figure out a new way to cheat him into taking his medication.

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It's Hard But Possible!

Giving your dog medication is by no means an easy task for most people. You will have to try all kinds of things to see what works best for you. If your dog is as stubborn as mine is, things will be much worse and you will have to struggle more to come up with an ingenious plan.