Help my dog won't take any medications at all! He is going to die!

Ben Jefferson

Ben Jefferson

Well-Known Member
Benefactor
Life Member
Joined
Sep 26, 2019
Messages
5,942
Location
Sophia, NC
Rating - 100%
8   0   0
I have a VERY sick 3 yo Lab named Diesel that is refusing to take medications.

He has what we thought was kennel cough but has not cleared up through several courses of medications and now is thought to either have a fungal infection of the lungs or Cancer based on the X-ray results. He has been throwing up this morning and has not eaten his breakfast.
I am trying to get some antibiotics and albuterol tablets into him using cheese but he will not allow it as he bites into it to see if I am tricking him with meds.

Then he spits it out. He does the same thing with chunks of hot dogs. Then he does the same things with chunks of prime rib left over from last nights birthday dinner for my grand daughter. This is not a good situation and I am hoping one of you can give me a new idea to try before I lose this guy.
 
It's not easy but pry his mouth open, stuff the pill in there with your finger all the way back, clamp his snoot shut and hold his nose pointing to the ceiling. Pet his jaw and throat and watch for the fake swallow. Keep holding. Then he'll really swallow. Check his mouth. MY GSD was a stinker about this too.
 
One more thought. We used to have to get liquid meds sometimes because of this. You can get a baby syringe from the pharmacy and squirt the liquid meds down his throat too. Still have to hold the snoot up and shut after.
 
Timfoilhat said:
It's not easy but pry his mouth open, stuff the pill in there with your finger all the way back, clamp his snoot shut and hold his nose pointing to the ceiling. Pet his jaw and throat and watch for the fake swallow. Keep holding. Then he'll really swallow. Check his mouth. MY GSD was a stinker about this too.
Click to expand...


^^^^^^^



This X2
 
Me. said:
The tips of using food versus force won't always work. It didn't with our dog for a while.

Now he's back to normal, and can be tricked with Pill Pockets. But for a while, it was liquify, squirt-down-throat.
Click to expand...

Liquify with what @Me. ?
 
Last edited:
My Doberman won’t swallow his flea/tick preventative

I wrap it in cheese just so it doesn’t stick in his mouth then I hold it open and cram that thing in as far as I can, then I hold his mouth shut for about five seconds. Works every time
 
Timfoilhat said:
It's not easy but pry his mouth open, stuff the pill in there with your finger all the way back, clamp his snoot shut and hold his nose pointing to the ceiling. Pet his jaw and throat and watch for the fake swallow. Keep holding. Then he'll really swallow. Check his mouth. MY GSD was a stinker about this too.
Click to expand...

This and blow in his face while holding his mouth shut. Works every time for mine. Hope he gets better soon.
 
Last edited:
@Timfoilhat already gave the answer, but a tip for getting dogs to eat pills in food is to let them know they are getting more pieces of food behind it, especially if they gobble food like mine. For instance, give regular piece of hot dog, piece of hot dog with pill, while making a few more pieces of hot dog very noticeable and fed to your pup after the pill piece.

So sorry to hear about your boy; I'll keep a good thought for y'all.
 
Me. said:
I crushed them in a tiny bowl, using a spoon (mortar and pestal, but I don't own a mortal and pestal). Then mixed into a sluury with vegetable oil.

At first, I'd use a turkey baster, until we had time to get something less... turkey-baster. Any drug store will have a medicine syringe for babies. Farm stores also have them. Your vet will have them, too.

I went with oil, versus water because it seemed like it was "stickier" and would force a swallow, versus a cough.
Click to expand...
^ this, plus beef broth was popular in my house.
 
Last edited:
J R Green said:
Use the hold the mouth open and stuff the pill all the way back method. A trick to help there is when you open the mouth make sure to curl his upper lip under his teeth and this will reduce the chance of him biting you while trying to close the mouth.
Click to expand...
clever
 
I just broke the pill in 4 small pieces and put them in small piece of ham rolled up, I held his mouth open my wife pushed it back in his throat with her little hands and I pointed his snout up, held his mouth closed for a looooong time. He proceeded to spit it out all over the couch and now he doesn't trust either one of us.

And I feel like shit!
 
Last edited:
Our dog got really sick and spent a couple days up at the NC State Vet. They advised us to not use cheese when giving meds. The cheese can affect the effectiveness of some meds making them useless or of significantly reduced capability.

As far as the OP, the back of the throat, shut and hold snout works.
 
Me. said:
Thanks. I now wonder if my vegetable oil trick was also causing problems.
Click to expand...

I really don't know about oil. The cheese issue had to do with the makeup of cheese itself, dairy. It doesn't effect all meds but they said to just avoid using cheese and you won't have to worry about which one does/doesn't. Morgan was receiving high strength antibiotics and other meds.
 
Last edited:
Ben Jefferson said:
I just broke the pill in 4 small pieces and put them in small piece of ham rolled up, I held his mouth open my wife pushed it back in his throat with her little hands and I pointed his snout up, held his mouth closed for a looooong time. He proceeded to spit it out all over the couch and now he doesn't trust either one of us.

And I feel like shit!
Click to expand...
Why use ham? Just the pill, you’re not trying to choke it to death.
 
Last edited:
Ben Jefferson said:
I just broke the pill in 4 small pieces and put them in small piece of ham rolled up, I held his mouth open my wife pushed it back in his throat with her little hands and I pointed his snout up, held his mouth closed for a looooong time. He proceeded to spit it out all over the couch and now he doesn't trust either one of us.

And I feel like shit!
Click to expand...
Didn't push it back far enough.

You're making a simple process into a big todo. Shove the whole pill so far back down his throat he'd have to puke to get it back. Tell him that this is going to happen and when it's done then the treats and praise.

Be the master.
 
Ben Jefferson said:
I just broke the pill in 4 small pieces and put them in small piece of ham rolled up, I held his mouth open my wife pushed it back in his throat with her little hands and I pointed his snout up, held his mouth closed for a looooong time. He proceeded to spit it out all over the couch and now he doesn't trust either one of us.

And I feel like shit!
Click to expand...


I’ll blow on his nose or whatever to get him to swallow if mine gets stubborn. But you gotta get it really far back there. I have to wash my hand and lower forearm when I’m done.

don’t feel bad...the dog won’t remember
 
Timfoilhat said:
It's not easy but pry his mouth open, stuff the pill in there with your finger all the way back, clamp his snoot shut and hold his nose pointing to the ceiling. Pet his jaw and throat and watch for the fake swallow. Keep holding. Then he'll really swallow. Check his mouth. MY GSD was a stinker about this too.
Click to expand...

^^^ this. You can also buy a product called a “pill pocket” that works with some dogs.
 
Last edited:
The peanut butter methods works most of the time but if not get a squeeze bottle of honey, squirt the honey deep in his mouth and at the same time place the pill on the dab of honey. It’s hard to cough up honey and the more he fights the more the chance of him shallowing the pill. Worth a try and good luck.
 
Timfoilhat said:
It's not easy but pry his mouth open, stuff the pill in there with your finger all the way back, clamp his snoot shut and hold his nose pointing to the ceiling. Pet his jaw and throat and watch for the fake swallow. Keep holding. Then he'll really swallow. Check his mouth. MY GSD was a stinker about this too.
Click to expand...
Yep... this! I have a Shih-tzu that is the dumbest dog in America, but has perfected this trick. He is a Jedi master when it comes to taking the food, but spitting out the medicine. This trick works! You can order a "pill shooter" from Amazon, if your dog is huge, and you can't get it all the way back.

Sent from my SM-N975U using Tapatalk
 
J R Green said:
Didn't push it back far enough.

You're making a simple process into a big todo. Shove the whole pill so far back down his throat he'd have to puke to get it back. Tell him that this is going to happen and when it's done then the treats and praise.

Be the master.
Click to expand...
Yeah... do the whole pill. It's less traumatic for them...1 and done! Also, as stated, be the master. Remain calm, and the dog will as much as possible. You're not hurting him, you're helping. No need to wrap it in anything either. You get it far enough back, he won't be chewing it anyway... that's the idea.... and as stated earlier, watch for the fake swallow.

Sent from my SM-N975U using Tapatalk
 
Last edited:
Jim1392 said:
My dog loves peanut butter so there is no problem giving her medication. Give that a try.
Click to expand...

thumb_ithought-wewere-inthetrust-tree-inthe-nest-were-we-not-memecrunch-com-48963256.png



if none of the above suggestions work id take the dog to the vet
 
Last edited:
Scsmith42 said:
^^^ this. You can also buy a product called a “pill pocket” that works with some dogs.
Click to expand...
jodyisaacs said:
Yep... this! I have a Shih-tzu that is the dumbest dog in America, but has perfected this trick. He is a Jedi master when it comes to taking the food, but spitting out the medicine. This trick works! You can order a "pill shooter" from Amazon, if your dog is huge, and you can't get it all the way back.

Sent from my SM-N975U using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Ordered!

Now I just hope I keep him alive long enough to use it!
 
Smear some honey, sour cream, cottage cheese, or peanut butter on a plate... No medicine....

Let the dog lick it off... Do it a few times to make a "game" out of it and find out what it likes best... Then do it with hand crushed crackers mixed in with the smears.

Put the meds in the "smears& crackers"...
and play the game... 99% of the time they will eat it with no issues...

The only time I had a dog that did not respond to this was my female blue heeler who had liver cancer... Her liver was so enlarged that her stomach was compressed and she did not "feel" hungry...

Best Wishes for fast healing!!!
 
We've been to the Vet 4 times folks.

They run a business too.

The next step is the internal med specialist in Greensboro and that will run $3-7,000 for a diagnostic to go down his throat and into his lungs to determine the next course of action. I'm not sure if I can do that.
 
Last edited:
The “feeding frenzy” if is what we use for preventative meds for ours. BEFORE FEEDING THEM THEIR MEAL ... we start tossing treats to catch ... after a couple their ready to eat about anything ... then on the 4th or so toss one that has the pill tucked in it. If sick we do pry the mouth/pill down the throat/hold the muzzle thing BUT sweet talk, reward and love them real good afterwards.
 
Ben Jefferson said:
We've been to the Vet 4 times folks.

They run a business too.

The next step is the internal med specialist in Greensboro and that will run $3-7,000 for a diagnostic to go down his throat and into his lungs to determine the next course of action. I'm not sure if I can do that.
Click to expand...
I'm so sorry you're all going thru this. I guess at some point you'll have to decide what's most merciful for your little friend. I hope with all my heart that he will heal up.
 
I tried all that's been suggested except for the pockets and the pill pusher with our pitt- what tricked him was getting baloney on my fingers, then wrapping up the pill in a small bit of fresh bread. And clamping his mouth closed until he swallowed.

Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom