Guns for sick dogs, pill guns that is

[newbury]

Our beloved Corgi is recovering from encephalitis.





I've got to give her 4 meds twice a day. She won't take ANY wrapped in food, she wised up.

It's always open up and shove it down.

I bought the only pill gun at the local petsmart, but found better looking ones on the web.

What do others use?

 

[EddieWalker]

Sorry to hear about your dog. When ours was sick, he wouldn't take the pills either. We just lifted his head so his nose was pointed up, put the pill down his throat as far as we could get it, then held his mouth closed for half a minute. It was always gone when we let him go. I would be nervous about using anything other then my hand in his mouth.

 

[2LaneCruzer]

Sorry to hear about your dog. When ours was sick, he wouldn't take the pills either. We just lifted his head so his nose was pointed up, put the pill down his throat as far as we could get it, then held his mouth closed for half a minute. It was always gone when we let him go. I would be nervous about using anything other then my hand in his mouth.

That's what I do also; make sure it's on her tongue, the close her mouth and rub her throat. She will swallow and that does the trick about 95% of the time. Sometimes she fools me and spits it out, but not often.

 

[95XL883]

Sorry your pup is sick. Hope it recovers quickly.

Can you give it peanut butter? The one time I had to give pills to my dog, I got a teaspoon of peanut butter, put the pill in the middle of the peanut butter and put it in with its food. It was always the first thing eaten.

The downside is now if I don't give her some peanut butter I get the "Why am I not getting peanut butter?" look. :laughing:

 

[newbury]

Sorry to hear about your dog. When ours was sick, he wouldn't take the pills either. We just lifted his head so his nose was pointed up, put the pill down his throat as far as we could get it, then held his mouth closed for half a minute. It was always gone when we let him go. I would be nervous about using anything other then my hand in his mouth.

That used to be what we did but now at 9 pills a day she fights it. She's learned to arch her tongue to block our fingers.

That's what I do also; make sure it's on her tongue, the close her mouth and rub her throat. She will swallow and that does the trick about 95% of the time. Sometimes she fools me and spits it out, but not often.

She's held some "harder" pills in her mouth for 5 minutes and eating a hot dog before spitting the pill out. She must have tucked it in the side of her lip.

Sorry your pup is sick. Hope it recovers quickly.

Can you give it peanut butter? The one time I had to give pills to my dog, I got a teaspoon of peanut butter, put the pill in the middle of the peanut butter and put it in with its food. It was always the first thing eaten.

The downside is now if I don't give her some peanut butter I get the "Why am I not getting peanut butter?" look. :laughing:

Did that for a bit, she used to love peanut butter, now she refuses PB.

I used the "pill gun" for the first time, being very careful to quickly but gently guide it down her throat. Worked like a charm. I think it rlly helped that it's about 1/4 the diameter of my finger.

Which got me thinking of trying to find a piece of tubing big enough to put a dab of peanut butter in, then the pill, slide that down her throat and blow the pill in.

 

[teejk]

Have to look into that! After years of trying to bury the pills in food only to find the pill showing up somewhere sometimes several feet away we adopted that push down throat method...dogs are amazing...will eat a dead skunk if they find one but they can detect a pill and spit it out...

 

[GLyford]

Our Akita was fussy about pills and food, and got to the point where she could chew the food off of a pill then spit the pill out, either right away or a little later. Our usual strategy was to simply change up the foods and keep trying. Sometimes real food, sometimes "pill pockets". We succeeded more often than not, but it wasn't the best way to keep her arthritis pain under control.

One day checking her into our boarding kennel, and telling the owner/breeder of our difficulty, she asked if we had succeeded that morning or not.

We said "no", so she tilted the dog's head up with the mouth open, grabbed the pill and just chucked it deep into the back of her throat. "With as many dogs as I have, I don't have time to mess around." I'm not sure if me or my dog were more surprised that it worked.

Near as I can tell, the only secret to it is practice, and aim. So you might give that a try, too.

Fortunately, our current dogs aren't fussy and will work with PB...

 

[orezok]

We have a 13 year old Golden that has arthritus. She gets a Meloxicam pill daily for pain. Getting the pills down was a problem until we found Pill Pockets which are made by the Greenie company. She loves the taste and swallows then immediately. When she hears me open the bag, she gets up and is waiting when I get there.

 

[95XL883]

9 pills a day. Wow! Sorry, I missed that. I think even my dog would get tired of that much peanut butter. Hopefully the pill gun continues to work for you and that she recovers quickly.

 

[newbury]

We had used pill pockets and they HAD worked well. But now they are a no go and as soon as I open her mouth she blocks her throat like a hockey goalie.
However I've now used the "pill gun" three times and it has been SLICK. I'm careful to quickly insert it on her tongue and drop the pill in the back of her mouth. If her muzzle was a little longer I might need a longer "gun" but this one works and she didn't even "gag" last time.

And coincidentally as I was writing the Vet called about Ellie's bloodwork (which was fine) and said they use a pill gun "Dee Vet products, Pet Piller".