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Popping Pills Into Your Pooch

It is that time of the season. It is that time of the year. It is just that time. Your puppy has to pop a pill. It could be worm medication. It could also be something he or she needs to take for an illness. There are various reasons why you may have to give Sweetums a pill. You may also have to administer liquid medicine.
What are you going to do? Do you know what to do? How difficult is it to do this? Will I still have all my fingers afterwards? After all I do and try to do, will the dog have actually taken the pill or will I find it rolling around the floor afterwards?

So many questions and so little time. In some cases, you may be the lucky one. You will simply hold out your hand, the dog will sniff it and swallow whatever is in it. Poof, the pill is gone. More likely than not, you will have to result to subterfuge.

The simplest means of administering a pill or any form of portable medication is by hiding its taste. The best medium for a pill is the obvious love of most dog’s lives – food. The most common type of food to use is cheese and sausage. Bacon is another popular food to disguise the taste.

Granular pills or powdered substances offer other choices. You can open up the capsule or mash the pill. You can then add it to canned dog food or mix it into special treats. If you use cooked liver, the dog may not even notice the taste. Similarly, the gravy or juices can also disguise the flavor of many medications.

Peanut butter is another temptation many dogs cannot resist. Mix the powder in the peanut butter, add it into or onto the top of a favorite toy, e.g. a kong. Your dog should enjoy the food and the fun of licking it out of a toy. It may not even notice the pill at all.

Some medications, you cannot camouflage. Some you need to administer without food. These may prove a little more difficult. There are several methods. The following is a basic one.

• Approach your dog.
• Take his or her head in a firm but gentle grip.
• Tilt the head back while opening the throat.
• Drop the pill as far back in the throat as possible.
• Keep the head tilted
• Hold the jaws tightly closed
• Massage the dog’s throat
• Do it so gently. Praise the dog.
• Watch the dog afterwards to make sure the pill is not hidden somewhere in the dog’s mouth.
• Check to see he or she does not discretely go elsewhere and spit the pill out.

If you need to administer liquid medication, adopt the following technique.

• Take your dog’s head.
• Open the mouth.
• Keeping the head level, squirt the medication inside the mouth.
• Do not squirt far back in the mouth It could go down the wrong way.
• Massage the throat.
• Praise the dog.

These are two of the basic methods to pop pills or give oral medication. If you are lucky, however, all you will have to do is conceal the pill in a bacon wrap, offer it up and get on with the rest of your life.

Content written by Michael Jackson of Oh My Dog Supplies, the best place to buy stairs for dogs online.