Helpful Tips to Feed your Pet Medications or Supplements

You can increase the chances of success in administering medications and supplements to your dog or cat provided you follow some time proven tips that have worked for other pet owners. They fall into three general techniques.

Make Administering Pills to Your Pet Easy:

You start by getting the pill inserted as far back into your pets mouth as possible with a pill pusher provided by your vet, or by hand. Once inserted, hold the pet’s mouth closed, and try to keep their nose pointed upward. Stroking their neck up and down can help them swallow. Putting some liquid into a dog’s cheek area and giving a cat liquid quickly thereafter will help lubricate the throat. This can be the most difficult method to use, especially with grown cats not used to taking pills. For these cats, you may wish to wrap the cat in a towel for their comfort and your protection.

Since some medication is meant to be time-released, this method should only be used with your vet’s approval. Place the pill in a spoon, with another spoon facing in the same direction on top of the pill. Squeeze the spoons together, crushing the pill into a powder. Mix the powder thoroughly with some creamy food or treat your pet really loves like tuna, peanut butter, yogurt, or cream cheese. Some pill powders have a particularly bad taste, and the amount of food or treat you use as “camouflage” may vary.

One of the more popular and successful methods of administering medications and supplements orally is pill hiding. It involves putting the pill inside of some of the pet’s food or a treat. Depending on the size of the pill you can create a “meatball” with soft canned pet food, or hide the pill in a larger chunk of tuna, lunchmeat or soft cheese.

If the pill is small enough, putting it in peanut butter or cream cheese and placing it on the pets paw will cause them to lick it off for digestion. Beware however that some pets will lick the flavorful food off, leaving the pill behind. This is where a product like Pill-O's can help. Pill-O's Pilling Treats are a great tasting pocket for the medication that can be sealed with the pinch of a finger. Pill Wrap Oral Paste is a mold-able paste that you can seal around a pill that cannot be licked off. Both of these convenient products make a challenging task much easier for pets and their owners.

Whatever method you choose, make sure your pet is shown affection
and provided a treat following their medication.