Giving my dog his tablets - help!

[deanna]

My small dog is poorly and must take half an antibiotic tablet twice a day. Two problems -
Any ideas how to divide the pill in two without one breaking up? Secondly they evidently have an unpleasant taste so if I hide them in a piece of his food he spits it out, and if I put it as far back in his throat as I can, he has an uncanny knack of furtively sneaking it out again when I am sure he must have swallowed it. Help please, this is a 10 day course!

[burnouts]

whenever i have had to give my dogs tablets i have aways hidden them in a lump on cheese as cheese has a strong flavour and they cannot taste the tablet.this should work with any type of food tht has a strong flavour my one dog even used to take them on top of a dog biscuit with a lump of marmite hehe hope this helps and sorry to hear that your dog is poorly!!

[deanna]

Thank you for your suggestion - will give it a try.

[cruella]

Sorry to hear your dog is unwell.
I always put medication right at the back of my dog's throat and hold her mouth tightly closed until she actually swallows the pill, otherwise she just spits it out with food. I also massage the throat until she swallows the medication.
Hope you dog is fine for Christmas.

[deanna]

Thank you for your advice. I really try to get the pill right down his mouth and massage his throat, but he seems to have a clever way of pretending to swallow, and then I find it on the floor! Tonight I tried hiding it in some cheese as advised and the first two attempts he ate the cheese and spat the pill out. However, at the third attempt I was successful! Must remember to buy more cheese tomorrow.
Still having great difficulty in halving the tablets without them breaking up though.

[snow.maiden]

I have several dogs, and if they need to have tablets, I do similar to burnouts. I put them in little balls of corned beef, and make a couple more with nothing in at all. Then I throw them up in the air and wait for the dog in question to jump up and catch it. If the first one (with nothing in it) goes down well, the rest should follow easily. I've never had a problem yet.

[gelda]

That's a great idea, the lovely taste of corned beef and a nice game!

[deanna]

Cheese worked last night, so will try other food he likes too. Thank you. Will try your suggestion.

[Illyria54]

try a small bit of pate, I buy a low salt one, dogs like strong flavours, you could also try tinned sardines.
Good luck.

[deanna]

Thanks for your advice Illria54 - I will give the pate or sardine idea a try if Gizmo goes off the cheese. He has almost finished his pill course now, so this maybe useful in the future. He is fine now.
Happy new year.

[astonsmummy]

you can buy a pill cutter/crusher from any chemist