Getting medicine down a Basenji

[basilboy7]

@klshoe:

Hi, I am new to the forum but wish I had found this years ago.

My Basenji is 16. He has arthritis/hip dysplasia, big lumps and most recently had a very scary seizure. Needless to say – the medications required to treat him are ever expanding. He now has 3 pills and vitamins (liquid form) to take daily. Any suggestions for how to administer these?

I've tried pill pockets, braunsweger, wrapping it in sandwich meat... these all work for a time but then (in usual basenji fashion) he eventually detects the pills and won't take it anymore. Just thought I would throw it out there to see if anyone had anything new to try.

Thanks so much!

Senji's mom

I'm lucky enough that my pup thinks meds are treats.. But I had one med once that he hated… but usually if I dipped it in peanut butter he loved it. Have you tried putting it in a bowl of wet dog food too? Could work for the liquid meds?

[elena86]

I grind up some chicken or turkey breast in a mini food processor and make a few balls containing the pills, as well as a few "decoy" balls of meat. Cream cheese works occasionally too. If he's really being stubborn, I have to make balls of cream cheese wrapped with pieces of turkey lunchmeat.

[eeeefarm]

I just read through this thread and it brought back (painful!) memories. Fortunately I do not currently have any dogs or cats to pill. They all seem to figure out the food disguise thing sooner or later, and then it's back to opening the mouth and shoving it down…...and hoping it doesn't come right back after the swallow. I had one girl that I swear could fake it every time, then back would come the pill. Cats are worse! That shallow mouth makes it harder to avoid getting nailed with the canines. My biggest laugh was my Border Collie. He spit out the pill one time, and I expressed my disapproval, at which he said "sorry Mom" and picked it up off the floor and swallowed it! Would never happen with a Basenji!

BTW, be it dog, cat or horse, I have always found it easier to work alone. Too many people ganging up makes the animal suspicious and much more likely to fight. If you have the right relationship with your pet you should be able to finesse it alone just fine. Lots of love and treats (if appropriate) afterwards takes the sting out of it. I am convinced animals read your intention and allow even painful treatments if they trust you.

[Chealsie508]

When Oakley came back from the hospital he had to take prilosec and a liver enzyme once a day, the first two days I put it in between two small pieces of cheese and it worked great, didnt even care. However, once he caught on to the pill hiding it stopped working and he would end up wasting ( IMO) A whole piece of cheese and still I'd have a messy wet blue pill in my hands. I found that If I hid it in cheese as I normally did but had a second piece of cheese readily in front of him, it tricked him into swallowing the first piece quickly in order to devour the second. I imagine with any food motivated dog you could trick them this way using anything ( pb,treats,cream cheese)

[Macy]

@eeeefarm:

My biggest laugh was my Border Collie. He spit out the pill one time, and I expressed my disapproval, at which he said "sorry Mom" and picked it up off the floor and swallowed it! Would never happen with a Basenji!

LOL! I had the same experience with my Border Collie. And now am learning the painful lesson of how this just won't happen with my little Basenji

[Kipawa]

I forgot to mention that we are very successful with putting pills in a small chunk of well aged cheddar cheese. Of course, a nice Chianti with it makes it more memorable. Oh… pilling dogs? Yes, for them, the cheese works too.

[krunzer]

ROFL @ Kipawa!

[eeeefarm]

Maybe the trick would be to give wine to the Basenji before the cheese with the pill in it? I don't know about wine, but my last Basenji had an appreciation for beer if he could get his nose in the glass when nobody was looking.

[Patty]

I vary giving pills with the individual. Some I grind up and mix them well in raw meat. I have several pices of meat only in my hand, give one of those and then tease the dog with the rest (it helps if there's another dog around). I find that then I can easily give the ground pill with the meat. After they've taken the pill I hen I give another piece of meat. With some i have to put the pill at the back of themouth as the others describe. i do it on my own as I can more easily keep the dog calm then.

[YodelMa]

Blowing pills down a dogs throat with a straw or something similar isn't a good idea since it can wind up in their lungs…

If you're hiding pills, handle them with tweezers, not your fingers: that way your dog can't smell the meds on your hands and realize what you're doing. I find peanut butter works really well for hiding pills--Ki can't spit out pills when her tongue is stuck to the roof of her mouth : ) Kraft unsweetened PB won't contribute to any dental issues. A friend took it a step further and got CHUNKY pb, she swears her dog can't tell the difference between the peanut chunks & pill fragments.

Also blue cheese or Goat Cheese/Chevre are so stinky they conceal the pill odour/taste. Just a reminder, 'tho, cheese contains a lot of calcium which will interfere with absorption of Thyroid meds if that's what you're administering.

Finally, check with owners in the Fanconi section of the forum for more Pilling Tips, they're UBER CHAMPIONs at administering pills.

[agilebasenji]

the thyroid pills are put into sweet potato french fries here. otherwise, cream cheese.