# Best way to take pills or powders?



## VTBunny (Aug 1, 2017)

How do you give your dog powder or pills? I've been mixing powders (probiotics and perfect form) with pumpkin but its becoming time consuming. When I sprinkle it on his food it ends up at the bottom of the bowl. I've been giving him his pill in peanut butter but I can't imagine all that sugar is good for him. I've been avoiding cream cheese b/c he has a beef allergy. I haven't tried the pill pockets, are those okay?


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## car2ner (Apr 9, 2014)

you can get peanut butter with no sugar, just peanuts and salt. It is messy but once you get it all shaken or stirred up, store it in the fridge and it tends to stay mixed. 

I have also use liverwurst. But since your dog can't have beef, that won't work. You can see if you deli has a chicken pattai or all pork liverwurst. 

If your pooch can't have beef I don't know about cream cheese. But since dogs typically don't do milk well, I'd save cream cheese for really rare occasions.


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## Jax08 (Feb 13, 2009)

VTBunny said:


> I've been avoiding cream cheese b/c he has a beef allergy.


Not matter what you do, it's going to be messy. I mix in vitamins every day for Seger in ground veges and then dump kefir on it. The powders from the vitamins mix in well and it takes only seconds to do.

That little bit of sugar in the peanut butter is not going to hurt him. 

I generally give a pill in the middle of raw ground beef. You could try ground turkey or chicken. But personally, I would stick with the peanut butter. 

I would question whether a beef allergy translates to a milk allergy. I think there are different enzymes in milk than beef. You could google that or ask on teh K9 Kitchen facebook page.


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## Cassidy's Mom (Mar 30, 2003)

car2ner said:


> you can get peanut butter with no sugar, just peanuts and salt.


Definitely get the "natural" kind of peanut butter, without sugar. Some PB has xylitol, a sugar substitute that's toxic for dogs, so you need to be really careful about that. But PB doesn't need sugar anyway, so go for the peanuts and salt variety.


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## Armistice (Oct 12, 2017)

With powder, mix with into something wet. It'll stick

I usually had pills. I found it was just easier to push it as far down her throat as I could, then lightly hold her mouth closed. Same thing with liquid meds too


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## Sabis mom (Mar 20, 2014)

VTBunny said:


> How do you give your dog powder or pills? I've been mixing powders (probiotics and perfect form) with pumpkin but its becoming time consuming. When I sprinkle it on his food it ends up at the bottom of the bowl. I've been giving him his pill in peanut butter but I can't imagine all that sugar is good for him. I've been avoiding cream cheese b/c he has a beef allergy. I haven't tried the pill pockets, are those okay?


I taught the dogs to catch small treats tossed to them. I throw them quickly so the normal response is catch and swallow. Two or three in I toss the pill then another treat. Never had them spit one out.
Powder mixes well with raw egg, or fish oil, or hamburger grease, or pork fat. You get the idea.
To give meds by hand I sit the dogs in front of me with their back against my legs, put one hand under the chin, insert meds through the corner of the mouth while gently tipping the dogs head upward. Hold the muzzle up and gently stroke the throat until you get a couple of swallows. Takes a bit of practice, and you need to get the meds as far back in the throat as possible.
Cheez Whiz works well also. The tiny amount needed should not pose an issue.


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## camperbc (Sep 19, 2017)

We have found that the best way to administer pills is to cut a small cube of cheese, then use a pointy knife (like a steak knife) to "drill" a small hole in the cube to insert the pill. Once the pill is in place, then use the "shavings" from your drilling to patch the cube's hole, so that it will look like just an innocent chunk of cheese. We have always done this for our Chrissy, and she has yet to learn that there is any extra ingredients in her cheese, as she just swallows it right down without chewing. It's the only method that works on her, as with every other way she has always discovered the hidden surprise and spits it out!

Glen
Focus On Newfoundland


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## Sunsilver (Apr 8, 2014)

I count myself lucky that none of my dogs have an issue with pills. I just put them in with their kibble, and down the hatch they go!

Over the years, though, I have mastered the 'ram it down the throat' technique. I don't try putting it through the side of the mouth, though - just pry the mouth open as far as I can, and put it as far back in the throat as I can reach.

Once I was giving multiple dewormer tablets to my male. I wrapped them in a piece of chicken thigh, after removing the bone. One fell out as he was eating it. He sniffed the tablet, then licked it up and swallowed it down!

This was the same dog, that if you put ONE piece of broccoli in with his kibble, he'd leave the broccoli in the bottom of his bowl.


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## wolfy dog (Aug 1, 2012)

I take two pieces of deli meat. One with the meds folded into it and the other plain. By that time the dog is interested by the smell. I ask for a sit to show the dog he gets a reward for it as if it were an obedience exercise. Offer him the meds-containing piece while holding the plain one a little higher. They focus on that one and quickly eat the meds-containing piece to make sure he gets both. This has always worked with multiple dogs present but also the dog by himself.


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## Jax08 (Feb 13, 2009)

apples are a food that acts as a prebiotic, setting up the gut to process the probiotics. Why not mix in some sugar free apple sauce?


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## mspiker03 (Dec 7, 2006)

Jax08 said:


> apples are a food that acts as a prebiotic, setting up the gut to process the probiotics. Why not mix in some sugar free apple sauce?



You just made my females day with this suggestion. She LOVES apples.


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## Jax08 (Feb 13, 2009)

mspiker03 said:


> You just made my females day with this suggestion. She LOVES apples.



Monica Segel had a whole list of foods that act as prebiotics!


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## Magwart (Jul 8, 2012)

You can make simple no-sugar-added apple sauce in an Instant Pot (or pressure cooker) in mere minutes. Trim, core, chop, but leave the peel on if they're organic apples -- it not only saves time, but there's good stuff in that peel.

I had no idea how easy it was until my dad gave me a big bag of slightly spongy apples out of his cold shed, harvested from his tree at least a month earlier. Those waste apples made really delicious apple sauce.


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## mspiker03 (Dec 7, 2006)

Jax08 said:


> Monica Segel had a whole list of foods that act as prebiotics!



I will have to look for that. In the meantime, she has trained several of my friends to bring her apples each week


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## Misha111 (Oct 31, 2016)

Regarding pills, i just put them down the back of their throat and hold their mouth shut until they swallow. Only because my last girl would suck all the tasty food off the pill and spit it back out. Or she would pretend she had eaten it and spit it out somewhere else.


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## Fodder (Oct 21, 2007)

So clever @Sabis mom!

Like @Sunsilver , I’m spoiled - I just toss it in their food. Easy. If it’s a pill that needs to be taken on an empty stomach, my boys are good at being pilled too.


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## valb (Sep 2, 2004)

I'll give you a tip I got from my vet tech probably about 20 years ago: BABY FOOD. Works a dream. With my soft mouthed Lillie I just stick my finger and meds in the jar, then offer, she takes it right down immediately. Currently she is getting 3 honkin' antibiotics capsules 2X daily (for another week and a half GROAN) but it is zero problem. Some dogs that you might be worried about their bite, you can put it all on the end of a popsicle stick, but be sure and hold on so they don't take stick and all. I did want to mention though, that I personally wouldn't do the pumpkin bit with anything. Might move probiotics/meds through the gut too fast to get full benefit from them.


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## Springbrz (Aug 13, 2013)

Since you asked...yes...pill pockets work well. They can be pricey if they are to be used daily long term. I used them for my previous dogs and they loved them. If the pills are larger the pocket can be molded around the pill or you can put the pill in one pocket and push another over the other end.


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