How to Get Prozac Dog to Eat Again

Your dog won't take pills? Every bit I pried my domestic dog's jaws open to give him his medicine, I realized that, equally a vet, prescribing the appropriate medication for your dog is only half of the battle! What virtually YOU– standing ready, holding a pill, looking at your dog while your dog looks back at you, both wondering who's going to win? The answer, my friend, is Yous! As an integrative veterinarian and mom of three dogs, here are five of my favorite tips, tricks, and techniques for how to get your dog to take a pill.

1. The Bribe
: For the food-motivated dog who won't take pills

If your canis familiaris is food motivated, this technique is the obvious pick. You tin simply hibernate the pill in:

• a dab of peanut butter—please brand sure that xylitol is not on the ingredient list! It has become a common sweetener in peanut butter, but it's highly toxic to dogs. Likewise, I prefer "chunky" peanut butter because it's easier to disguise the texture of a pill among the chunks.
• plain yogurt
• a cube of boneless chicken breast
• liverwurst
• hot domestic dog pieces
• Pill Pockets®—this brilliant invention is a chewy dog care for with a pigsty inside for the pill or capsule. Y'all insert the medication into the pocket, and and so press the malleable care for around the pill to hide the evidence. Dogs generally love them! The downside is that they are not cheap, nor something y'all would normally have handy in your kitchen. Pill Pockets are sold through veterinarians and pet supply stores.

Above all practice no damage.

The reason I left cheese, cream cheese, and ice cream off my "recommended" list, is because I don't desire to take the risk of triggering pancreatitis through rich foods. Pancreatitis in dogs is a painful, serious inflammatory status of the pancreas which can be caused by a dog eating high-fat foods.

My personal favorite "bribe" in which to hide pills is marshmallows (or mini-marshmallows, depending on your dog's size). I don't worry about them causing pancreatitis, and it'south an cheap, low-calorie care for.

two. How to become your dog to accept a pill using "the bait and switch" method

For dogs who are tempted by "The Bribe", but too smart for their own skillful, I employ "The Bait and Switch" method of getting dogs to take pills. This technique becomes second nature to nearly veterinarians who take learned the hard fashion—later scraping saliva-covered, generally dissolved pills off the floor after a dog has spit them out—that it's very important to have success on the first try. Trust me, round ii is x times harder than round one, because of the country of the pill and the heightened state of the dog's radar.

So unless I know the dog volition basically swallow anything, I e'er administer pills in this fashion:

i. Hibernate the pill in treats/nutrient.
2. Wash easily. (Yeah, seriously. Information technology'southward amazing how yous tin ruin the whole process past having the olfactory property of medication on your hands. Remember, a canis familiaris'due south sense of smell is 10,000 times better than yours.)
iii. Get 2 more of the same treats used to hide the pill in. For example, if I'm using hot domestic dog pieces, when I'm gear up to give the pill, I approach the canis familiaris with three hot dog pieces–and an innocent look.
iv. Give the starting time care for without a pill in information technology. THE Allurement!
5. Requite the second treat with the pill in it. THE SWITCH!
six. Give the third treat without a pill in it. THE HAPPY Catastrophe!

3. How to go your domestic dog to take a pill using the "trick and treat" method

Occasionally, we take to upwardly the dues. The "Bait and Switch" may have run its form and your dog has go wise to your antics, or your dog never fell for it in the outset identify. To take success giving medicine to these dogs, we must employ listen games.

• I do not recommend letting these astute dogs see you preparing the medication prior to administration. You volition accept to put the pills in the treats while your canis familiaris is occupied elsewhere. Exercise not permit your canis familiaris come across the medication bottle or hear information technology being handled. Remember the reward of the element of surprise!
•  Launder your easily later working with the pills. This pace is critical.
• The Goal: make your dog experience that the treat is an earned reward or special treat and there is nothing to exist suspicious about. There are a few ways to practice this:
  • Accept your dog perform a trick or 2, for which he typically earns a treat. We've at present put him in the mindset to expect/ask for a medication-laced treat. Give the spiked treats (ideally in the "Bait and Switch" sequence) as his reward.
  • It's key for the dog to swallow the care for speedily, without taking time to chew. If your dog bites into the pill, certain medications like Tramadol and Metronidazole are and so bitter that your canis familiaris might fifty-fifty foam at the mouth. To avoid this, yous can toss the treats to the domestic dog and have him catch them. Speak to your dog in a happy, excited voice and build anticipation for the treats y'all are nearly to toss, so that he eagerly snaps them up and looks for more.
• Merely like us, dogs are tempted by the forbidden. Feeding your dog his disguised medication off of a fork or spoon, or off of your own plate (strategically placed on the floor immediately after a meal) can yield uncanny success.

• Let's face it. Dogs read us like an open volume. If you lot arroyo getting your canis familiaris to accept a pill with a guilty look or even feeling guilty, your dog will be suspicious. Projection confidence, joy, and fun in the "pilling" process and your dog volition be more probable to be cooperative.

4. How to become your dog to take a pill using the "JAWS" method

Disclaimer—Practice not attempt this technique if y'all cannot utter these words with conviction: "Nether no circumstances would my dog attempt to seize with teeth me."

The technique I used on my domestic dog tonight was the "Jaws" method. Here's the technique:

• I grasped the upper jaw merely backside the canine teeth (the large fang teeth) with my thumb and first two fingers on either side, while my hand rested on the top of his nose.
• I did the same for the lower jaw just backside the lower canine teeth.
• Once I had my fingers safely in identify, I gently (but firmly) pulled the jaws open. (My domestic dog is a pit balderdash mix with exceptionally strong jaws, so this took some coaxing.)
• Every bit soon as the jaws were open two to three inches wide, I took the pill between my arrow finger and thumb in my dominant hand and swiftly pushed information technology downwardly the natural language until I deposited it at the very base (back) of the tongue. In fact, I pushed information technology over a decisive edge, down the hatch.
• As I pulled out my hand, I felt my dog swallow. He and then licked his lips. At that point, I knew the mission had been successful.

Bonus Tip

The well-nigh mutual mistake people make in this technique is putting the pill ON the tongue. Unless the pill is very pleasantly flavored, the typical canis familiaris is going to spit it right out. Success depends upon getting the pill as deep as possible in the throat equally quickly equally possible.

Also, considering certain pills tin crusade harm to the esophagus if left to sit down in the pharynx, I always follow the "Jaws" technique with either administration of a few treats or syringing some water into the dog's mouth.

5. Your dog still won't take pills? Enlist an cohort—the chemist

If all else fails and your dog will not have pills, while you're at the vet (check out my tips on utopian vet visits here), inquire about getting your canis familiaris'southward medication compounded and flavored. Specialty pharmacies (not the kind at grocery stores and large box stores) tin can pulverize your dog's medication, mix it with a potent flavoring, and provide it to y'all in liquid form which y'all tin can give orally via syringe or add to your dog's food. And you can accept a say in that flavoring. Does your dog Love bacon? Mention information technology to your vet. At that place are several options, then you should stack the odds in your favor, by expressing your domestic dog'southward preference if you know information technology.

Do y'all take a tip on how to get your domestic dog to take a pill?

Delight comment beneath! May we always larn from each other!

Looking for more practical ways to assistance your dog live the happiest, healthiest life possible?

With over 20 years of experience helping my veterinary clients tackle everything from giving a dog a pill to keeping an aging dog's listen fit, I'yard passionate about helping y'all help your dog take the happiest life possible. Please bank check out these boosted resource:

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Dr. Buzby's Nail Trimming Without Fear: online, step-by-step video grade with reference guides for confident at-home nail trims.

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©Julie Buzby, DVM. All rights reserved.

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