If you have ever had to give your dog or cat a medication or a supplement in a pill form before you may know of the struggle this can often be. Most dogs make life easier for us by just swallowing down their pills when put right into their wet food diet. However many small breed dogs and cats can make pilling a much more difficult process!
Pill Pockets are available online or over the counter at any major retail pet stores and can be a huge help in giving our pets a daily pill. However, I have found that there is a trick to using these as they are sometimes a bit too large for small breed dogs and cats. I have found the best thing to do is to break off little pieces of the pocket first, and give to your pet without the pill... this helps them to gain trust and more easily eat the pocket with the pill in it, not knowing which of the 5-6 pieces you give might contain it. Also, using less of the pill pocket at a time to "squish" around the pill makes the treat small in total helping to increase the chance your pet will eat it!
Another great option is using a "pill-popper" in which you insert the medication into the end of the syringe-like device and place into your pet's mouth onto the back of their tongue and then push the syringe which in turn pops the pill directly into their throat. Then simply gently hold your pets mouth closed for a minute while massaging their throat trying to help stimulate them to swallow.
Lastly, you may find that just using your finger as a natural "pill-popper" works best, as I do and in this case it is helpful to come up behind your pet while sitting on the floor and positioning their backside towards you and reach forward to pop the pill into their mouth, this way if they try to back away on you which the likely will, they have no where they can go because you are creating a blockade with your body.
I hope these ideas make the next time you have to give your cat or dog a medication or supplement a little bit easier on you both!
By the way, if you are not already using it, check out our all natural Pet Multi-Vitamins, as they come in an easy powder for dogs and yummy crunchy nuggets for cats so they will gobble them right up like a treat not requiring any pilling techniques like other pet vitamins on the market!
