Pets and pills

By isak, February 6, 2009

I have a couple pilling techniques to pass along. They work quite well for me.

First is Flavor-doh. It’s kind of like edible Play-doh. I just love it… maybe more than the kids do. I scoop a small amount into my palm, then roll it between my hands. This warms it up and makes it more pliable. Then I stick a pill/capsule in the middle and fold the dough up around it. I also use this stuff for worming the dogs. I use Zemecterin Gold paste for the dogs. It has praziquantal (for tapeworms; also known as Droncit) and ivermectin (for heartworms), but tastes really bad from the reactions I have seen. Dogs gobble their food, so burying the meds in the Flavor-doh works great.

Second is a piller that looks like a syringe. The body holds liquid — water or juice — and the tip has two prongs that hold the pill. So you aim the syringe into a corner of the mouth and press the plunger spurting the pill and the liquid into the cat’s (or dog’s) mouth. They don’t know what has hit them, but they usually swallow everything. The pillers cost a couple bucks each, but are re-usable.