How to Give a Dog a Pill
How can I give pills to my dog? The most simple method to feed or give a pill to a dog consists in mixing the pills with food, unless you have to give them to him out of meals hours. The best way is to hide the pill in a piece of meat, cause dogs can easily detect and strange object in their food. If you have more than one dog, be sure the correct dog has the pills and swallows them. I personally like to insert the pill in a piece of cheese and feed that to the dog. In some cases, it may be necessary to give him the pill directly. This is not difficult with a dog used to be affectionately embraced, but could be hard with some others. The key for success is to place the pill in the back part of the mouth so the dog swallows it automatically, instead of spitting it out. Hold the upper jaw by both sides with one hand, and lift it up, holding the lower jaw with the other hand, and using your first finger and thumb to place the pill quickly in the tongue's base. Keep his mouth close, lifting the head a bit, and rubbing the throat to encourage him to swallow. In case of a right person, the pill should be introduced with this hand. If placing your hands in the dog's mouth is disgusting for you, use clothespins. Also try to give him the pill at the first attempt, cause if not, the dog will probably get uneasy if the process is too long. The medicine can be covered with some sugar or something similar; don't break them up, cause afterwards they can have an awful taste, and the dog can throw out lots of saliva, and will refuse to take them again. If you need help to control the dog, ask somebody else to hold the dog by the neck with one arm, so the dog cannot run away. The initial dose can cause a major relief to your dog, which can start looking as healthy as always, even if the treatment with pills has not ended. Nevertheless, be sure he takes all the prescribed pills, following the instructions of the medicine. Just one interruption in treatment may cause, not only, the disease to reappear, but can also strengthen the bacteria resistance to that or some other drugs. Antibiotics have modified the animals' medical fields, but are not useful in all cases.
