My dog refuses liquid meds post-dental. Can I put them in her food?

Thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! I would still try to feed the dry food to FIffy. She ate that food when she had 16 bad teeth in her mouth and she will still be able to eat that food after they are removed. You may have to water the food down a little bit to make it soft but really dogs can eat hard food without any teeth. Good luck and kisses to FIffy!

If she is not on dietary restricitons you can try hiding the pill in some soft cheese or peanut butter. Sometimes canned dog food works. . Some dogs just won't eat medications on food. If that is the case you may have to actually put the pill in the back of her mouth and get her to swallow. Here's a website with good instructions. https://www.vetmed.wsu.edu/outreach/Pet-Health-Topics/categories/procedures/dogs/giving-oral-medications-to-your-dog

I usually recommend that the medicine be directly given in the dog's mouth instead of mixing in the food. Some dogs are very good at avoiding the medicine in their food and may spit it out. In these cases you may not know if he got the medicine or not. Coating the pill, or mixing liquid medication with something tasty is the best way to get them to eat it. Pills can be covered in butter, ghee, or peanut butter to help make them more tasty. Liquid medication can be mixed with liv52, or other supplements that taste good, but avoid giving more than is recommended on the bottle. Below is a link to a good demonstration of how to give a dog a pill. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3yHgItqGmo I hope that helps and all is well with Bruno.

I think your best option here is to mix it in with a canned food that will mask the smell. Either that or get it compounded into a flavored liquid that she likes. Here are two compounding pharmacies that are relatively easy to use with a shipping rate of less than a week. www.wedgewoodpharmacy.com www.roadrunner.com Best of luck with your pet Lulu and I hope that you can get her to take her meds soon! Take care.

By fighting Sadie to try to give the liquid meds, it will be very hard to give them now! Just by holding a syringe she may run away. If possible, I would talk to your vet about switching this particular medication to a pill form, since that is easy to give her, or use a different medication. Many liquid medications have a bitter taste, or use a flavor that is unpalatable to dogs. If this particular liquid medication is necessary, you may talk to your vet about compounding it into a different flavor. If you still want to try to give this medication, you can try to wrap Sadie snuggly in a blanket (think doggie burrito) and quickly give it in her mouth, or even place it in small amounts in her cheek.

Poor Gizzy and poor you! I don't know what food you have tried to hide the pill in, but I'm going to suggest some techniques that work for me. Peanut butter is always a good one, as it sticks to the roof of a dog's mouth as well as the pill, and dogs will swallow the pill while eating the peanut butter. You can try a super smelly, tasty food that your dog likes and hide the food in there. Hiding the pill in a cooked meatball may work. Just make sure the pill is completely coated and hiding by the food. Give a small amount of the taste food first before hiding the pill in some of it so Gizzy doesn't become suspicious. You can also try commercial pill hiding products, which you can get from the pet store. If these things don't work, I would see if there is a liquid form of the medication you can give her, or you can use a pill gun which you can buy online. https://www.amazon.com/Mikki-Pill-Gun/dp/B0002AL6U6

It depends what type of pain killers she is taking, as it is every 8 hours i assume it is an opioid which is fine to give even on an empty stomach. antibiotics can also be given on an empty stomach, although not ideal as this can cause nausea. try giving her some boiled chicken, treats or a canned food called a/d from Hills.