My dog struggles to take pills; her mouth won't open wide. What to do?

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

Medicating pets can be very frustrating - particularly since Mattie is so picky! I never recommend dissolving medications in water to give via a syringe because in most cases, the medication falls out of the mouth so there is no way of knowing how much was actually ingested. Personally, my favorite way to medicate animals is simply to push the pills down the back of the throat, provided that Mattie is agreeable and unlikely to bite you. As you mention, hiding pills in peanut butter is often successful, but if you choose to continue using this, make sure your peanut butter does not contain xylitol, as it is highly toxic to dogs. I don't know if they are available in the UK, but Greenies makes a product called pill pockets which are basically highly palatable, doughy, pliable treats in which you can hide medications for pets.

You can try either of these but Coco may be on to you now. Remember that Coco's nose is very sensitive and she may smell the medication. Not to mention it tastes bad if the capsule/pill is broken open. You may try pill pockets (give her a few normal ones at first and act excited). Give her a few small ones first, then give her one containing the pill, then have another waiting for her. Allow Coco to see that you still have treats. This may make her excited and want to eat faster so that she can get the next treat. I hope that makes sense. You can also manually give her the pill: https://www.petcoach.co/article/how-to-give-your-dog-a-pill/ If you cannot get her to take the medication, call your veterinarian to ask about alternatives. I hope this helps.

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.

It would probably be easiest just to pill Buddy directly so you don't have to deal with breaking down the pill or hiding it in food, especially so you ensure he gets the correct dosage (some pills such as capsules should never be broken apart anyway.). You can get a syringe and fill it with water, and then place the pill as far back in Buddy's throat as you can, then immediately squire the water into his mouth. This will help him to swallow and make the pill go down easier.

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

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.