My dog won't take pills. Can I crush them or what's the best way?

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.

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

It will not, however it will make the food taste terrible and make it much more likely that your dog will not eat the food and you will have wasted a pill. I would suggest getting a product called Pill Pockets. They are great and you can wrap the pill them and your dog will eat them right up! Cream cheese also works wonders! :)

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.

Buffered aspirin is often enteric coated, meaning it has a special coating that helps prevent damage to the stomach lining. For this reason I think it would be best to give the tablet whole. You can try wrapping the tablet in something like a Pill Pocket, or use a small piece of deli meat or cheese if Junebug doesn't have any dietary restrictions. You may also need to open his mouth, put the pill back as far as you can, then hold his mouth shut until he swallows. Talk to your vet about other options if you're still struggling to give the medication.

Hi there and thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! Vetmedin, most of the time, is taken well by most pets. However, if you are finding it difficult to administer in it's tablet form, you can crush the tablet and give with food. The only downside to this method is that your pet may not eat all of the food and there is no guarantee your pet is getting the full dose. You can try pill pockets, peanut butter or liver wurst to see if you can get your pet to take the Vetmedin in it's tablet form as well. I hope this helps!

Unfortunately, if you cannot get medications in to her then you need to ask your vet if there is an injectable, transdermal or melt-away equivalent. Many drugs these days can be compounded into these formulations. Talk to your vet about this- RoadRunner and Wedgewood Pharmacies are the best at making alternative medication dosing systems.