Article From SubmitYOURArticle.com: Dog Medication - Getting Your Dog to Take Her Pills

Medications are an inevitable part of the life of
most dogs. Even a healthy dog, as he grows into
his later years, may require medications for
arthritis or some other condition linked to old
age. When a veterinarian gives you a bottle of
pills for your beloved pet, there's always that
thought in the back of the mind wondering how
you're ever going to get Fido to take his
medicine.

How you do it largely depend on the type of
medication that your dog needs.

Pills and Capsules

Pills and capsules can be some of the hardest
forms of medication to get your dog to swallow.
Many veterinary pharmaceutical companies will
flavor their canine medicine like meat, liver,
and the like, but these flavors are often far
from true and many dogs will be able to tell the
difference. The idea is that a beef flavored
pill will be something that your dog wants to
eat, but this is rarely the case.

Many dog owners attempt to hide or disguise the
pills in a dog's food, perhaps covering the pill
with peanut butter and putting it in the bowl
with the other food. This has often yielded
results, but some dogs will still find the pill
and spit it out.

Another option involves wrapping the pill up in a
little ball of ground beef. By taking a small
quantity of ground beef, squashing it flat,
placing the pill in the middle and rolling the
meat back over it, you create a delicious
smelling and tasting little ball that your dog
will not even need to taste. Occasionally a dog
will still recognize the pill inside. In this
case, the only option may be to hold your dogs
mouth shut with a hand on top and on bottom of
his muzzle. This will force him to swallow.

Liquid medicine

Medicines that must be given in an oral form can
be just as difficult as pills. Most of the time,
a dog owner must measure the amount of medication
needed before using a syringe to squirt it into
the dog's mouth. This type of medicine can often
be mixed with food, but again, a dog may
recognize that their food has medicine in it.
Unlike a pill however, a liquid medicine cannot
be spat out effectively.

Injections

Most medicines that require an injection fall
within the realm of your veterinarian's job. For
some of these medications, it might be necessary
for you to bring him into the clinic to
administer the injections. Some common
injections can be administered yourself. These
are usually known as subcutaneous injections, and
are administered by lifting up the scruff of your
dog's neck and injecting the medicine just under
the skin.

Sprays

Sprays are perhaps the easiest medicines to give
to your dog. It's easy enough to simply pull out
the bottle and spray the medicine on the affected
area. Most sprays tend to act very fast and get
absorbed into the skin fairly quickly, however,
knowing dogs, you still need to prevent him from
licking the spray off. To prevent your dog from
licking the medication, you might need to put a
plastic cone around her his neck for some time.

Ear Drops

As a general rule, dogs hate ear drops. As a
matter of fact, even humans hate that too. Who
enjoys having a cold liquid slide down their ear
canal? Dogs are intelligent animals and will try
to get out of your grasp once they know what you
are trying to do. You can either straddle your
dog from behind or get a family member to hold
him down. Your dog will try to shake the drops
out if you let him go right away, so hold him a
moment longer and massage the ears a little bit.

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she is not able to control her bladder overnight
before she reaches four months old. To learn more
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visit us at: http://www.caninetouch.com/
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