PILLS – HOW TO GIVE PILLS AND MEDICINE

 

This should be a very easy process but very often dog owners battle quite unnecessarily and make the process a very difficult one. It really is a matter of training both of the dog and yourself. 

 

There is a special technique that does not require much skill on your part, but obviously the more you practice the more adept you will become.

 

If it is a capsule or a pill that has to be administered, hold it between your thumb and index finger.  Pry the jaw open with other fingers. Push the pill down the throat as far back as it can go. Encourage the dog to swallow by massaging  the throat.

 

Another useful way to make sure that the dog swallow  when the pill or capsule is in his mouth is to place you hands over his nostrils.

 

It’s also easy to give a dog liquid medication.  Make a little pouch in the dog’s mouth by pulling out the lower lip.  Even if the dog’s mouth is tightly closed, this pouch that you  have formed acts like a funnel and you can  pout  the liquid medicine in this pouch  very easily.  The dog has no alternative but to swallow.

 

Here again you can encourage swallowing by rubbing the throat, but in most instances this will not be necessary.