Day 3 – The Battle of the Pills

February 12, 2011

Just when I thought the only problem was the side effects of the fentynal patch, the battle of the pills began.  I think that Xanadu must have bit into a nasty antibiotic, because he went from happily eating his cream cheese balls with the magic filling to turning his nose up at them. 

This wouldn’t have worried me so much if I hadn’t removed the fentynal patch a day early. I decided to remove it because it was making Xan incredibly anxious and he was whining incessantly. So much that he couldn’t sleep and if he wasn’t sleeping, his nurse wasn’t sleeping.  I posted the question to my favorite Bone Cancer Dogs Yahoo Group  and learned of other dogs having a similar reaction.  Since he had been willingly taking his tramadol and gabapentin, I wasn’t worried about losing the this medication.

But then Xan caught on to my tricks.  So at 12:00 AM, I was cooking hamburger meat. No dice.  At 12:30, I made melted cheese balls. Yeah right. At 2:00 AM, I was scrambling eggs. Nope.  So I resorted to the old fashioned method of forcing pills.  I hate doing that. I’ve decided that dogs are the worst patients. They totally don’t “get” why you are making them eat pills and they are just big enough that forcing them really isn’t a good option (they do have teeth after all). At what point will a perfectly docile dog that is miserable bite its human mom? I hope I never find out.

Needless to say, removing the fentynal patch helped Xan (and me) have our first 4 hour stretch of sleep since he came home on 2/10.  I feel so energized this morning!  Although it is only 50 degrees out, Xan and I are already in the backyard, hanging out, listening to the birds and watching the squirrels play.

I’m going to buy pill pockets today (they worked in the past and it has been a few weeks since he last had them) and some other meat mixtures to try. But if anyone has a good pill trick up their sleeve, please share!

6 thoughts on “Day 3 – The Battle of the Pills”

  1. We had the same problem with our boy Max, when he had to take the numerous antibiotics that come with an amputation. We posted the same question here more than two years ago, and were given the suggestion of Braunschweiger (spelling may be incorrect). It’s sold in regular grocery stores. It’s some type of horrible meat concoction (liverwurst I think), it comes in patties, and Max loved it. Buy some of that and see if hiding the pill works again for Xanadu.

  2. Bread with peanut butter (organic ) get white bread dab a small amount of pb on pill, place in bread and roll into a ball and have them catch it. Works everytime.
    Or mix it in a food he loves that he only gets or never gets.
    Prayers and love going your way.

    B-J, Missy, rufus & harper

  3. We have always found the easiest way to give pills is to hold the dog’s mouth open and place them down the back of their throat. Jerry never minded, and Wyatt who is a biter, even tolerates it. Review these forum topics about giving dogs pills for more tips and advice from others. You may find the two started by jerry and yodasmom especially helpful. Good luck!

  4. Today is day 3 for us, too. I buy the dog food that comes in a plastic tube and use that for pills. There are many brands but all are either natural or organic. This particular one came frozen from Whole Foods. The consistency is just right for smooshing around a wad of pills. I think it may be easier for the dog if you only hide one pill at a time and make this part of his daily food amount. I’d been hiding all of them but my dog, Dakota, manages to uncover them if I try to hide too many.

    I’ve used pill pockets in the past but I think they’re pricey, especially compared to the dog food tubes. It lasts a long time and I don’t get ticked off if it takes more than I figured–something that happens a lot with pill pockets.

  5. Love hearing new ideas! I will try these – thanks for sharing. Shari – I’ve tried one of those tubes, but it was too dry and crumbly once refrigerated. I’ll check Whole Foods for the frozen kind.

    Th best consistency I have found for pill stuffing are unfortunately, the Greenies pill pockets. But they are definitely pricey.

    Another tip I received via Facebook is to bake sweet potatoes and hide pills there. I like this healthy alternative and will give it a shot!

  6. I think the faster, the better. For me, having them quickly but gently stuck down the back of my throat was a lot easier and faster than me trying to dig them out of tasty foods. Good luck!

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