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jjohn (22)

jjohn
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Journal of jjohn (22)

Friday October 24, 2003
06:08 PM

pet medicine

[ #15388 ]

Medicines suck.

Don't get me wrong: they're very useful when disease and injury occur. But medicine is too much of a bother for most people, I think. It's only with the threat of the Reaper's imminent arrival that people grudging follow the advice and council of trained medical professionals. I failed to understand why more thought hasn't gone into making medicines more attractive and, let's be candid, fun. I mean, there's no reason that medication has to make you miserable to work (baring chemo).

As unfun as medicines are for people, pets are doubled bothered by them. As pet owners (and amateur nurses), we have a difficult time making our unwilling patients understand the necessity of the treatment. Animals, it seems, are far more willing to suffer pain and discomfort than take a chance on foul-tasting pills (it was hard enough to convince me to swallow pills and I understood the instructions!) or strange, unnatural smelling liquids. Given that medicines aren't attractive one's pet, how far should one force the issue of delivering medication? Most of us are strong enough to overpower our animals, but that seems an especially cruel betrayal since the animal will in no way associate your assaults with his improved health. One can try pleading, but that will be utterly futile. That leaves deception. Unfortunately for me, I'm not crafty enough to make medicine not taste like medicine (I have a hard enough time making chicken not taste like medicine).

How do you administer to an unwilling pet?


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  • I've always had pills for my dog. I've always been able to bury the pills in a piece of cheese or a glob of peanut butter and she just gulps 'em down.

    I don't know how I would go about serving up foul smelling liquids. If it smells bad to me, I couldn't imagine how bad it would smell to my dog.

  • as I get the bottles of pills out in the morning, but he agrees to be deceived by a gob of goat cheese I hide the pills in. Py is a cat and thereby smarter than a dog in this regard....maybe hide the pill[s] in a bit of fish like gravlax or something? I've seen cats at the vet who either stick to the ceiling when attempted to be 'pilled' or who meowl in the cage only to go *ptooi* when the assistant isn't looking after he'd put up a good nasty fight of being pilled. Ask Torgo as he may have some hints since
    • It's true that I can't shove pills down his gullet. I've tried, but stopped short of ramming it down his throat. This time, I have liquid antibotics. He's not interested in that either. I think I can dope his food with it though. That may work, although he's a fat and crafty bastard.
      • With my dogs, I can use force if necessary, though dogs are dumb and you can just drop it in their food most of the time.

        For cats, well, you're just unlucky if they won't take it wrapped in cheese or something. Fester loves the bubble-gum-flavored amoxicillin liquid; she takes it right from the eyedropper. We do our best to avoid pills and go for liquids, that, if it comes down to it, are easier to force down their throats.
  • one of our cats has had a urinary infection for some time and has run through a number of antibiotics. The liquid ones (or more specifically, the powder in a liquid suspension) that smell like bubblegum or Tang(tm) are tolerable. She squirms but with a good dropper you can get the whole 1 mg in there at once by jamming it in the corner of her mouth and squeezing when she eventually opens. (Some poorly designed droppers only dribble out a little bit at a time, bastards.)

    Pills are a different story. She sim

  • What more fun could be had than the joy of the Zoloft Blob [bestweb.net]?
    --

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    You are what you think.
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