puppy needs medicine

[corgipower]

Maybe melt some cheese or butter and mix it into that?

[antipunt1]

Originally Posted by youhavenoidea

Immobilize her by kneeling over her, right against a wall, so she can't "back out" of it. You're not sitting on her, just eliminating her escape route. Tilt her head up towards you, restraining her from under her chin. It doesn't take much from this angle, so it's not bad, as far as the "forcing" goes. Stick the syringe in the side of her mouth, while holding her snout shut (so she can't flail and spit it everwhere) then blow in her nose gently before releasing her. It will force her to instinctively swallow.

Thx for the tip, but I'll probably have to avoid this one. It's because it sounds quite difficult to pull off, I might not be pro enough.

Also, the advice the vet's helpers told me was quite similar. Wanta is surprisingly strong for a little dog, and you'd be surprised how hard it is to do what you just said in practice, while it seemingly seems so easy in our heads

[antipunt1]

Originally Posted by corgipower

Maybe melt some cheese or butter and mix it into that?

perhaps. I'm actually -horrible- with feeding dogs anything besides dog food/treats. I think it's because I'm afraid I'll feed her something poisonous akin to chocolate

[youhavenoidea]

Originally Posted by antipunt1

Thx for the tip, but I'll probably have to avoid this one. It's because it sounds quite difficult to pull off, I might not be pro enough.

Also, the advice the vet's helpers told me was quite similar. Wanta is surprisingly strong for a little dog, and you'd be surprised how hard it is to do what you just said in practice, while it seemingly seems so easy in our heads

It's not so bad. I've had to do it to my 60lb wiggle-butt.

[youhavenoidea]

Originally Posted by youhavenoidea

It's not so bad. I've had to do it to my 60lb wiggle-butt.

Mind you, I think anyone who's ever had to de-worm half-wild horses of ridiculousness out in the middle of a field, would agree that dosing a dog is a cakewalk by comparison. LOL

[lizzybeth727]

I agree, mixing meds with food should not be a last resort, it should be the first option. I don't understand why you are reluctant to do this method, it completely removes all aversives out of the picture. 1cc is not much liquid, either, it should be simple to mix in a few tablespoons of something. I'd probably use chicken broth and kibble.... let the kibble soak up some of the chicken broth/meds mixture, and then give it to her for her dinner/breakfast. Simple.

If you feel like you need to try force-feeding her again, TAKE THE E-COLLAR OFF first. They're great to keep dogs from messing with sutures, but dogs are usually extremely stressed out wearing them, at least until they're used to them. Plus she has no peripheral vision while she's wearing it, so she will be extremely wary of people behind her that she can't see. AND it will give you a better hold on her head if she's not wearing it.

In fact, when I have a dog that will mess with sutures and needs to wear an e-collar, I'll keep the collar off the dog as long as I'm supervising him and distracting him whenever he starts focusing on the sutures. I only put the e-collar on if I can't distract him or supervise him. No reason to stress the dogs out more than is necessary.

[antipunt1]

Originally Posted by lizzybeth727

I agree, mixing meds with food should not be a last resort, it should be the first option. I don't understand why you are reluctant to do this method, it completely removes all aversives out of the picture.

Thx everyone. I think I'm definitely going with the food mixing. I do like how it removes almost all adversities out of the picture (the forcing is just not fun/intuitive to me)

Btw Lizzy, the reason why I was reluctant is simply due to dilution problems. I assumed (wrongly apparently) that diluting the medicine into food would render it ineffective. For example, "taking the medicine alone would result in it being more powerful". Given your response, however, I suppose my assumption was false.

[lizzybeth727]

Originally Posted by antipunt1

Btw Lizzy, the reason why I was reluctant is simply due to dilution problems. I assumed (wrongly apparently) that diluting the medicine into food would render it ineffective. For example, "taking the medicine alone would result in it being more powerful". Given your response, however, I suppose my assumption was false.

Um, right.

Unless your vet told you specifically that the meds need to be ingested on an empty stomach, you can assume that they can be taken with food. In fact, most antibiotics and pain killers (don't know what meds you're giving but it must be one of the two) should be given with food because otherwise they can cause stomach upset. Other meds work faster when taken with food because they actually digest better; the food adds bulk that makes your digestive system work harder and you'll fully digest the meds.

[antipunt1]

Originally Posted by lizzybeth727

Um, right.

Lizzy, this is the internet so I'm asking to make sure.
I'm detecting a passive aggressive tone from you. Did I do something to upset you?...Please be honest with me, for our 'old-times' sake.......

(and what I mean by this is that I can totally handle criticism from people I don't necessarily trust. But from people I see as 'allies', a 'backstab', I do not swallow nearly as well)

[lizzybeth727]

No, I'm not upset at all.

I was just a little confused as to where you'd get the idea that meds would be stronger if they were not diluted by food. I've never heard that before so I was kind of taken aback. And my suggestion of mixing it with food was the same suggestion CP gave you 11 posts before. Sorry if I offended you, that was not my intent.

Oh, and I meant to say before: For the record, I give liquid meds to dogs very often, and I will testify to the fact that it is much harder to squirt liquids into a small dog's mouth than a large dog's! I don't think it has to do with the strength of the dog so much as the fact that larger dogs can't move as fast, there's more body to hang on to, and their mouthes are larger which makes it easier to get the syringe in there. So don't feel bad that you are having a hard time with this!