Medicine Saves the Day
You bring your ailing dog or cat to the veterinary clinic where your veterinarian performs a thorough exam. She pinpoints the cause and provides a treatment plan for a full recovery. You experience a sense of relief until your veterinarian hands you a bottle of medicine. She instructs you on the need to give your pet this medicine for a specified number of times a day at a specified dose.
Your pet’s complete recovery depends on providing this vital medicine. Medication is prescribed for a certain amount of time. If treatment is shortened, the problem may not be resolved, or you may put your pet at risk for other health conditions.
So, how can we make medicine-giving time a win-win for you and your pet?
For starters, set yourself up for success by selecting your bathroom to be medicine-giving central. It is small and usually has uncarpeted floors to help you hear if a pill hits the floor instead of being swallowed. Avoid selecting open areas in your home, use as your living room or kitchen, to dole out medicine. Your pet may flee the scene or spit out the pill that another pet in your house views as a potential treat and swallows it quickly. Uh-oh!
Equally important to successful medicine giving is putting yourself in the right frame of mind. Be patient but purposeful as your dog or cat can read – and respond – to your emotional state. Speak calmly. Avoid baby talking or apologizing.
Yum-Yuck-Yum
In the pet first aid/CPR classes I teach, we tap into a medicine-giving technique I call yum-yuck-yum. The goal is to give your four-legger something small and delicious once you are inside the closed bathroom. There’s the yum. Followed by giving the pill or the liquid medicine. That’s the yuck. And finish with a delicious treat for the yum.
So, when it comes to giving liquid medicine, try this strategy. Get three syringes. Add something delicious liquid your pet likes, such as tuna water or salt-free bone broth to two of the syringes. Measure out the medicine in the remaining syringe. Have them ready on the bathroom counter before you bring your pet into the bathroom.
I learned this liquid-giving strategy from a mentor, Dr. Rodney Little, DVM, who operates a small animal veterinary clinic in Allen, Texas. Liquids should be given in the side of the mouth – never insert the syringe into the front of the mouth as it is easy for a pet to spit out the medicine.
Instead, position yourself to the side of your pet. Flip the upper lip. Locate the large canine tooth, the two small teeth and then you will find a gap in the upper gum where you can easily insert the syringe. Dr. Little has a way to help us remember this positioning: “Big tooth. Little tooth. Little tooth. Pocket.”
Once you squirt in the medicine, close his mouth and watch for your pet to swallow.
Now, if your pet accepts liquid medicine easily and is a good eater, you can also try squirting the measured medicine into the food bowl, ideally stirred into a bone broth or wet food. Supervise the mealtimes to make sure your pet has finished everything in the bowl.
Next challenge: giving pills.
Some cats are difficult to pill because they don’t like being restrained or having their mouth opened, or the pill does not taste good to them. Also, cats have shorter faces than dogs, so you can’t control them by holding their muzzles.
Consult your veterinarian to see if you can split the pill for easier swallowing, use a pill gun or crush the pill without impacting the efficacy of the medicine. A fast-growing pill method among people with cats is to crush the pill. Then squirt a two or three inch strip of a liquidable treat (popular brands include Churu and Delectables). Sprinkle the crushed pill pieces on the delicious strip and supervise your cat licking up everything without a fuss.
You may also designate a thick bath towel that contains your cat’s scent – like hair. Try wrapping your cat in this towel during medicine time. Some cats like being swaddled and detecting their own scent to make the towel act like a security blanket.
With dogs, you can also opt for the pill version of yum-yuck-yum. In the bathroom, give your dog a small, tasty treat. That’s the yum. Now for the yuck. Pop the pill down his throat passed his tongue. Gently hold his muzzle together, blow on the nose and stroke the throat to trigger a swallow. Then quickly end with a second tasty treat. That’s the final yum.
Parting Advice
You want to condition your cat or dog who may be dealing with a chronic condition that medicine time is no big deal. It can become part of the daily routine. Again, be calm when delivering the medicine. When the medicine is swallowed, open the bathroom door. Let your pet walk or run out without saying a word. Pause for five seconds or so and then calmly walk out of the bathroom. Don’t say a word. Your actions can condition your pet that medicine time isn’t so bad. And, that these bathroom one-on-ones with you always deliver two treats every time.
Learn more
You can learn more on ways to keep your cats and dogs safe by visiting http://www.propethero.com. Consider taking our veterinarian-approved online pet first aid/CPR course. Enter this code: CPR – ARDEN MOORE and receive a 10 percent discount! And, if you are interested in becoming a Pro Pet Hero instructor, please click on the BECOME AN INSTRUCTOR button on the home page for more details.