How to Get Your Dog to Swallow Medicine

 Here is a helpful guide on how to get your dog to swallow medicine that are liquids and tablet.
Liquids. Whenever liquids are to be given, you should always re - member that if certain of them enter the lungs they can be very dangerous. The first question you should ask yourself is, "What would happen if the dog inhaled some?"
Pure water solutions of quickly soluble drugs are least dangerous .Hydrogen peroxide turns to water and oxygen when it decomposes in the fizzing effect known to everyone. On the other hand, milk, which is sometimes used as a base or vehicle for drugs, contains solids. Fat is one of them, and fat in the lungs is especially dangerous. If the drug used is harmless if it gets into the lungs - that is, if it is a water solution - it is fairly safe to fill the dog's mouth and throat and force swallowing. If sonic of the medicine trickles down the windpipe, the only unfortunate thing that can happen is a blast of the medicine in your face or on your coat sleeve when the patient coughs. But when a solution dangerous to the lungs is to be administered, it's best to give a little at a time.In either event there are two practical ways of giving a liquid medicine: the lip - pocket method and by stomach tube. Let's see how and when each of these is used.
THE LIP - POCKET METHOD: Although an experienced person can accomplish this alone, you will probably find that two people are necessary for satisfactory results. Place the dog on a table broadside to you. Make it sit. Tilt its head back so that it is looking at the ceiling.With your right hand hold the chin in this position. Slide the fingers of your left hand under its lip, push back, and catch hold of the angle where the lower and upper lips join. Pull this out and upward. Now you have a cup or pocket which will hold a considerable amount. While you hold the patient thus, your assistant pours the medicine or liquid food in. As it runs between the teeth and onto the back of the tongue, the dog will swallow it. When this is gone, pour more in until the whole dose is given. A word of caution: the assistant should stand out of the line of fire, for if the dog coughs, he or she is liable to be thoroughly sprayed.
If an especially resistant pup is being dosed, the assistant has another duty. With one hand he or she holds both front paws firmly so that the dog can't pull them loose and with the other hand pours the medicine into the lip pocket.
THE STOMACH - TUBE METHOD: What seems a great task is in reality simple and safe method if two people cooperate to dose an dog. Apiece of rubber tubing, one eighth inch inside diameter and twelve to eighteen inches long, depending upon the size of the dog, is large enough for a dog. You can get both the tube and a bulb syringe either glass or rubber will do at your pharmacy. The syringe should be filled with the medicine and left within reacts. When you are ready to insert the tube, hold the dog as described above with the head straight up.As the tube is pushed over the back of the tongue into the throat, the patient will gulp and swallow it down. If it has been moistened, it will slide down the esophagus with reasonable ease.
There is one danger to guard against. You most be extremely careful not to get the tube into the windpipe, for if fluids are administered down the tube into the lungs by mistake, the results may be tragic. By holding the upper end of the tube close to your ear, you can tell whether the other end is in the windpipe by the sound of air rushing inland out of the tube with each respiration. If the tube has entered the esophagus properly, you will not hear any sound at all. Feeling the throat is another method of being sure where the tube is. The windpipes in front and closest to the skin, and in dog that are not too fat you should have no difficulty in feeling the tube in the esophagus behind it.
When you are certain that the tube is where it should be, have your assistant who needs both hands for the job connect the syringe to the tube and administer the medicine or liquid food down the tube. In mature dog the stomach tube may be left in for several minutes without causing discomfort; the dog goes right on breathing normally.
This stomach - tube method is particularly useful in feeding tiny pup - pies that are too cold or too weak to nurse. Many pets are saved by using this premature human infant stomachs tube. It is a quick way of feeding an done that is most useful in supplementing an inadequate maternal milk supply. To be sure, you most always be certain that the tube is in the esophagus, but that is not hard to determine once you have done it few times. When you consider that we have reared hundreds of litters of puppies experimentally in this fashion, it is easy to see that one person who passes a tube on a litter of eight, 5 times a day, or a total of28o times a week, must not experience too much difficulty.It is very unsuccessful to squirt a drug into your dog's mouth, snap it shut, and expect the dog to swallow it. Most of the solutions runs out. The dog shakes its head and the administration is a failure. You can sometimes overcome your pet's dislike for some drugs by disguising them in sweet syrups thinned down. Glucose (dextrose) is often administered to advantage to sick dog, but if given in the form of corn syrup or honey it is difficult to pour. It must be thinned. If any sweet substance is given carefully and without a struggle, the subsequent dosages will be simpler and dogs in particular can often be trained to open their mouths and take it without a fuss. We have seen many that soon were willing to lick the syrup from a spoon.
Pills and Capsules. It doesn't require sleight of hand to get a pill or capsule down the throat of a dog, evens when the pet resists. It's all in knowing how. Opening the dog's mouth, dropping in the medicine,closing its mouths, and rubbing the throat may work now and again, butt's not a sure enough method to rely on.
With the left hand (if you're right - handed) grasp the top of the dog's muzzle and pull its head upward. Squeeze the thumb on one side and the fingers on the other, thereby pushing the lips over the teeth and partly opening the mouth. The dog won't close its mouth because to do so it will have to bite its lips. With your right hand pickup the pill or capsule between the thumb and first or second finger and with the little finger pull down the lower jaw. Hold it open with the side of the little finger and drop the pill as far back on the tongue as possible. With your forefinger, or with the forefinger and second finger,push the pill gently but quickly as far back into the throat as you can.Then withdraw your hand quickly, let the mouth close and hold it together until the dog sticks out its tongue in the act of swallowing .Several pills and capsules may be poked down in this way at one time.Some capsules contain bitter or irritating drugs. If a dog bites them they may cause fright, suffocation, and a taste so obnoxious that the dog will try for many minutes to cough or scratch it out. If you are giving your pet medicine of this sort, you will want to be certain that no capsules are dropped between the teeth or insufficiently pushed down the throat.
Short - nosed breeds, such as Boston Terriers, Boxers, English Bull - dogs, and Bull mastiffs, have such fat tongues and restricted throats that laymen frequently have difficulty in properly medicating them. When wet, the pills or capsules become slippery and slide around sideways over the back of the broad tongue. It is wise never to try to give wet pills, especially wet capsules. If you are unsuccessful in the first attempt to give the medicine, take the capsule out and dry it. It will often stick to your finger just enough to enable you to pilot it into the back of the throat properly. Sometimes two fingers can keep it from sliding side - ways, and on large dogs evens three fingers may work well.
There are other effective methods you may prefer in the administration of pills, tablets, and capsules. Some may appeal to you. You may have noticed how when offered a tidbit of food dogs smell it, pick it up gingerly, chew, and swallow it. If it is to their liking, most gulp the second and subsequent morsels. With this in mind, prepare three units of, say, peanut butter, cheese, or liverwurst on crackers. Place the capsule or tablet under the chosen goodie on the second cracker. Give the dog cracker number one, which will be checked out thoroughly, then give the second cracker with the medication and immediately show the third tidbit. The dog will often gulp the second to get the third.
The advantage of using crackers with goodies lies in the fact that while crunching a cracker the dog is not apt to notice the pill if it scrunched at the same time.
The next method concerns candy and this brings to mind the fact that many pet owners tell us their dogs have never tasted candy. Al - though many people eat candy themselves they believe it is somehow unhealthy for dogs. You can feed Kao percent corn syrup to puppies irons weaning until they were two years old to try to produce cavities. We produced no cavities and that litter of six were as healthy as any pup - pies could be. Sweets in moderation cannot harm a dog.

Hiding a pill or capsule or tablet in a soft - centered chocolate candy is a simple and good way to administer it. Once again, use three candies;the second one offered should have the medication. There is another method using candy wherein the dog must be "pre - fooled" before it starts taking the medication. As a treat, toss the dog broken pieces of Life Savers every now and then. When the time comes that the dog needs medication, toss the pill or tablet along with a few pieces of LifeSavers on the floor. Most dogs will pick up the pill or tablet along with the sweets.
One of our favorite methods of administering solid medications is in marshmallows. Leave a few exposed to the air for a few hours until they become tough on the outside, then insert the medications in one of three. Once again, give one without the medication first. Gumdrops,raw hamburger, meatballs, and soft cheese are other ways favored by pet owners.

Liquid medicine when not given by the lip - pouch method presents perhaps a greater challenge. It may work to combine it with honey or corn or maple syrup and pour the mixture on a piece of bread, handsome find an ice - cream sundae with the liquid medicine as the topping - poured over it as a sauce works, too.
With a little knowledge of your pet's likes and dislikes and a little ingenuity you should be able to outwit it. You still have the more forceful methods previously described.