Being a pet owner comes with a lot of responsibilities such as caring for, training, exercising, feeding and socializing your pet. As a pet owner, it is also your responsibility to make sure your pet is healthy by making those visits to the veterinarian. You may have to spay and/or neuter your pets, and even administer whatever medicine they may need.

As humans, we make a conscience effort to ignore how foul-tasting medicine can be and choose to consume it knowing that it can help us get better if we’re sick. Animals on the other hand, are unable to understand that eating that disgusting pill will help relieve them of symptoms that make them miserable.  

While bombarding you with pictures of cute pets, I’d like to address the importance of prescription medicine for your pets and also how you can best administer pet medication.

Why Prescription Medications?

Your pet may need prescription pet medications for a variety of reasons, some of which humans are also affected by:

• Fleas. If your pet has fleas or ticks, they are going to be miserable from scratching themselves nonstop. You can help alleviate the situation by asking your veterinarian to make out a prescription for medication that can treat not just fleas and ticks but also chewing lice, mites, and mosquitoes. Keeping your pet free of those things also keeps you and your house clean.

• Heartworm Disease. Spread from the bite of mosquitoes, heartworms are parasites that affect your pet’s lungs, heart, and other organs. Without treatment, it often results in death for dogs, cats, and ferrets. If you recently adopted or are about to adopt, make sure you get your pet checked out and apply treatment if needed.

• Issues with Stomach and Digestion. Like humans, your pets can also suffer from pancreatitis, reflux disease, stomach ulcers, stomach inflammation, and other gastrointestinal disorders. Be sure to visit your veterinarian and have your pet diagnosed so they can prescribe the correct medication.

• Itchy Skin and Pet Allergies. Nobody, including your pet, likes seasonal allergies, food allergies, and skin allergies. Constant scratching can lead to sores and bald spots. Other symptoms include skin rashes and inflammation or sneezing and watery eyes. You can find prescription medicine that come in capsules, tablets, or liquids, depending on what is easiest for your pet to consume.

• Ear and Eye Infections. Often as a by-product of allergies, ear and eye infections also affect your pets. There are prescription antibiotics and antifungal veterinary medicines available to treat these infections.

• Hip and Joint Pain and Inflammation. As your pet gets older, they could develop arthritis. Know that there are anti-inflammatory medications available that can help relieve hip and joint pain for your pet.

If your pet shows any of these symptoms, be sure to find your local veterinary compound pharmacy.

Tips on Administering Pet Medications

When provided with medications for your pet, ask your veterinarian for the directions on administering the medicine. Most vets have a preferred method, so always ask for an alternative if that method doesn’t work with your pet. Of all the methods listed below, they all require you to help create a positive and safe environment for your pet because the last thing you would want is for your pet to have an unpleasant experience, making it harder for you to administer medication in the future.

Pills

• Hide the pill in food. This method works best with wet food instead of kibble. You can add raw meat into the mix if it helps. Cream cheese and peanut butter are also popular alternatives to consider. The goal is to have your pet consume its meal as soon as possible, without detecting the pill. Make sure that your pet consumes the entire serving and that it does not throw it back up. If your pet starts to eat around the pill, take away the food for a few seconds before giving it back. Repeat this process until your dog realizes it needs to eat that up quickly. Note: this method only works if your dog isn’t aggressive with food.

• Place the pill on the back of your pet’s tongue. If the food method doesn’t work, you can administer the medication by hand. Below is a sure method that will get your pet to swallow its medicine:

• Hold your pet between your legs, facing away from you
• Open your pet’s mouth using your index finger on your non-dominant hand
• Place the pill on the back of the pet’s tongue with your dominant hand
• Tilt your pet’s head up and gently stroke its throat in order to trigger the swallowing reflex
• “Chase” the medication with a treat!

• Alternate the pill with treats. You can also create a pleasant experience by sandwiching the pill with treats. With three pieces of your pet’s preferred treats, take one and roll the pill into it. First, give your dog the treat without a pill. Second, give him the treat with the pill, making sure the last empty treat is near its nose. This way they know another treat is coming and you can help hide the unpleasantness in between.

• Toss the pill in the air. Make it game for your pet, especially if your pet enjoys playing around! Just as you would toss balls and treats for your pet to catch, toss the pill into the air. Your pet won’t think twice about swallowing it since it’ll be too busy having fun.

Liquid Medication

• Mix with food. Just as you would hide the pill in food, you can also mix liquid medication into food and hand-feed your pet to make sure the entire dose is consumed.

• Oral syringe. Using the same method found above for placing pills on the back of the tongue, insert the syringe inside teeth and slowly press the plunger while rubbing your pet’s throat to make sure your pet doesn’t choke or aspirate.