Pill pockets

[Krislady]

Have you ever BOUGHT those suckers? MAN are they expensive!

I got a sample a while back from the Greenies people, and while Jar sure didn't mind taking pills, given the fact that he takes pills like old people, I'd go broke trying to keep him in those things!

Jar is very good about taking his pills, but every now and then I think he decides to rebel - usually when he's got extras. I'll find a sticky capsule on the floor under the table, or there will be an antacid or,a benedryl or two in the bottom of his dish.

So. . . I started wrapping his pills - each of them - in a little bit of American cheese. Which is fine, except that I don't know what happened, but I think they've changed the formula or something. The cheese doesn't seem to want to stick to itself, and his big pills just sort of fall out.

Then my husband had the most clever idea - I made a pie with a whole-wheat parmesan crust, and he suggested using the scraps of pie dough for pill pockets!

The Jar LOVES it!

Yes, I know it's primarily butter and cheese, with a little wheat flour and salt, but it can't be any worse for him than processed cheese, can it?

[Saralaya]

Whatever will let him scarf those pills down without chewing on them (unless they're chewable...) should work. Not only are the Pill Pockets crazy expensive they really don't always work. If your cheese won't cooperate (are you getting the "cheese food product" stuff that's sorta plastic like?) your idea sounds fine- you would also use a small piece of hotdog with a slit in it for the pill.... or other small piece of meat... K9 will be along soon I'm sure... I only have real experience with pilling cats (step 1- make sure your first aid kit is well stocked... ) She will have much more practical ideas.

[K9 Owned]

I'm of the side of whatever works. I am currently blessed with 2 chow hounds who inhale their food pills and all.

In the past I have used the hotdog as Saralaya suggested as well as plastic cheese. Sorry but that is what we call American chese Liverwurst works like a charm too! The pastry should do the trick and for the small amount involved I wouldn't worry about the ingredients for a second.

[Saralaya]

K9 Owned wrote:
I'm of the side of whatever works. I am currently blessed with 2 chow hounds who inhale their food pills and all.

In the past I have used the hotdog as Saralaya suggested as well as plastic cheese. Sorry but that is what we call American chese Liverwurst works like a charm too! The pastry should do the trick and for the small amount involved I wouldn't worry about the ingredients for a second.

Oh yeah... liverwurst...sure.....!

(and just to make a small point.....there's American Cheese and <gag> "pasturized prepared cheese food product"..... I wonder why they wrap it in plastic when it IS plastic.....)

Cheese:



NOT cheese:

[K9 Owned]

Saralaya, I have tried many times to find American cheese in the deli's or grocery stores here. The plastic wrapped plastic is all that seems to be available so that is what I think of when I say 'American Cheese'. I know that a great many wonderful cheeses are made in the US. That particular one must be called something else here. Could you ask your DH? I'm really curious as I imagine it to be like Colby.

[K9 Owned]

And to clarify - the pasturised, faux cheese product is much more pliable. It is useful and cheaper than pill pockets.

[Krislady]

Yeah, I've been using the Kraft slices - though I've found that the store brand actually molds to the pill better than the name-brand. (The stuff makes me gag.) It's handy, though, if we're at my parents' house at dinner time, and I can just ask for 1/2 a slice of cheese to pill him.

It's only when he's got extra pills that he really gets difficult - in the mornings he's just got his MSM powder, the HUGE glucosamine tablet, and the big Prozac. In the summer, if he's sneezy or snotty, he gets 3 benedryls, and if he's fallen down or going swimming, he also gets 3 aspirin.

In the evenings, he gets the MSM, glucosamine, the small prozac, the meloxicam and 2 antacids. Plus bendryl and aspirin as necessary.

K9 - here, Land-o-lakes makes an American cheese that's sold in the deli case - it's much better than the plastic stuff.

ETA: K-9 - you could always try making your own! I did it a while back, and it was quite good - more like Velveeta, though, than the slices. But still good.

[Connie Lea]

Kris have you tried smearing a little peanut butter on the pills? I usually use that, but this last time when Kate was taking antibiotics, she got tired of the peanut butter, so I wrapped a little velveeta cheese around the pills. Worked good and the cheese is pretty moldable. Doesn't take too much but of course the others have to have a little cheese too (minus the pill).

[K9 Owned]

Krislady wrote:
Yeah, I've been using the Kraft slices - though I've found that the store brand actually molds to the pill better than the name-brand. (The stuff makes me gag.) It's handy, though, if we're at my parents' house at dinner time, and I can just ask for 1/2 a slice of cheese to pill him.

It's only when he's got extra pills that he really gets difficult - in the mornings he's just got his MSM powder, the HUGE glucosamine tablet, and the big Prozac. In the summer, if he's sneezy or snotty, he gets 3 benedryls, and if he's fallen down or going swimming, he also gets 3 aspirin.

In the evenings, he gets the MSM, glucosamine, the small prozac, the meloxicam and 2 antacids. Plus bendryl and aspirin as necessary.

K9 - here, Land-o-lakes makes an American cheese that's sold in the deli case - it's much better than the plastic stuff.

ETA: K-9 - you could always try making your own! I did it a while back, and it was quite good - more like Velveeta, though, than the slices. But still good.

Ah ha! I suspected that it would be like Colby and in this recipe she used Colby (plus the rest of the ingredients). I don't think I want to put the effort in to taking real cheese and altering it. Now I know that when a recipe calls for 'American Cheese' I can sub Colby. Thanks!

[Krislady]

Connie, I used to do the peanut butter thing, but he figured that out and just licked it off.

Plus the poor delicate baby gets itchy when he eats peanut butter.

[Connie Lea]

Krislady wrote:
Connie, I used to do the peanut butter thing, but he figured that out and just licked it off.

Plus the poor delicate baby gets itchy when he eats peanut butter.

Guess peanut butter isn't the thing then. They get smart too fast.

[Saralaya]

K9 Owned wrote:

Krislady wrote:
Yeah, I've been using the Kraft slices - though I've found that the store brand actually molds to the pill better than the name-brand. (The stuff makes me gag.) It's handy, though, if we're at my parents' house at dinner time, and I can just ask for 1/2 a slice of cheese to pill him.

It's only when he's got extra pills that he really gets difficult - in the mornings he's just got his MSM powder, the HUGE glucosamine tablet, and the big Prozac. In the summer, if he's sneezy or snotty, he gets 3 benedryls, and if he's fallen down or going swimming, he also gets 3 aspirin.

In the evenings, he gets the MSM, glucosamine, the small prozac, the meloxicam and 2 antacids. Plus bendryl and aspirin as necessary.

K9 - here, Land-o-lakes makes an American cheese that's sold in the deli case - it's much better than the plastic stuff.

ETA: K-9 - you could always try making your own! I did it a while back, and it was quite good - more like Velveeta, though, than the slices. But still good.

Ah ha! I suspected that it would be like Colby and in this recipe she used Colby (plus the rest of the ingredients). I don't think I want to put the effort in to taking real cheese and altering it. Now I know that when a recipe calls for 'American Cheese' I can sub Colby. Thanks!

I'm glad you got the info because as much as I love my DH... he wouldn't have the faintest idea about which cheese is which!

[anne in apex]

We've been doing psychological warfare with our mutt lately. She was on about 5 different pills, two of which i could crush and put on her food. She figured out the drill really fast. Imagine a dog with her jaw clamped firmly shut, only her lips moving, saying " nope nope nope, I know what you're trying to do. I don't LIKE hot dogs. Or peanut butter. And those pill pockets? Hahahaha, no." She figured out the sounds of the bottles being opened, and went and hid.

We resorted to stuffing them down, which DH got down to a science. I tried it one time, I stuffed it in, she swallowed, I let her go, and she walked over to the basement door and spit the pill down the steps! I gave up.

My vet says to try spray cheese. That's what they use at the clinic when they have a dog that is aggressive and they fear losing a finger.

I have a partial bag of pill pockets, free to a good home. I accidentally bought the allergy kind, and boy do they STINK! I don't know what they're made of, but they're vile. She wouldn't get near them.

Maybe they smell like squirrel jerky.

[K9 Owned]

Hi Annie!
Yeah, when I had to give numerous meds I did have to resort to 'stuffing' them. I'm seriously glad that they weren't long term meds, but it can be done quickly and painlessly. They sure don't care for it though Spray Cheese sounds like a great idea..

[Krislady]

See, anything that Jar can easily lick off, like PB or spray cheese, he does, at least when he's feeling cantankerous.

There have been times I've wrapped his pills in cheese, and he's just spit them back into the bowl, so I've sprayed cheese over them, and he just licks the cheese off - it takes a couple or tries or more - by that time I assume that most of the pill has dissolved somewhere.

I'm fortunate that he's pretty good about it mostly - maybe because he ALWAYS get pills, and he's just used to it.

The cat, on the other hand, is TERRIBLE. I've had to force her to take pills (and a liquid medicine once) and it was downright scary!