Skip to content

Getting medicine down a Basenji

Basenji Health Issues & Questions
  • I grind up some chicken or turkey breast in a mini food processor and make a few balls containing the pills, as well as a few "decoy" balls of meat. Cream cheese works occasionally too. If he's really being stubborn, I have to make balls of cream cheese wrapped with pieces of turkey lunchmeat.

  • I just read through this thread and it brought back (painful!) memories. Fortunately I do not currently have any dogs or cats to pill. They all seem to figure out the food disguise thing sooner or later, and then it's back to opening the mouth and shoving it down…...and hoping it doesn't come right back after the swallow. I had one girl that I swear could fake it every time, then back would come the pill. Cats are worse! That shallow mouth makes it harder to avoid getting nailed with the canines. My biggest laugh was my Border Collie. He spit out the pill one time, and I expressed my disapproval, at which he said "sorry Mom" and picked it up off the floor and swallowed it! Would never happen with a Basenji! :)

    BTW, be it dog, cat or horse, I have always found it easier to work alone. Too many people ganging up makes the animal suspicious and much more likely to fight. If you have the right relationship with your pet you should be able to finesse it alone just fine. Lots of love and treats (if appropriate) afterwards takes the sting out of it. I am convinced animals read your intention and allow even painful treatments if they trust you.

  • When Oakley came back from the hospital he had to take prilosec and a liver enzyme once a day, the first two days I put it in between two small pieces of cheese and it worked great, didnt even care. However, once he caught on to the pill hiding it stopped working and he would end up wasting ( IMO) A whole piece of cheese and still I'd have a messy wet blue pill in my hands. I found that If I hid it in cheese as I normally did but had a second piece of cheese readily in front of him, it tricked him into swallowing the first piece quickly in order to devour the second. I imagine with any food motivated dog you could trick them this way using anything ( pb,treats,cream cheese)

  • @eeeefarm:

    My biggest laugh was my Border Collie. He spit out the pill one time, and I expressed my disapproval, at which he said "sorry Mom" and picked it up off the floor and swallowed it! Would never happen with a Basenji! :)

    LOL! I had the same experience with my Border Collie. And now am learning the painful lesson of how this just won't happen with my little Basenji :)

  • I forgot to mention that we are very successful with putting pills in a small chunk of well aged cheddar cheese. :D Of course, a nice Chianti with it makes it more memorable. Oh… pilling dogs? :D Yes, for them, the cheese works too.

  • ROFL @ Kipawa!

  • Maybe the trick would be to give wine to the Basenji before the cheese with the pill in it? I don't know about wine, but my last Basenji had an appreciation for beer if he could get his nose in the glass when nobody was looking. :)

  • I vary giving pills with the individual. Some I grind up and mix them well in raw meat. I have several pices of meat only in my hand, give one of those and then tease the dog with the rest (it helps if there's another dog around). I find that then I can easily give the ground pill with the meat. After they've taken the pill I hen I give another piece of meat. With some i have to put the pill at the back of themouth as the others describe. i do it on my own as I can more easily keep the dog calm then.

  • Blowing pills down a dogs throat with a straw or something similar isn't a good idea since it can wind up in their lungs…

    If you're hiding pills, handle them with tweezers, not your fingers: that way your dog can't smell the meds on your hands and realize what you're doing. I find peanut butter works really well for hiding pills--Ki can't spit out pills when her tongue is stuck to the roof of her mouth : ) Kraft unsweetened PB won't contribute to any dental issues. A friend took it a step further and got CHUNKY pb, she swears her dog can't tell the difference between the peanut chunks & pill fragments.

    Also blue cheese or Goat Cheese/Chevre are so stinky they conceal the pill odour/taste. Just a reminder, 'tho, cheese contains a lot of calcium which will interfere with absorption of Thyroid meds if that's what you're administering.

    Finally, check with owners in the Fanconi section of the forum for more Pilling Tips, they're UBER CHAMPIONs at administering pills.

  • the thyroid pills are put into sweet potato french fries here. otherwise, cream cheese.

Suggested Topics

  • Age of your basenji?

    Basenji Health Issues & Questions
    42
    2 Votes
    42 Posts
    14k Views
    DebraDownSouthD
    Yeah you told me about that before and I'm clueless, but I'll try it if I need to, lol. could be the noise of occasional thump, could be they can hear it even tho we can't. My chow would be drooling buckets before we got a mile away. I just had to keep towels down and take off and bag along the trip. But I took her for a 7 hr trip to atlanta and she threw up and threw up, then stopped. Never threw up again. :( on your back. I had been getting radiofrequency ablations in the US, and they really helped. But doctors here will only do them once or twice. I have had at least 6 on one side, 3 on the other. :( But it's miraculous pain relief when it is done right. Maybe your dog acupuncturists knows of a human one they'd recommend?
  • Is this a Basenji?

    Basenji Health Issues & Questions
    26
    0 Votes
    26 Posts
    23k Views
    ShannaniganS
    So many of those poses and positions are the same things I see Paco do. I'm also no expert, and Paco's my first dog that's mine-all-mine for me to watch all the time, but I feel like Tag's face is very Basenji-like…and if he yodels as well... if he doesn't have Basenji in him, I'd at least say you could describe him to others as a Basenji-like dog.
  • Basenji in Alaska

    Basenji Health Issues & Questions
    22
    0 Votes
    22 Posts
    10k Views
    wizardW
    I saw that you have a sewing machine – its not hard to make your own coat. I made one for my previous beasties with fleece and wool. I made it with a high colar (for the backside of the neck) and an indentation for the tail and a big belly and chest band (I used snaps at first but then switched to velcro). It worked pretty good for our single digit temps (and the occasional below zero walks to the corner). My current beastie refuses to go out the door with a coat on, however. When the outside temps are below 10F she won't stay outside any longer than necessary to go potty - the squirrels can run around all they want then! With respect to booties, mine will at least tolerate them when we go for walks but it's more for the road salt. However, the good pair I bought this year leak somehow (maybe through the stitching?) and she doesn't like them with they get wet inside. Nevertheless be sure you get the best you can find.
  • Itching Basenji!

    Basenji Health Issues & Questions
    15
    0 Votes
    15 Posts
    9k Views
    nobarkusN
    It's most likely a yeast infection. They get it in the ears quite often. Buddy has a yeast infection right now on his stomach.
  • Basenjis are popular..

    Basenji Health Issues & Questions
    14
    0 Votes
    14 Posts
    6k Views
    JannekeJ
    @ibi_n_sane: the ears of the basenji of the pictures you show look like their is really something wrong, but it is not right to think that a basenji with a bit thin fur on his ears also has a condition/ disease that causes this. Of course, this dog is diagnosed with pattern baldness. And no, you can't say that every basenji/dog with less fur on the ears has this condition. Like Tanza said: it could be flies, or maybe cold, malnutrition.. I do think that Tillo's bald blackish ear rims are more than just 'loosing hair because it's winter/spring/summer..' And I would love to know what's causing it. That's why I wanted to ask it at the University and that's why I was suprised to see the B-ears on the screen and to hear about this 'pattern baldness' :)
  • Heartworm medicine

    Basenji Health Issues & Questions
    10
    0 Votes
    10 Posts
    4k Views
    lvossL
    @Ninabeana26: I use Sentinel for Dallas' heartworm meds & I give it monthly. He has only had 2 months so far but I have never noticed anything funny after giving it to him. I just place it in with his evening kibble & he's been fine every time. Sentinel is actually two medications in one. It has the active ingredient for Interceptor and the active ingredient for Program. It is supposed to protect against heartworms and fleas. If you are still having problems with fleas, I would seriously consider changing to Interceptor only so you are not giving your dog an medication that is not working and then look for a more effective flea control.