Any suggestions for giving large tablets?

Today, we took Bella to a specialist vet to have an ultrasound on her heart and as a result her Vetmedin dosage has increased to a whole tablet morning and evening.

These are enormous tablets for her to take. The vet said stress must be avoided but it was a really stressful experience for both of us. Previously she was having half a tablet in cheese or ham but now I'm told they're best given on an empty stomach.

Please do you have any suggestions?

Hello, and I am sorry that Bella's medication has had to be increased.

It seems that you are between scylla and charybdis, because if you try to poke this large tablet down Bella's throat then it will be stressful, and will get more so with each dose.....but because it is better on an empty tum then concealing it is difficult.

Personally, I would go with the empty tum but still use a bit of sausage or cheese to give the tablet. After all, it's better to get the pill down with the least amount of fuss.

Maybe someone else will have a better suggestion. Good luck anyway.

I agree with the bit in bold. I'd still conceal it but in as small an amount of food as possible. It's been a few years since I gave a dog vetmedin, am I right in thinking it should be given half an hour before a meal?

Hello Maggie you could cut the tablet in half and give with a bit of cheese or sausage as you have been doing either an hour or so before or between meals. A tiny tidbit with the tablet is not the same as a meal and a better option than not getting the tablet down at all.


To give a dog a pill I put one hand over the dog's nose and press in both sides of the mouth where the two jaws meet and it should open automatically.
At the same time I tilt the dog's head upwards with the other hand then pop the pills at the back of the throat .
I then close the mouth with both hands and gently stroke the throat using a downward movement to encourage swallowing .
This is all done in one quick movement that takes a few seconds .
Then treat/praise so that the dog associates the procedure with a pleasurable experience .

If it needs to be given without food, cut it into bits, coat it with olive oil, pop each bit right back in the throat, as far back as you can pop it, one after the other until you've got it all in. A tiny treat between probably won't harm unless your vet specifically says no. The oil will help it down. Just hold the mouth shut until it's gone down-- don't cover the nose. It's not all that bad. A fun game after the pilling will help!

A treat is not the same as a meal so I would try it in either peanut butter or some pate.. both stick to it and I find it real easy to give tablets that way... good luck x

Chkoe's a little ****** for spitting out tablets but I've found I can fool her by into thinking she's getting a treat by crushing them up and mixing them with some smelly goats cheese.

Two of the many pills/capsules that Pereg has to have every day are enormous [I call them horse pills!] and have to be taken on an empty stomach, but as Meg said, a tidbit is not the same as a meal and my Vet assured me that squidging them in a small piece of a soft cheese triangle or similar is fine.

It is the same if she has to have a starving blood test - or should she need a GA - as she must have her main meds at specific times. A small piece of cheese will not cause problems with either the blood test or a GA whereas missing those meds will.

If Bella is used to having the half pill in a small piece of cheese or ham, I would carry on doing so with the whole pill. Pereg is so used to taking them now that as soon as I say "medicine" - she shoots into the kitchen and sits by the refrigerator waiting. She knows there is a pill in the cheese as she watches me get it out and squidge the cheese round it, but in over 2½ years she has only spat a pill out maybe two or three times - so it gets squidged in another tiny piece of cheese and she swallows it with no argument.

This is how I managed it with a Cavvy that could hold a pill somewhere in her mouth however long you held her jaws closed and massaged her throat (you'd find it spat out on the rug somewhere). As for my minpin I have now - even the VET could not get her to take a worming pill (and it was essential for her permission to fly.) So I know it can be a real problem with some dogs.

I crushed the pill between two spoons so it was powder. Then mixed the powder into a small bit of soft butter (easy to do while still on the spoon - just back and forwards with the spoons til all mixed it. Then scooped that onto my finger and held it out. I've never had a dog that wouldn't lick a bit of butter off my finger. So that worked and was stress free (important as the dog had a heart condition).

Just put the pill in one spoon and then lean down hard on it with the other. Trying to crush them on a flat surface often results in bits of it going flying all over or getting left behind on the surface. This way makes sure it all stays put.

Thank you all so much for your speedy replies. I told the vet yesterday that it would be very difficult for Bella to take the medication without food but he just repeated that it should be given on an empty stomach.

I am encouraged by the general view that a little morsel of food with the pill would be okay - Bella is used to having medication wrapped in goats' cheese but even this she has to be cajoled and coaxed into taking. I spend a long while rubbing her throat waiting for the pill to go down. She's prepared to sit it out, being a stubborn half-beagle!

Thanks again.