How do you trick your pet into taking his medication?

[Romeyrider]

As a dog or cat owner I am sure you have had to give your pet a pill of some sort at one time or another. Which method works best for you into tricking your pet into taking medication?

I personally use Pill Pockets... Smoked Hickory Flavored. They love them so much some sometimes they get them just as a treat!

[Karen]

With our bunny, it was impossible, as the medicine was always in liquid form. Thankfully sometimes she liked the taste and would lap it from the end of the eyedropper.

Our family dogs, cheese, or peanut butter usually did the trick, but after a while it was the "open do's moth, throw the pill down as far back into the throat as you could, then hold the muzzle shut and stroke the throughout. Otherwise our dogs all be came quite adept at eating the bribe and spitting out the pill when she thought we weren't looking!

[Freedom]

You really should NOT 'trick' your dog (or cat) into anything. This just breaks the trust bond between the 2 of you.

My dogs are taught to swallow and to chew. So when it comes time for medicine, they are told to 'swallow' and it goes down. I put it in something slickery.

The cats are a bit more difficult to train, but it can be done, and I've succeeded with several.

[Catty1]

With Oscar I usually have to just hold him and get pills down his throat. Thankfully I don't have to do this often. Pill pockets fool him for about a day.

Cole is on liquid Metacam, as was Oscar for a while. Thankfully, they happily take it in their food.

[Cataholic]

Four out of ten cats are on meds right now. Two of them are twice a day! I can easily pill three of them with a pill popper.

[pomtzu]

Wolfy is easy - peanut butter. Myndi was horrible - I risked bodily harm trying to get meds in her if they were pills of a substantial size, and she managed to spit/dribble out liquids too. If pills had no real taste, then I could pulverize and put in her food, but her Tramadol was bitter and if I put it in her food, then she wouldn't eat it. Ended up getting it compounded to a cream to rub in her ear....expensive, but at least I knew she was getting it. Sparky wasn't too bad - I'd hide them in his canned food that I rolled into little meatballs. They both got wise to hiding them in cheese, and a pill popper was a big failure.