No Wonder She Wasn't Getting Better...

Well, I don't think I've ever posted this but Precious has had a cough for a really long time. For about a couple of months now. She's been to the vet and they had to pull some teeth and cleaned them because she had severe broncitis and her teeth were dirty so it was keeping it going. (She also had to get a tumor taken out of her :( ) Well, She was put on 4 medicines (2 being pills) and after they were gone she was still couching. Since then she's had more meds and right now she has to take these little white pills. When I give them to her I have to stick them in the back of her throat and rub her throat so she will swallow. She swallows every time but just today my mom found two of the little white pills in her carpet that Precious was supposed to have taken. I then found another one just now in the living room. I think one of the main reasons she hasn't been getting better is because she's been coughing them back up!! :eek: Has anyone else had this problem with giving your dog pills? I think I'm going to have to start giving them to her in a small piece of food. Does anyone know of a possible better way to give pills to your dog w/o having to use food?

Also, My aunt was over for Thanksgiving yesterday and she said that her moms Pomeranian did the same thing and she had died from congestive heart failure. Does anyone know symptoms to congestive heart failure?

Sorry this is really long!

I've always found sticking pills into food (bread, cheese, etc.) the easiest way to give pills. You may want to give that a try.

I shove the pills into pieces of hotdog. Dusty eventually got smart and figured out that if he eats the hotdog and spits out the pill, he gets more hotdog. I wind up feeding him several pieces before he actually gulps the pill. lol.

Are you opposed to giving the pills with food for any reason?
I've found that that's the easiest way. Get 3 little pieces of cheese (or whatever you want to use), put the pill in one of them, then in rapid succession you give the cheese to the dog in this order: no pill, pill, no pill. The idea is that the dog sees the next treat coming and quickly swallows the one you just gave it. Hope that helps, and hope Precious gets better soon!

I put mine in cream cheese, the dogs love it and they can't spit out the pill cause it's to sticky lol they don't even know the pill is there i don't think lol :)

Sorry, but uhhhh, what IS precious? i mean, what kind of dog? i'm pretty sure she's a dog, right? (PLEASE DON'T GET MAD:( )

I use cheese, too. I throw the cheese-wrapped pill so the dogs catch it in their mouths and swallow it quickly so that I'll throw another piece of cheese.

Precious is her little black pomeranian.

I'd go with the advice the others have given here, give that a shot.

I'm a medical transcriptionist, so I looked in one of my resources for symptoms of CHF. This is what I found:

Symptoms of Congestive Heart Failure

Along with edema (swelling) of the lower extremities, the most common symptom of CHF is shortness of breath and often, fatigue, weakness, and the inability to perform physical activities. Weight gain from the excess fluid is another common symptom. Some people begin to cough up pinkish, blood-tinged sputum.

That pertains to humans but I'd imagine symptoms might be similar in animals, fluid retention seems to be a big pointer. If she seems heavier (might be harder to tell in that little puffball).

I hope your mind is set at ease more though, and that Precious gets better quickly!

We use cream cheese if we have it, but I've found that peanut butter works even better. :)

Thanks for your advice everyone!!! I really appreciate it.

Quote:

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Originally posted by Shelteez2
Are you opposed to giving the pills with food for any reason?

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The reason I was trying to find a better way to give the pills to her is because she has a weight problem. I probably will just end up using food since it seems to have worked best with everyone.

Thanks agian to all who replied!! :)