Quote:
Originally Posted by Blossom
Ugh! How can I get Maisy to take her pill. I've tried the pop down the throat method. Doesn't work! I've tried pill pockets. Doesn't work. I've tried grinding into fine powder and hiding it in Liquid, food, treats. Doesn't work.
Maisy is SMART. She needs the Pepcid but this cat refuses to eat anything she doesn't like.
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When my parents had big dogs (Dutch and Belgian Shepherds), it was easy. We trained them from a very young age, starting at 10 weeks or so, to catch treats when they were thrown at them during excercies (but only when thrown by us).
When they needed some medicine, we just made a few treats and then had the dog do some exercises.
One of the treats would obviously contain the medicine, but because it was just *throw, catch, swallow*, they never knew what hit them. I don't know if something like that would ever work with cats.
Spoiler:
@cromag:
One of our last dogs was also called Shadow. The postman killed him.
Well... maybe that's a bit too blunt. At 10 years old, he got cancer in his spleen. The entire spleen was removed; a dog can learn to live without one, with a bit of change in his diet. He had to keep quiet for several weeks though, because he was all stitched up inside.
At some point, the postman rang the doorbell (even though there was a big note on the door saying to tap the window *softly* because of a very ill person in the house), and the dog was startled. He jumped up and trashed around, tearing all of the stitches inside. He was rushed to the vet, but died during the operation, because of blood loss, general weakness, and anesthetic.
That's now 15 years ago.
My parent's last Belgian Shepherd (female) had to be put down at 15 because she went downhill fast, both physically and mentally. Half blind, half deaf, unable to to step up or down the sidewalk without pain, and a case of complete paranoia and dementia, attacking anything that even came close. It happened all within less than one year; from a perfectly healthy and active dog (albeit old and slow, obviously), to a physical and mental wreck.
My sister's chihuahua's both died at 15 and 14, last year.
In a few years, my mom is going to be in for a tough time: two chihuahua's aged 12, and two of their offspring, now aged 10. They're all healthy now, although the oldest ones are starting to get some physical problems. Within five years, they'll probably all be dead.