How to Pill a Dog

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December 2023

In this VETgirl online veterinary continuing education video, Amy Johnson, BS, LVT, RLATG, CVJ, VETgirl’s Manager of Content Development, and Michaela Witcher, MS, CVT review how to pill a dog their oral medication. Medicating a dog by pilling them can be difficult if the dog doesn’t take it electively (e.g., hidden in a treat or pill treats with pouches like Pill Pockets).  Pilling a dog is an essential and common technique that must be mastered by vet assistants, triage, veterinary technicians, and veterinarians, as it is an important way of delivering medication while treating patients in the hospital (or even outpatient). Veterinary professionals must also be able to educate pet owners on how to pill their dogs for ease of pet owner compliance.

 

There are several ways to get a pill in a dog when you need to medicate them. We will look at several different methods in this video.

Pet Piller
Starting with a pet piller. These are also called “pill poppers” or “pill guns.” There are different types and sizes of pillers, but no matter what the type or size, the purpose is to help get the pill to the back of the mouth where the dog can easily swallow it and keep your hands out of the dog’s mouth, avoiding getting a potential bite.

First, we will look at how to load the piller. The pillers all have an end that is either rubber to fit around the pill, or is split at the end to help accommodate the size of a larger pill. The other end is a plunger that will be depressed to push the pill out once it is in place in the dog’s mouth.

The pill is placed in the piller. You don’t want it so loose that it will fall out before the pillar is in place, and you don’t want it so tight the plunger won’t be able to push it out. If either case is true, you need to find a different size of piller or a different method to deliver the pill.

Now that we have the piller in the piller, we will demonstrate giving it to the dog.

For our purposes, we have used 2 people – one to restrain and one to medicate. That is not to say that this cannot be done with one person restraining and medicating at the same time.

Once the dog is restrained and calm, the person medicating will open the dog’s mouth while always being alert about where their fingers are at. The piller is placed at the back of the dog’s mouth, and the plunger is depressed, delivering the pill. Once the piller is out of the mouth, the dog’s mouth should gently be held shut and the throat rubbed to make sure they swallow the pill.

Some pills may be irritating to the esophagus, so following with a syringe of water to help wash it down to the stomach may be necessary.

Manual Pilling or Pilling by Hand

There will be instances where a pet piller will not work or where doing it by hand may be a better option. This is done very similar to using the pet piller.

The dog should be restrained and calm. The person medicating will open the dog’s mouth, and the nose is raised towards the ceiling. Once the mouth is open, quickly use your hand to drop the pill at the back of the mouth. The dog’s mouth is again gently held shut, and the throat is rubbed.

Using Food or Pill Pocket

Another way to medicate a dog is by hiding it in food or a product made to hide pills, such as pill pockets. Several things have to be considered here:

  1. Does the dog have any food allergies, or are they on an elimination diet trial?
  2. Can this medication be given with food?
  3. Is this dog known for detecting medications and eating around the pill?
  4. If using “human food” are there any ingredients unsafe for a dog, like xylitol?

Wash your hands before loading the pill into the pill pocket or food and only use one hand to touch the pill as some dogs are very sensitive to the smell of the medicines and will sense it on the outside if your hands touch the pill and then the pill pocket/food.

Using a pill pocket, the pill is put in the pocket with one hand. Then the pocket is pinched at the top to close with the other hand. It is then offered to the dog by hand or put in their food bowl to eat.

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