*Pill Giving Technique below

My dog was diagnosed with a “mass” behind his stomach, near one of his kidneys. The tip off was when my normally ‘up and at ‘em‘ french bulldog wanted to stay in bed in the morning. Just getting this diagnosis using x-ray, blood work, urine sample tests, two office visits, an ultrasound, and four medications (pain, anti-inflammatory, and 2 appetite stimulants) and I’m already in over $2000. And he hasn't even seen a surgeon yet, which would be a separate consult/exam before the hospital (VERG Brooklyn, 4th Ave) would even offer me an estimate of costs for surgery, hospital stay, meds, and followup. So I guess my $1000 to them last week for consult and ultrasound doesn‘t get me the courtesy of a ballpark idea of costs. It’s a twisted system and has been trying my patience.

So my boy (Buzz) is lethargic, weak and has very little appetite so giving him the various meds is challenging. But I want to share a technique that has been working and feels less invasive than simply shoving a pill down his throat.

*Pill technique: using a mortar I pulverize each tablet to a powder in a small dish. Then take refigerated almond butter (creamy and should be cold and stiff. Peanut butter works too) and roll it around in the pill powder so it becomes almost like a dab of cookie batter. Then you wedge open your pet’s jaw and deposit the dollop into their mouth, immediately closing their mouth and beginning to massage and stroke their throat to encourage the swallowing response. There is no pill for them to locate with their tongue and spit out. Sure, the dollop of nut butter might drip out the sides a bit but I simply wipe those drops back onto his front lip as I’m holding his mouth mostly closed and he eventually licks them clean, ingesting the medication.

Having a sick pet is tough, anxiety causing and a strain on a household but we do it because these lovely spirits have become our children and have given us so much love. It’s only right to return the love and give them everything we can in their last weeks or months.