Wednesday 26 February 2014

A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down ...

Every three months a special event occurs in our home.

Worming day.

Not for me … or even the kids … it's Buster that is the lucky recipient of this extra special bit of TLC.

Now over time he has wised up to this procedure … and even though the packaging ensures me that the tablets have a "palatable liver flavour" … Buster remains unconvinced.  We are now at the stage where I only have to approach the doggy medicine drawer … and he immediately performs a credible impersonation of Harry Houdini.



But surely I can outsmart a little dog … what, with me being a fully grown adult human being with a high school education … and him being … well  … a dog.

So I gathered together the necessary supplies for this little subterfuge.

One worming tablet … broken into quarters … with only three quarters to be administered … and half a pig.  Not a live pig … more a deceased, smoked and sliced pig … picked up by the kilo from the delicatessen.

And then it was time to put my brilliant … though somewhat evil … plan into action.

Firstly I tempted Buster out of hiding with the offer of some delicious hammy tidbits.  It didn't take too long before he took the baconny bait … and decided that today marked a distinct upturn and improvement on the usual gastronomical offerings.

I may have enjoyed an evil laugh at this point … as they say … the plan was all coming together.

Now that I had him lulled into an entirely false sense of security I introduced my carefully prepared little porky parcels of pleasure.  Pieces of ham carefully rolled up into little bite sized morsels … and hidden carefully within three randomly selected parcels … were the three tiny little pieces of his worming tablet.



As a plan …  it was surely a foolproof stroke of utter genius.

I watched Buster hoover those meaty morsels into oblivion … let out a satisfied belch … lick his lips … and step back replete with satisfaction.

Nothing remained of that piggy offering … nothing at all … except three little pieces of worming tablet.


Back to the drawing board for me!

I'm thinking there may be blender involved in Plan B.

15 comments:

  1. Our cat's so laid back that he'll just let us prise his mouth open and chuck his tablets down his throat - possibly 'cos he know he'll get a treat afterwards! x

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    1. Buster is the opposite of laid back … as you can probably tell ;0)
      xx

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  2. I used to have that same problem with my Chihuahua. The only way I could get the pill down her was to hand feed her something that she truly loved, like cheese, I would wrap the pill in the cheese as you did here, but if I fed it to her in her bowl or on the floor she would always find the pill and spit it out, just as Buster did. However, if I held the cheese in my hand and gave her tiny bites at a time while holding another bite ready to give her, she would gobble it so quickly that when I would give her the piece with the pill she would swallow it without time to think and find it.

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    1. I've tried cheese too … but he still seems to find it … even when I hand pop them directly into his mouth. I think mashing into a powder is the only alternative left to me … fingers crossed that works.
      xx

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    2. I will keep my fingers crossed for you, powder would keep him from finding the pill but the taste might make him back away, hope it works.

      My Chihuahua would find anything in her food hand fed or in a bowl, the difference I was trying to explain above, but did not do too good of a job, is that I would give her pieces while holding another piece ready and I would make them small enough that she didn't have to chew. This way she was looking for the next piece so much so that she swallowed without knowing the pill was there. I would give her several pieces without the pill first (what I told my husband was priming her, ha!) then sneak the pill in and quickly let her see the next piece of cheese I was going to give her and she would swallow and gobble and that would be that. Lot of work for a little pill giving :)

      Best of luck to you and Buster which ever way you try.

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    3. It sounds like a good plan … I'll give it a go … thank you :0)
      xx

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  3. Buster - Dog Genius!
    Our cats are hideously badly behaved when it comes to tablets, they spit them out, little buggers. I have found crushing them into powder and mixing them into some tuna is the only way... xxxx

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    1. Good idea … that's definitely Plan A next time :0)
      xx

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  4. How do they do that? Pancake does the same. He's not quite as tidy as Buster, though. Buster is much more refined.

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    1. Haha … refined is not a word I've ever associated with Buster before ;0)
      xx

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  5. 'Palatable liver flavour?' they made liver palatable! Buster is a legend though, such an impressive feat, to eat the good stuff and leave the tablets, sadly I have no wise advice but wish you lot's of luck! x x x

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    1. Palatable and liver … it's really a contradiction in terms isn't it ;0)
      xx

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  6. I have seen the same thing here, slobbered pills on the floor! Now I just open their gobs, chuck in a pill, hold there mouth and stroke their throat until they swallow. Sounds dirty! But it works.

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  7. Love the pictures! The subjects are adorable ladies. I clicked on the links and saw photos of them, you did them justice. Very nice.

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    1. This comment is on the wrong post, sorry about that. I moved a copy of it to the right place.

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