(no subject)

[ksmith]

I just spent about a half hour coaxing Gaby through a 1/4 can of the rabbit mixed with the hypo food. I felt like I was coaxing a balky baby through a jar of green peas.

She wanted to eat. Her tail was wagging. But she kept flirting with the damned stuff, picking it up and dropping it. Licking it. So help me, I think that dog has an eating disorder.

If she keeps it down, I will be spending part of tomorrow calling stores that supposedly carry the stuff to see if they have any. My local feed store had a case that they special-ordered. I was able to buy one can, but that was all.

The metronidazole was another story. Both King and Mickey had taken it at one time or another, and I had forgotten how evil-tasting the stuff is. How in hell am I going to get Gaby, who eats by licking, to swallow that damned thing is just about beyond me. If I give it to her inside a wad of food that she likes, she just licks the food and leaves the pill. I may have to resort to tossing it down her throat, but that's not easy.

Why in the freeping hell didn't the *&^%$#@ manufacturer coat the *&^%$#@ tablet. First rule of Drug That Tastes Like Shit--COAT THE G-------N TABLET!!!!!!!

Oh, and I'm supposed to be writing through all this. Good the fuck luck.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

Take Gaby's lower jaw with the palm of your had under her chin. Gently slide her lower lips up over her teeth. She will open her mouth. With your other hand, insert pill and pointer finger behind teeth. Shove the pill as far back and down as your finger will go. Gaby may try and bite, but if she does, she bites your thumb which presses her lip onto her teeth. The pressure is hers, so she gets to choose how much it hurts. She'll stop long before hurting you. Pet her and tell her what a good dog she is. If the pill's far enough down, she won't be able to spit it back up.

A - who had to give her Husky pills twice a day for 7 years.

PS. Those Husky types are smart. They'll find the pill in almost anything and spit it out.

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

I'll try to do this tomorrow morning. After coffee.

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

hey hey!! It worked! And I even managed to do it before coffee.

I don't think she knew what hit her. I gave her a biscuit afterwards and told her what a good puppy she was. Question is, will she let me do it again?

[(Anonymous)]

If she doesn't want to open her teeth, you just push the lips against the closed teeth, and she'll open. My dog never tried to escape the technique.

The only time I had trouble with the technique was one day when my dog was obviously ill. He opened his mouth grudgingly for the thyroid. I decided to give him an aspirin because he was so very down. He opened his mouth under duress, and pushed one of those bone crunching teeth into my thumb enough to let me know that it really hurt to open his mouth. Vet explained he had an eye infection, which manifests in dogs as pain in the jaw.

I hope Gaby's better today.
A

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

She is, fingers crossed, but I could detect a dip at about the time the nausea med wore off. We'll see how tonight goes.