Giving Your Dog Liquid Medication
If you are having a difficult time administering liquid medicine to your dog (as many people do) then these two methods may help you.
The first method is known as making a pouch and basically consists of pulling the dog’s lower lip down in order to make a little pouch where you will put the liquid. The dog’s head should be tilted back slightly while you pour the medicine into the pouch using the other hand.
Sometimes the medicine does not go down right away, usually when the dog’s teeth are clenched tightly, not allowing the medicine to pass through. In this circumstance you should pry the dog’s teeth gently apart using your fingers. If the dog should try to move away, simply back your dog’s rump into a wall so that they can not back away from you.
An additional way of using this same method is to sit on the floor with the dog resting between your legs. The dog’s rear should be toward you and his head should be facing away from you. This will allow you to keep him positioned easily. When you have the medicine in the dog’s mouth you should make him swallow by holding his mouth almost closed and lightly rubbing and massaging his throat. The medicine is down when the dog’s tongue comes out of his mouth briefly. You can also make him swallow by briefly placing your thumb over his nostrils.
The second way that we will discuss is called prying his mouth open. You should do this by gently grasping the dog’s upper jaw with one hand and putting your thumb and fingers between the fangs in the front of your dog’s mouth. Most dogs will allow their mouths to relax at this point and make it easy to pour the liquid into the dog’s mouth. You should use a spoon or a dropper to accomplish this. Make sure that you keep the dog’s head tilted at an angle.
If you are trying to give your dog a pill you can do this by opening his mouth just like you would do when administering liquid medicine. When you have his teeth pried apart with your thumb an fingers you should push the pill as far back as you can into the dog’s throat. You would then induce the swallowing either by massaging the dog’s neck or by gently holding your thumb over his nostrils.
I hope that this short article has helped you in some way to make it easier and less stressful for both you and your dog when giving them medicine.
