How to administer a drug

Not all dogs easily accept to swallow or take medicine: it is good to know a few tricks to "sweeten the pill".

• If the medicine is in the form of a tablet , open the patient's mouth by pressing his upper lip between his teeth with your hand, quickly pushing the tablet down his throat and keeping the muzzle closed for a few minutes. The opening of the dog's esophagus is large enough and lets the finger-pushed tablet through. If he struggles and does not want to know, you can groped to insert the medicine in a food he likes as a piece of meat or sausage making sure that he does not eat only the delicacy by spitting out the pill.

• In the case of liquid medicines (syrup, solution, suspension) the dog's head is fixed with one hand, the spout of a syringe without the needle is inserted into the corner of the mouth, towards the inner side then push the plunger of the syringe itself.

• Medicines in powder instead are mixed with the baby food but if the dog has lost his appetite you can mix them into a meatball and give it in your mouth with your hand.

• injections are performed subcutaneously, intravenously or intramuscularly. The subcutaneous injection is the most practiced and the simplest as it presents the least risks, for the intramuscular it is better to consult a medical staff while for the intravenous it is necessary the veterinarian.

• For the suppository it is good to introduce it into the rectum by lifting the tail and then lowering it quickly, keeping it pressed towards the anal opening to avoid expulsion. For the enema, a practice that is not very popular with dogs, the help of someone who can hold the animal to which the muzzle will be put in place as a precaution, while inserting the well oiled cannula into the rectum, of a pear that must be emptied slowly , extracted and then hold the dog's tail between his legs for about ten minutes.