(I just realized that I don’t have a category for posts about Abbye. I probably should correct that. Someday.)
I’ve been remiss in providing the promised reports on Abbye’s condition, because I know at least two (maybe three) of you really care. In a nutshell, she’s doing better, although she’s had something of a relapse today.
We’ve had her on antibiotics for 8 days now, and she’s completely off Rimadyl (the arthritis pain medicine). She’s also supposed to be taking vitamin E every day, but she balks at that. All of these things are intended to help bring her liver enzymes back into the normal range. She goes back to the vet for a blood test on Monday, at which time we’ll find out if they’re working.
Until today, she’s seemed more energetic and hasn’t had any of the symptoms that clued us into the liver enzyme problem to begin with. So that’s good. But today, she’s dragging around like everything hurts…we could hardly coax her out of her crate this evening for after-dinner treats (laced with antibiotic, of course).
Abbye is the pickiest pill-taker in the canine world. You can imbed a tiny pill deep in a piece of steak and she’ll mouth it around until she swallows the steak and spits out the pill. It reminds me of that cartoon bit where the guy lays a cigarette paper flat on his tongue, pours a heap of tobacco onto it, pulls it into his mouth then pops out a neatly rolled cigarette ready for ignition.
We’ve found one technique to thwart her pill-avoidance system, however. It requires careful planning and the execution must be flawless, but when it works, it’s a thing of beauty. The key is to get her into a rhythm of eating succulent morsels. She’s always suspicious of the first one, so it’s important to make it undoctored and then to have two more treats ready in quick succession. The first one primes the pump, the second one delivers the payload and the third one is presented to her as an incentive to down the second one without worrying it too much.
Sheesh. I can’t believe I just wrote that, or that we have to resort to such tomfoolery. Such is life with a canine princess.
Glad to hear Abbye is better. Good dog!
My former Big Gold Dog, Ranger, could pick pills out of the center of wadded up balls of cheese. Quite a feat.
We have this thing for cats which looks like something youd inject them with but instead of the needle, there is a pill holder…All you have to do is hold them, open mouth, insert and release. Works well depending on whose will is stronger lol!
I use peanut butter for pill coverage. Annie never reject a spoonful of that stuff. And it’s fun to watch her lick-lick-lick afterwards, too.
I’m am one who cares about the Abbye updates – so keep them coming.
I hope she’s back on her feet (all four of them) soon!
“She’s also supposed to be taking vitamin E every day, but she balks at that.”
Does the Vitamin E pill have to be delivered intact? Vitamin E for people is a fluid in those glycerin gel caps. If you pierced one with a pin and squirted the liquid into one of Abbye’s treats, maybe she wouldn’t notice it. I’ve heard it works with finicky kids who can’t stand gel caps. Just an idea. Maybe that is “enabling” behavior, but still. Abbye’s worth it.
Reading your posts about Abbye makes me wonder how her previous owner treated her. She’s skittish. Even after all these years. Love the idea of a an Abbye category! I’m glad you’re regularly updating “The many moods of Abbye…” too!
Eric, so glad to hear the latest about Abbye … and, yes, maybe an Abbye category would be a good idea.
Pills and dogs … often a problem, though not with our current girl, Sadie. She’ll take a pill and eat it right away, nor problem …
Unfortunately, that’s because she’ll eat anything … cardboard, soccer shin guards, branches trimmed from the tree, flip-flops, and ends of boards that fell to the ground during treehouse construction.
So, what’s one little pill in all of that?
Back to the beginning, though, good to hear about Abbye. Keep it coming!
I was going to suggest the very method you use, with the three treats.
We have a 75-lb Golden Retriever with a bad hip and epilepsy – so I’m familiar with Rimadyl and the daily administration of other pills. Before the Rimadyl, we used human coated aspirin (Ascriptin is the brand name, but there are generics, too) for pain relief. You might ask your vet about that.
(Um .. it’s not “human-coated aspirin”, it’s “coated aspirin for humans”. I doubt that “human-coated aspirin” is available. Or advisable.)
Thankfully, she’s good about taking the pills. She’ll let you push it down her throat, but then you end up with a thumb coated in dog slobber, so we usually put it in a small piece of hot dog or cheese instead.
I hope Abbye pulls through OK.
Thanks, folks, for all your good wishes and tips. (Abbye thanks you too, except for the one about pushing a pill down her throat. 😉
We do use peanut butter as a delivery mechanism for some of her medicine, although she’ll sometimes not eat it. She’s pretty much the most carnivorous dog we’ve ever had: no cheese, no vegetables, no bread. OK, I take it back; she will occasionally eat a french fry, if it’s offered to her with the proper respect.
I don’t know why all the canine medication manufacturers don’t make their products tastier (I suppose there’s a health hazard involved…accidental overdose risk if the animal gets unsupervised access to it). Anyway, she loves her monthly heartworm pill…she takes it straight, with no coaxing. So it is possible to make ’em more palatable.