Are you losing fingers from trying to pill your dog? If so, maybe it’s time to try some tastier treats?
Here’s a great homemade pill pocket recipe that Tripawds member bordergirl shared in the Forums, which made giving pills to her beloved Zip much easier:
“With thanks to Spirit Maxie’s mom I tried her idea of a mush to get pills down.
Zip was getting harder to pill because of the stomach upset from the chemo so along with her diarrhea problem from the same source I came up with this and all the dogs but especially Zip loved it.
This can be modified anyway your dog or cat’s diet needs it to be. This was easy on her kidneys and liver and helped her diarrhea. Sometimes I added FortiFlora to help her intestines get back the good stuff. I also think she liked the coolness of it on her throat.
May this be a blessing to all who need it.“
The Good Lady’s Mush
- 1 cup Dehydrated Poultry Protein
- half cup of pumpkin -NOT pumpkin pie mix
- 1/3 cup sweet potato flour. Avoid regular flour if possible. I got mine at William-Sonoma but a health food store would also carry it.
- 1 tbsp. oil. I used coconut oil so it didn’t bother her pancreas
- Organic beef broth
Put turkey in blender to make a flour. Place all ingredients in sauce pan EXCEPT beef broth. With burner on low, stir all together and add enough broth to make it mushy — similar to playdough but not as smooth. Should hold together and be able to make little balls with it.
Refrigerate and keep covered. Pinch off what you need at pilling time.
Do you make your own pill pocket treats?
If so, share your recipe below!
No time to cook your own pill pocket dog treats?
Try Greenies Pill Pockets Duck Flavor
Made for dogs and designed by vets and experts. So they not only help with the delivery of medication, they are also a source of vitamins C & E to promote a healthy immune system.
I wish I could pill Whiskey with those but he KNOWS whenever something is hidden in even his very favorite stuff…he will spit it out and eat it crumb at a time….
I know- my Bruno is the same
This is the best recipe I have found yet! However I am having trouble finding sweet potato flour. Would regular potato flour work just as well?
Good question! Hopefully Jerry or someone else can answer that.
Sam, I’m glad you like it. I think regular potato flour would be fine, but if you can find brown rice flour that would probably be better. If you try either one, let us know how it works!
Pill pocket receipe – If your babies hate taking pills, and the pill pockets are just too expensive ( I think they are), I came up with this allergy friendly receipe that even my very finicky foster gobbles down: 1 cup sweet rice flour (from Asian market) 2 cups dried split peas rehydrated and mashed up, 1 big jar chicken & rice baby food (i don’t have a food processor or blender) 2 tblspn brown sugar dissolved in a little hot water. Mix throughly. Consistency should about like cookie dough Drop by spoonfuls, poke hole for pills and freeze. store in ziplock. defrost 20-40 seconds as needed. Corky “taste-tested” it and pronounced it delicious (or so I like to think). I defrosted one this am, buried his pills and he swallowed in one gulp. Cost effective too – rice 1lb box (3 cups) 1.79 dried split peas (1 bag is 3-4 cups?) .99 baby food .80. The proportions above made about 25 small “cookies”. Sure beats $10 price for the real thing!
I needed an alternative when this foster needed 5-6 pills a days and could spit out/chew around everything I tried. He has severe food allergies so no dairy. All these ingredients (except the sugar) are in his special diet food.
I use a super easy recipe, works for my expert pill spitter.Easy, cheap.
Peanut butter
diced cooked bacon. or bacon bits….
small amount italian bread crumbs
mix together the voume you want, starting with the peanut butter. Add tiny bits of cooked bacon or bcon bits, and slowly add fine bread crumbs ( tiny bread crumbs) until you have no more peanut butter sticking to bowl. Drop by tespoons on cookie sheet in balls ( sorta) store in fridge. Can be used right away, or after cooled, put in baggie in fridge. Takes 10 mins, cheap.
Thanks for the tip, sounds great! Just make sure the Italian style breadcrumbs don’t include any onions or onion powder in the ingredients.
Hund (GSD) is allergic to field grains and grain fed meats. He is an adept pill picker. Got any ideas?
Good question Leslie! Try rice, soy or garbanzo flours and check with a local butcher regarding the meats.
Where do you buy dehydrated chicken or turkey? And how large in the bag mentioned in the recipe?
Thanks for asking Linda! We have updated this post to be more clear. You can follow the link in the recipe or search Amazon here for dehydrated chicken and turkey, or find it in any high-end pet store.
To Sarah who uses bacon/bacon bits/poo eanut butter — ALL of the are harmful to dogs. Most people thin peanut butter is OK, but it definitely not. Too high in fat and can trigger a pancreatic attack.
Hi Donna thanks for your feedback. We agree that all things should be fed in moderation, especially when dogs are susceptible to conditions like pancreatitis. Also, some, not all peanut butter does have xylitol (low-fat varieties), which is toxic to dogs so you have to be careful and not use those products. But when it comes to trying to get your dog to take their pills in order to keep a disease away, or stabilized, as long as the treat-based methods are done in moderation, the fat calories are far less of an issue than not taking the medication at all.
Well said jerry
Just felt the need to say we’re feeling blessed over here today having found The Good Lady’s Mush – we’ll get to try in the next couple, few weeks!! And kudos to Jean for sharing her Pill Pocket Recipe – paw my gosh, living with the inlaws while builder finishes house, so the need for a non-commercial option today (of course) without access to food processor or blender – many thanks!!