blog
Having a 20 year old cat with an overactive thyroid (Hyperthyroidism) means that I have to give medication twice a day. It has been getting very hard to do because my Amanda really dislikes having her mouth opened to have a pill put in. I don't blame her, it can be very unpleasant.
Trying to get her to take it in a treat has not worked for a long, long time. Recently, while visiting my Vet’s office, I was given a sample of FLAVOR-DOH. Since then, giving Amanda her medication has become a breeze. I just wrap the pill in FLAVOR-DOH and she eagerly eats it.
FLAVOR-DOH is similar in looks and consistency to children’s Play-Doh but it’s actually a treat for cats and dogs, made to make pill delivery easier.
FLAVOR-DOH for cats comes in two flavors, both Fish and Chicken. The dogs have a choice between Liver or Chicken flavor.
There are other products on the market with the same purpose but FLAVOR-DOH is different since you can actually mould the product around the pill. It is a great product and Amanda loves it!
Update: I recently opened another container of Flavor-Doh for my dogs and was surprised to find it dried out and somewhat hard to mould. After reading the container, I saw that I could just add a little water to help it regain it's proper consistency. If this happens to you, be careful.
I must have added too much because all I ended up with was a paste that was impossible to form around anything. This morning when I tried it again, I was happy to find that it was back to it's normal, if slightly more moist, consistency.
My advice? Be careful how much water you add and let it sit for a little while before you try and mould it around your pup's pill.
A couple of years ago on a trip home to Sweden, Marianne happened upon a wonderful find. A walking harness made by one of the worlds premiere sled dog harness manufacturers. This walking harness was exactly what we had been looking for. A comfortable harness that didn’t irritate the sensitive area of our dogs, allowed freedom of movement, and was easy to put on.
Marianne bought one and brought it home for our dogs to try out. It was better than we had expected. Both Marianne and I had dogs at the time who could not be walked on a collar due to throat problems (Nelson had COPD and Cody has a partially collapsed trachea). This harness, due to it’s design, kept all the pressure on the chest and completely away from the throat. To this day, I have not found a better harness for Cody.
These lightly padded nylon harnesses are available in just about any color you can think of, though many must be special ordered. Paw Lickers carries around 10 of the most common colors. They just slip on over the head, Velcro and safety snap around the girth. It’s so easy that with some practice you could even do it with just one hand. The reflective strapping and “handle” on the back are real perks as well.
Don’t think of these as only a walking harness either, they are great for anything from flyball, to tracking, or even agility run throughs. We’ve even had great feedback from therapy dog owners, and service dog trainers.