Make Administering Pet Medication Drama Free with Cellulose Capsules

My furry best friend, Hero DeNiro, is sick. It’s been a months long saga involving trips to the vet, specialist visits, hospitalizations, and a lot of anxiety and crying. He’s much better now than he was, but he’s still not back to normal, and we have had to wait MONTHS to see a specialist (as I write this, it’s 15 days away). I have spent so much time researching different tips and tricks for sick dogs - getting them to eat, getting them to take medicine, if all his seemingly unrelated symptoms point to one diagnosis that we haven’t thought of yet. I now know SO MUCH about dog food (there are some real dog food zealots out there and they are… A LOT), and I’ve learned a lot of tips and tricks (I have had a brachycephalic dog for 12 years and I learned about slanted bowls LAST WEEK), but the biggest game changer has been empty capsules.

Anxiety about your dog’s mortality is NOT helped by having a dog who sleep like he’s dead.

Some background: Hero takes a lot of medication, and some of it tastes gross. I haven’t tasted it myself, but Hero is an incredibly dramatic dog who will put on a whole tragic production if you make him eat anything that doesn’t meet his standards. I would mix powders with peanut butter, or coat pills in cheese, but he catches on fast and tricks don’t work for long. Plus, now he has to eat a strict low-fat diet, so tempting treats like cheese and peanut butter are no longer an option. I used to mess with Pill Pockets, but then I learned from Blair Braverman that dog’s don’t have a gag reflex, so you can just shove pills down their throats. This bit of info has saved me so much time and stress. I just put a pill near the back of his mouth, make sure he swallows, and we move on. But if the pills are particularly nasty, and they touch his tongue while I’m trying to get him to swallow them, he’ll squirm away, and then I have to try again, and maybe again after that, to get him to take the pills. AND, because he’s a dramatic dog, he will then start his woeful performance when he so much as sees me take out the pill bottle. This is where empty capsules come in.

I had no idea you could just buy empty pill capsules, but thanks to a greyhound owner message board (have I been to every corner of Dog Internet? Maybe), I leaned that you can just buy empty capsules and fill them with whatever medication you want, and then quickly and easily get them down your dog with no wrestling, foaming, spitting, or in the case of my dog, a full Shakespearean tragedy. You can get empty capsules in myriad sizes and colors, but I got these ones, because they were sold at my neighborhood Whole Foods and I needed them immediately.

Currently, I’m using the capsules for one pill, one powder, and one liquid, all of which Hero normally finds absolutely disgusting. But when they’re in a capsule? He’s fine! I just give him the capsule with a secret medication inside, make sure he swallows, then give him a treat for being such a champion. I pre-fill the capsules with pills and powders, but because these cellulose capsules are meant to dissolve, I dont’ put any liquid in them unless I’m immediately going to administer that medication.

This handy trick has saved me so much time and energy, and it helps keep my dog from realizing a nasty pill is coming so he better prepare for a fight, or at least a dramatic overwrought soliloquy.

I should mention that a LOT of customer reviews for empty capsules talk about using them to take essential oils. Please do not ever do that. You could die.