Pooch Cafe by Paul Gilligan for August 04, 2022

too bad the pills are not taken in the other end…

Not only is this hilarious, once again Poncho has made a valid point against his master. ALso having seen the motion sickness pill gag in the strips earliest days it doese warm my heart that Paul Gilligan has still found ways to use it without it getting old. That’s the sign of a true great in this medium: that you can keep something you’ve done since the comic began minty fresh 22 years in.

so without vomit-preventing medication, how do you prevent a dog from vomiting in the car?

This struggle is worse (more upsetting) than the actual car ride.

Had a dog with a chronic liver issue that had to get medication twice/day. Whenever she figured out how I was hiding it, she would either stop eating that food or chew it slowly into tiny pieces so she could spit out the pill.

We took a dog on a long train trip in the UK and learned the hard way not to feed him before travelling. My husband spent most of the trip on the platform between cars cleaning up messes!

So my prediction is at least partially correct, and my patience has been rewarded!

I was lucky that all of my dogs took their pills just fine. The cats were another story completely. :-)

I was most lucky. My cat needed pills twice a day for 20 years for his epilipse and all I had to do was put it on my finger and drop it on his tongue. He would swallow it and look up at me for his “treat” a piece of dry cat food, which, by the way, I took from the bowl sitting directly in front of him. All my other cats learned to not fear the meds the same way.

I wonder if crushing it up and spreading it out in his kibble might have worked better?

This reminds me of the first time I had to put drops in beagle #2’s ears for an infection. It took 45 minutes, with me finally cornering her in my bedroom with the door shut. After a few infections through the years, she learned to actually cooperate and appeared to enjoy it. Maybe she finally made the connection with the loss of discomfort. It sure made my life easier. Current beagle, so far, has not been sick since I adopted her 5 years ago at age 6.

Pill pockets work for my big dog. He doesn’t even chew them. Swallows them whole!

Does Poncho really prefer throwing up in the car to taking a pill? I realize he doesn’t have to clean up the mess, but throwing up, or a long trip where you feel like you’re going to throw up, is not that pleasant.

Liverwurst was the trick for my bullmastiff.

With my two goldens retrievers it was a struggle to get them to take any meds They some how seen through my feeble efforts to given their necessary meds.