Home-Made Soft Treats for Pills Recipe

By Trish Phillips

My dog Opie has to take several medications twice a day. Some he will eat right along with his kibble. But his seizure medication and EFAs (Essential Fatty Acids) are large capsules -- and he does not like them. Further, his seizure medication has a caution on the bottle: "Swallow whole. Do not chew or break open." Try explaining that to a dog, even one as smart as Opie.

I know how to "pill" a dog, although pushing the capsules down his throat is not a pleasant experience for either one of us. I can bribe him by hiding the medications in cheese or slices of hot dog (which, unfortunately, he does not swallow whole). I've found that the Greenies Pill Pockets(R) work best. He likes them. But giving four large capsules a day using Pill Pockets got expensive quite fast - a bag costing around $5 only lasted about a week. So, I went online and found a few recipes... and then I tweaked them to find the consistency and flavors he likes best. Here are what I came up with.

As an added bonus, Floyd the cat likes both of these also! I'm not exactly sure, but I think the cost for each is about a quarter... much less than the almost $6 per bag for the Greenies. Let us know if you have variations that your pet likes!