Anyone who’s ever tried to jam a colossal tablet down the throat of an increasingly outraged cat will know that administering medication to pets and other animals is seldom an easy task.

Many people resort to crushing pills and adding it to food, however most animals – cats, dogs, pigs and horses in particular – have highly sensitive noses that enable them to detect traces of medication in a mountain of their favourite treat. Wily medicine-avoiders will sniff out medication-laced food and either reject it or eat some but not all. The latter scenario makes it hard to know how much medication they’ve actually had. What if they didn’t get much at all? If you try to give them another pill, will it be too much and will it make them sick?

Disguising the taste, smell and texture
A compounding pharmacist can help by disguising the smell and taste of animal medication and making it up in a more palatable form. We can make up medications as an easy-to-administer liquid or tasty paste in flavours like, chicken, tuna, beef and peanut butter. If your pet has a sweet tooth we also offer flavours such as apple, honey and molasses (for horses).

We regularly work with vets across Australia to do just this. It’s easy to organise and in most cases, it won’t cost any more than your pet’s regular medication. Just ask your vet to give us a call for an informal chat to get the ball rolling.

Hard to find medications
Sometimes medication wholesalers simply run out of stock and sometimes manufacturers make commercial decisions to stop making less popular medications. If you or your vet is having trouble finding your animal’s regular medication, we might be able to help by making up supplies in our fully licensed and accredited laboratory.

Your animal friend can continue on their regular course without switching to a less-than-ideal alternative medication or compromising their health.