[Dailydrool] Necessity is the mother of invention

[Randi Zeehandelaar]

In the 3 weeks I've had Otis (an 8 year old rescue from BARNI) he's been to
the vets twice.  The last time was for hot spots, which turned out to be due
to fleas.  The vet gave me some antibiotic pills since Otis had been biting
himself.  Ah, but how to get him to take the pills.  Wrestle a 58-lb drooler
to the ground and shove the pill down his throat???  Riiiiiiight!  I checked
out all the local pet stores but all the pill pocket products had wheat.  I
went to a local high-end pet store and we came up with an ingenious solution
that I wanted to pass along.  I bought a bag of raw food, which comes in
disks.  I cut the disks in quarters, flattened the disk, put the pill in the
middle of the disk and then surrounded the pill with the raw food.  I then
offered the disguised pill as a regular treat.  He scarfed it down without
so much as a questioning look.

Being a new basset owner has been a combination of joy and frustration.
He's an intelligent, loving animal with a mind of his own.  He loves the
other dogs on the block and we've had play dates with the boxer mix next
door and the malimute down the street.  The feral cats owned by one of our
neighbors (the carriers of the aforementioned fleas) have stopped coming
around, which pleases me no end.  What's frustrating me the most is the
challenge of keeping his ears clean.  I made up a batch of Power Blue but
getting him to hold still long enough to administer it is a whole different
matter.  Any hints on how to wrangle a 58-lb dog when you live by yourself?

Thanks,
Randi
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