Tricks and Treats: Our Favorite Strategies for Pilling Your Pets (2025)

Give your pet their pills in a special treat that’s not part of their regular meals, “especially when the medication is very bitter,” said Carlo Siracusa, a veterinary behavior specialist and professor at the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine. Otherwise the taste of the pill could cause them to avoid their normal, unadulterated food, and that can lead to additional health issues.

There are several commercial products that can help disguise your pet’s pill in a sticky, moldable treat. These include Pill Pockets (for dogs and cats), Pill Pouches (dogs only), and pill pastes. They’re easy to use and usually not too messy. Just stick the pill inside, and then sculpt the treat or paste around it.

Pill Pockets were “the only way we got our senior pup to take his pills,” Wirecutter software engineer Jasmine Kasheboon Khoury said. Writer Abigail Bailey said they also worked for her dogs, “but it took exactly two times for an old cat to figure out, start eating the pocket, and spit out the pill.”

My cats grew wise to Pill Pockets after a while, too, so I started sandwiching the gooey pill wad between two crunchy Temptations treats, to make the cat version of s’mores. Editor Christine Ryan has had some success with the same tactic. “That fooled greedy Bob for a while,” she said. As many cat companions know, however, these small victories are usually only temporary.

Eventually, and perhaps inevitably, when Pill Pockets no longer did the trick, Christine and I both turned to the sticky pill-masking paste from Tomlyn. “The bacon-flavored putty is novel enough that it worked pretty well when needed,” Christine said.

My dog, Dave, is fairly indiscriminate about which foods (and non-foods) he’ll eat, but he has a special fever for peanut butter, even when it’s globbed around a large, chalky allergy pill.

However, it turns out that a spoonful of peanut butter doesn’t always help the medicine go down. Shelagh McCaffrey, a veterinarian who specializes in hospice and palliative care, cautioned against using peanut butter for some medications, including the antibiotic doxycycline, which is prescribed for respiratory illness or tick-borne diseases. Peanut butter is so sticky that it can get caught in the throat, and if a medication like doxycycline gets stuck for a while, it can do harm to the esophagus, she said.

So if you use peanut butter, you should always be sure to follow it up with some food or water to push it down into your dog’s belly. And check the ingredients list before you give any peanut butter to your dog, to make sure it doesn’t contain xylitol. A sugar substitute, xylitol is toxic for dogs, so keep it well away from your pooch. Dave is a big fan of Costco’s Kirkland Signature Organic Peanut Butter, which contains only peanuts and salt.

Of course, peanut butter doesn’t have a monopoly on deliciousness. “When our dogs got older, we conned them into eating pills with cheese,” Abigail said. Depending on your pet’s food sensitivities, you can also hide pills in all sorts of foods, such as spray cheese, cream cheese, turkey, butter, tuna fish, and anchovies. However, some “proteins may not be a good option for pets with food allergies,” said Amy Nichelason, a veterinarian and professor at the University of Wisconsin.

Churu is a purée made with chicken or tuna mixed with tapioca starch (and other ingredients), and many cats find it irresistible. McCaffrey said she’s a fan of using liverwurst for dogs because it’s malleable and has a strong odor. Since dogs especially have a powerful sense of smell, the liverwurst’s odor might mask the presence of the pill, she explained.

If you do mix your pet’s meds into any kind of food, Nichelason said to make sure it’s “not their regular food and not in the same location as their regular food,” so they don’t develop a food aversion.

And while dogs may have a slightly better reputation for cooperating than cats do, they can be challenging in their own right. Wirecutter writer Evan Dent’s dog, Winnie, has cheeked pills so many times that he’ll “find pills strewn around the house, with no idea what day they were from.” Luckily, Winnie can take a day off from her meds here and there, but that’s not the case for all dogs.

The experts we spoke with all described a strategy I’ve been doing for years. Julie Liu, a veterinarian and cat-behavior consultant, called it the “three meatball trick,” where you give three treats to your pet in quick succession. The first and last treats are unadulterated, while the middle one has the pill hidden inside. The key is to feed all three to your pet quickly, “so they don’t have time to chew suspiciously and find the med,” Liu said. It’s like a food-based game of three-card monte, with the optimistic hope that your dog or cat doesn’t wise up to the ruse.

My dog always gets greedy when he sees the next treat, and this helps to distract him from the presence of the hidden pill. “Having the follow-up treat ready to go incentivizes them to swallow the medicated treat ASAP so they make sure not to miss out,” Nichelason said.

Siracusa recommended creating a special routine, so your pet gets their three treats on a regular schedule.

It also helps to give the meds as an appetizer right before meal time, “so your pet is more food motivated to eat whatever you’re using to hide the medication,” Liu said. Dave has come to expect his peanut butter–wrapped allergy pill as a little hors d’oeuvre before breakfast. But check with your vet first to make sure feeding before meals is okay.

Sometimes a pill is just too large to disguise, or a whole pill is too big of a dose for your pet. A sharp pill cutter, such as the JohnBee Pill Splitter, can break pills up into smaller bits that are easier to hide in a treat. Like most blades, this one can get dull after a lot of use. So if you notice it’s not cutting as well as it used to, it might be time for a replacement.

I’ve also used a cat claw clipper to cut pills in the past, but I’ve found this method to be less precise than a dedicated splitter, especially if the pill isn’t scored down the middle.

Keep in mind that not all pills should be split (or crushed), so check with your vet first to make sure it’s okay. You don’t want to cut extended-release tablets, for example, because they’re absorbed over time, and cutting them might counteract their time-based properties, according to McCaffrey.

Also, cutting or crushing pills can make their bitter taste more noticeable, which might cause your pet to be even more reluctant to take future doses. “When possible, use a veterinary formulation of the medication prescribed. Veterinary formulations tend to be more palatable to dogs and cats than human formulations, and the size and concentration of the pills is adjusted to fit the animal’s needs,” Siracusa said.

We haven’t tried this method firsthand, but several experts we spoke with suggested putting liquids, powders, or tablets inside lockable gel caps, like those from Torpac. These are “empty, flavorless, and odorless gelatin capsules that come in a variety of sizes,” Liu said. They help hide the taste and smell of your pet’s medications.

Nichelason said she also recommends gel caps to some of her clients. In addition to hiding the terrible taste of tablets, gel caps “can also allow you to give multiple medications at one time in one capsule (depending on size and assuming the medications don’t interact),” she explained.

But you don’t want to overload the gel caps, either. “You want a size that’s comfortable for your pet to swallow,” Liu said. So you might need to use a few of the smaller sizes rather than a single large one. If you think gel caps might be the answer to your pilling troubles, Liu has an excellent guide to using gel caps on her site.

If your pet simply refuses to swallow pills, check with your vet to see if the medication can be compounded into a form that may be easier to administer, such as a liquid or a chew. Some medications can even be compounded into a transdermal formulation that you rub onto the inside of your pet’s ear, so “you don’t even need to put anything in their mouth,” McCaffrey said.

I had my cat Tigerette’s kitty Prozac compounded into an ear cream because giving her pills only made her existing anxiety worse. I would cover my finger with plastic wrap and rub the cream on the inside of her ear every day. I did this while kissing her head to make it seem like part of my regular (though perhaps annoying) affections.

Christine said she also switched her cat, Bob, to a transdermal cream for his prednisolone. “That’s worked pretty well, but it does make the tips of his ears flip over — a known side effect. It’s harmless, but I also worry that his ear might be getting sore, so we’re gonna go back to the pills for a while,” she said.

To make the meds more palatable, you may also be able to experiment with different forms and flavors. “Many compounded pharmacies will offer medication-free flavors of chews, tablets, and liquids,” to see whether there’s a version your pet prefers, Nichelason said. “Of course, that is no guarantee they will still like it once the medication is added, but it can at least provide some guidance,” she said.

If your dog or cat is still refusing to take their meds, try to avoid shoving anything down their throat. “If your pet is scared, anxious, or stressed because you’re trying to cram in a medication, it not only impacts their emotional welfare but damages the human-animal bond,” Liu said.

And forcing a pill down a pet’s throat “can result in injuries to the animal and the handler,” Siracusa warned. “It also increases stress, anxiety, and aggression that will make long-term treatments impossible to administer,” he said, because your pet may grow more suspicious of you over time.

Other coercive methods include restraining a pet (by scruffing or pinning them down) or sneaking pills into their mouth while they’re sleeping. These methods can also sow distrust and cause increased stress — for you and for your pet.

A trainer or veterinarian who’s versed in cooperative care may be able to help if nothing else is working. Cooperative care “is a specific type of training that facilitates handling of anxious or fearful veterinary patients,” Siracusa said.

The concept is based on positive reinforcement, and it supports “the principles of choice, control, and voluntary movement,” according to Liu. Rather than forcing your pet to do something they don’t like, this approach gives them agency, and it can help build trust between the two of you.

Look for a professional near you who’s trained in cooperative care, or ask your vet to recommend someone. These experts “can also help with other common stressors such as handling for husbandry or vet visit procedures,” Liu said.

Cooperative Care: Seven Steps to Stress-Free Husbandry, by psychologist and dog trainer Deborah Jones, is a great starting point if you want to read up on this approach and try it yourself. I’m currently using the book to help tackle my next project: teaching Dave to stop worrying and love the bath.

Good luck, everybody. You’ve got this.

This article was edited by Harry Sawyers.

Further reading:

• Safe Peanut Butter for Dogs: A Guide to Choosing the Right Option
• Medication Training for Your Cat: All About Gel Caps!
• Oil-Based Compounding Flavors More Accepted by Feline Patients

1. Amy Nichelason, DVM, DABVP in canine and feline practice, clinical assistant professor, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Veterinary Medicine, email interview, April 1, 2025

2. Carlo Siracusa, DVM, veterinary behavior specialist, associate professor of clinical animal behavior and welfare, University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine, email interview, April 1, 2025

3. Julie Liu, DVM, veterinarian and cat behavior consultant, owner, My Family Cat, email interview, March 30, 2025

4. Shelagh McCaffrey, DVM, certified hospice and palliative care veterinarian, practice owner of Senior Pet Vet, phone interview, January 22, 2025