5 Ways to Remember to Give Dog Pills On Time

I just gave Ruby her 6:00 PM pills and it got me thinking that remembering to give the medication and often remembering to give medication at a certain time is incredibly important if you have a dog with canine epilepsy.  Missing even one dose or being late in administering medication can potentially trigger a seizure in your dog.  Life gets busy and it is so easy to forget so you must have a strategy to help you remember so you can make sure you don’t forget. The medication that Ruby is on requires that I give it to her exactly every 12 hours. That required a lifestyle shift for me, where I had to come up with ways that I was not forgetting to do so at exactly 6:00 AM and exactly at 6:00 PM everyday.  

If you need to figure out a way to help you remember to give your dog's medication or supplements, either just did they take them that day or if you have to be on a specific schedule, like I have to be on for Ruby, here are my top five ways to remember to give your dog their pills.

Number 1.  I use my alarm on my phone. This has been the best way for me to remember. I have my alarm set for 6:00 AM and 6:00 PM every single day. My phone alarm has been the best tool that I use to remember to give Ruby her pills on time. Even though this strategy works for me, not everybody uses their alarms on their phones or not everybody has a smartphone with an alarm. 

Number 2. Another option dog owners use that have dogs that have to take medications (sometimes multiple medications) is a pill organizer that shows the days of the week.  You can prefill it for the week and then visually see if the particular medication for that day has been administered.  You can easily get a pill container at any pharmacy, any Target or Walmart, or on amazon. 

Number 3 is using a whiteboard to help remember if you have given your dog their pills.  The white board is also a great strategy if you have more than one person responsible for giving medication as this could prevent you from accidentally double dosing your dog. I could see this especially being beneficial for dogs that have to have multiple medications throughout the day. Please watch the video below and you will see me demonstrating how to use the whiteboard to create a simple system to track when the pills have been given.

Number 4 way is using a plain notebook.  You can create a medication schedule every day using just plain notebook paper.  Write down the time and medication (and dose if needed) for your dog for that day.  When the first dose has been given, cross it off on the notebook.  Keep this page open in the notebook and someplace visible like a kitchen counter so you are sure to see it throughout the day.  This also allows others to see if a dose has already been given to the dog if there is more than one person in the family that gives the pills. 

Number 5 is keeping the medication out on the counter in a space you are sure to see.  I keep Ruby’s meds in a corner of the kitchen counter next to the fridge. This ensures that I will visually see the medication bottle many times throughout the day and will hopefully catch my attention should I accidentally forget.  It sounds so simple but If medication is put away in a drawer it’s much easier to forget about it.  

I’m sure there are many other strategies and tips to make sure you don’t forget to give your dog their pills, but those are my top five.  If you do forget, don’t beat yourself up.  Your human and all of us have forgotten at one time or another.  Just use it as an opportunity to make sure you figure out a strategy that will work best for you and your family to prevent you forgetting again in the future.  These are just some of the ways I have learned.  Thanks for learning with me as I continue to learn with Ruby.