Simple Ideas for Remembering Your Dog’s Medication

As you may have read on one of my prior posts, on September, 2019, Ginger was diagnosed with Congestive Heart Failure.  If you have not, you can read more about it by clicking here.

She was already on Pimobendan due to her heart enlarging but because she developed a clot near her heart and the occurrence of other significant changes, her cardiologist put her on more medications.  So along with the Pimobendan, she is now on Lasix, Lomotil, Enalapril and Plavix.  She started seeing a Holistic Vet in September as well.  The holistic doctor also put her on herbs for renal support, Cardiotrophin PMG and a tincture that includes, Dandelion, Skullcap, Hawthorne, Turmeric as well as some other medicinal herbs.

Keeping up with her prescriptions and treatments can be a daunting task.  Because CHF is a serious condition, these medications must be taken as directed.  To ensure that I do not miss a dose or run out of her medications, I have shared below what I have found to be helpful.

• Purchase a pillbox.  The pillbox I purchased is a nice size and I keep it at home.  It includes slots for the morning, afternoon and evenings.  When it looks like I am running low, I take the boxes out and start filling them up with her medication.  I have two boxes, which allows me to see two weeks worth of medications.   I take each pill already dosed out and place them in each box.  This gives me a visual of what medications Ginger has and how much of it she has left.  If I’m low, then I know it’s time to re-order.

• Tie your medication doses with a daily activity.  For example, I give Ginger her medication with food, it is easy for me to remember and she never misses a dose.
• Set up an alarm. You can do this on your alarm clock and/or cell phone.  If you have a smart phone, you can set up multiple alarms throughout the day.
• Typing up a schedule/medication list can be very useful.   I have one typed up that includes all her medications, proper dosages and the times that they are given.  I keep it near all her medications so that if for some reason I am not home or running late, anyone in my household can see what medication she needs to take next.

• There are also medication reminder apps that are available to download.  There is Pill Reminder by MediSafe and another one called MyMed Schedule. There are many others that you can search for in the App store, you may, however, have to pay to download them.

• Lastly, they also sell pill boxes with alarms already built in.  Some are small enough that you can carry them.  They come in different sizes ranging from 1 to 7 days or even more for pill storage.  The alarm systems on them may be sound, flash or you may even customize the alarm.  These are great especially if you are travelling.  One of those are the e-Pill  Pocket Pillbox  Portable Pill Dispenser sold on Amazon.

Ginger’s medications are very important as they help her heart work efficiently. Failing to give her medications as prescribed may result in serious medical problems which can increase long-term medical costs so the last thing I want to do is run out.  I have heard stories of individuals running out of meds, only to have to take their pup to a 24 hour emergency hospital.  Imagine what that will cost?  Following some of these simple suggestions can eliminate a lot of unnecessary stress.

I hope some of these suggestions are helpful, please feel free to share any others in the comment section below.