A greyhound in FL is going to have his leg amputated on April 10th (He will share an ampuversary with Nixon!) but is on pain meds now.  He's been on Tramadol for 3 months (they tried radiation and bisphophonates but the leg has a hairline fracture so he hasn't used the leg in 8 weeks) and this past week has started to refuse to take it.

Taylor has been taking two Tramadol 3 times a day for the past 3 months (now 2-1/2 pills 4 times a day the past week).

Up until a few days ago, sticking my finger in the peanut butter jar, letting him lick it, and then diving back into the jar and dropping 2 pills pills onto the glob worked. He would lick my finger clean.

For the past week, there is nothing I can put the pills in that he will eat. If he gets it in his mouth, he starts drooling like crazy and shaking his head and spitting them out all over the place.

Now he won't even lick plain peanut butter. Or liverwurst making a meatball. Or canned food.

I've had to pill him a few times, and that's a struggle. Drooling like crazy. Shaking his head. Running away.

A friend suggested putting the pills in a capsule. That's the only way she could get her dog to take it due to the taste. So I called over to the pharmacy where I got the Amicar today, and he said he would give me some capsules (2 different sizes) to try, and if it works, he would order some out for me to buy. I went over and he gave me around a dozen of each size.

The Tramadol is too big to go into a capsule. I used a pill spliter, but 5 halves just barely fit into 2 of the smaller capsule. I quartered them and fit the pieces barely into a bigger capsule.

The question for you: do you know of any way to crush and then pour the proper crushed dose into a capsule?

I know drooling is often a side effect for kitties and happens in people and dogs due to the bitter taste.  I've asked if the Tramadol is Tramadol HCL and it is not listed as the extended release.  So can it be pulverized in a coffee grinder or mortar and pestle and then loaded into the capsule?