FLAVORING

A great challenge in prescription medication is the fact that some patients, whether it is adults, children or even animals, simply do not like to take medication.  This dislike can exist because a child cannot stand the taste of an antibiotic or cough syrup or a cat or dog might refuse to swallow their medication.  Rarely is taking medicine an enjoyable experience.

With customized flavoring of medications, taking your medications doesn’t have to be a bad experience.  Each patient has certain likes and dislikes while others have difficulty swallowing pills.  Here at Medical Center Pharmacy, we treat each person as an individual in solving these problem issues with flavoring medication to suit their unique tastes.  TAKING MEDICATION DOES NOT HAVE TO BE UNPLEASANT.  MEDICINE DOES NOT HAVE TO TASTE BAD.

ADULTS & CHILDREN

At Medical Center Pharmacy, our compounding pharmacists have the ability to flavor and enhance the taste and color of a medicine to make it easier to swallow and thus comply with the prescribed course of treatment from your physician.

One of the prime candidates for flavoring would be a child who has trouble taking a prescription because of the taste.  That same child wouldn’t mind taking the same medication if it tasted like bubblegum, watermelon or even chocolate.  Medical Center compounding pharmacists work closely with physicians to even change the dosage form.  An example would be making the medicine into the form of a lollipop, gummy bear or even a frozen popsicle or lozenge.

Adults can also benefit from flavored medication.  Often as people age or deal with chronic illnesses, their taste preferences also change.  In these circumstances, Medical Center compounding pharmacists are able to alter or mask the flavor in order to make the medicine more agreeable, all without changing the medicine itself.  With antibiotics, for example, careful attention must be given to the measurement of pH to maintain the medicine’s stability.  If you prefer a distinct flavor or even no flavor at all, a customized compounded medication may be of help to you.

ANIMALS

Cats, dogs, and even exotic pets and zoo animals are also good candidates for flavored medications.  Cat lovers know that cats don’t like pills but that they love the taste of fish.  And dogs don’t easily take a squirt of traditional amoxicillin into their mouth, but they will readily take it if it is chicken flavored.

By working closely with both the pet owner and the veterinarian to find out a pet’s personal likes, at Medical Center, our pharmacists can customize a medication to fit the partiality of all kinds of animals.  For dogs, there are chicken, beef, cheese and liver and for cats, there is fish.  Horses enjoy molasses, alfalfa, cherry, apple and carrot flavored medications, while even birds, rodents and reptiles have their favorites.

And just like humans, some animals require alternate dosage forms like pastes, custards, pet biscuits and treats.  Cats are known for simply eating around a pill that the owner has tried to disguise in food.  By combining the right flavor and appearance, the stress of medicating your pet can be alleviated.

Ask your physician and/or call a pharmacist at Medical Center today to ask about flavored medications.  There is no guarantee that we can make taking medicine fun but we can certainly make it taste better and hopefully, make your life a little easier.