A tasty treat helps the medicine go down

26 Mar 2008 04:50 PM Robert Curtis has developed a device to help owners medicate their pets after spending hours unsuccessfully trying to persuade his German Shepherd to take her tablets.

The result – which he has now patented and trade marked - is TOOK IT! which he says is nigh on 100% successful and will be launched at the 36th International Exhibition of Inventions, New Techniques and Products of Geneva next month.

He is one of several inventors who will be exhibiting on the Wales Innovators Network (WIN) stand and hopes to licence the product for manufacture, marketing and distribution.

The Wales Innovators Network is funded and delivered directly by the Welsh Assembly Government and is designed to support, help and encourage individual Welsh inventors and innovators to turn their ideas into commercial reality.

TOOK IT! is a small receptacle filled with semi solid food – when the lid is lifted it leaves an indentation in the food where the tablet can be inserted and covered. The small slug of food containing the concealed medication can then be ejected on to the animal’s food bowl and swallowed whole. Robert said:

It’s quick and easy to use, the food containing and concealing the tablet is small enough to be ingested whole and doesn’t require chewing while the foodstuff masks the appearance, odour and flavour of the medication.

I can also vouch that it works – before this I’d try and conceal the tablets in my dog’s food, I’d even tried to insert the tablets in chunks of meat but it was incredibly messy and never worked.

Ieuan Wyn Jones, Minister for the Economy and Transport, said inventions from Wales had regularly been singled out for recognition with the Wales Innovators Network playing a key role in helping to turn innovative products into commercial reality.

The Network has been very successful in encouraging and supporting entrepreneurs and innovators of all ages to develop their ideas – in the past year alone more than 350 people have been helped and thirty nine new products have been taken to market.

Robert who lives in Wentloog, near Newport, also believes the system could be easily adapted for human use – particularly children or the elderly who may dislike or have difficulty taking tablets or capsules.

He said the support of the Wales Innovators Network had been invaluable in helping to bring his product to the market.

I have had other ideas in the past but didn’t get anywhere with them but the WIN provides you with the information you need while the meetings are a great way to meet like minded people and share information.

Related Links

http://new.wales.gov.uk/topics/businessandeconomy/?lang=en

http://new.wales.gov.uk/topics/businessandeconomy/start/?lang=en

http://new.wales.gov.uk/topics/businessandeconomy/help/?lang=en