Patients and caregivers alike appreciate medications with packaging that is easy to open and use. Ease of use is also considered the cat's meow for veterinary packaging. Obvious as that sounds, it's not always the case. The packaging for a popular liquid flea-and-tick treatment for pets serves as a good example, according to Dr. Rae Ann Van Pelt, DVM and co-founder of 21-year-old Family Pet Animal Hospital in Chicago. “First, you have to open and remove an application tube out of a blister pack,” she explains. “Then there's a rigid, triangular plastic tube that is only hard on one side. You can't peel the softer portion of the tube off because you have to pour the medication onto the dog through a little spout once you've broken a little perforation on the applicator tip. The liquid tends to get all over your hands, and the treatment itself is a chemical that you don't want on your hands. You have to make sure you get the full dosage printed on the package. Most pet owners are wary about therapeutic-type chemicals, and they get upset when they get it on their hands.”