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Snuffles, Baytril and a struggle

H

Homer

Young Bun
Hi all,

The other day I posted about Bart having some snot/sneezing going on.

Anyway yesterday we managed to get him into the vets and after being a git at the vets he was diagnosed with the snuffles! The vet explained it is something that lives in them and can be brought on by stress, but he's had a stress free life... not sure what could have changed around him.

Fast forward to this morning, and we tried to give him his .5ml of baytril and he would not have ANY of it! We tried on the floor [laminate, slidy so he can't get away], the rug, the sofa, his bed, his cage, nothing! He would not let us anywhere near him with the syringe, any time we got close he wriggled like nothing else and managed to get away.

I didn't want to hold him too tight incase I hurt him so I don't know what to do?! We're going to phone the vets today unless somebody has some good ideas and say we can't give him the baytril orally because he runs at the speed of light!

Any ideas guys?! We want our fuzz ball to be well again, I cleared snot off his shnozz this morning :(
 
Can't say I have mate, is that likely to work? He'll probably let me do it but keeping him in it is another matter!
 
Can you not get someelse to hold him while you give him his baytril. I do this when I have to give Buddy his. Let them settle and feel comfortable before trying it and then give him a tiny treat afterwards. Buddy has a slice of carrot after his baytril.

It also helps if you are feeling calm as rabbits can pick up on how you feel. Doing the dog whisper helps and have a mental picture in your mind of things are going to happen before you start. Calm and confident helps.

Good luck!
 
I have been having to give Joe Baytril everyday for weeks and it was getting more and more a wrestling match every day, i'd have little conversations with him telling him there was only going to be one winner - me! Although he certainly got his own back where possible, i thought he'd broke my nose one mornig with a particularyl nast headbut.

Anway, the best bet is to lay a big towel on the floor, then pop bun on to it towards the front end flip back end of towel over his body, the front end up over his front paws then wrap him up like a fajita.

Or, pop him up on the worktop or a table, until they get used to it suddenly being up there can be enough to subdue them for a minute to give you time to do the syringe.

You also need to put the syringe into the side of their mouth behind the big front teeth not from the front.

Baytril tastes absolutel vile apprently, really bitter so dilute it down with some fruit sqash. I put the baytril in the syringe first then draw up a bit of neat squash afterwards and give it a shake.

Good luck and hope he's better soon :wave:
 
cooldarls said:
Can you not get someelse to hold him while you give him his baytril. I do this when I have to give Buddy his. Let them settle and feel comfortable before trying it and then give him a tiny treat afterwards. Buddy has a slice of carrot after his baytril.

It also helps if you are feeling calm as rabbits can pick up on how you feel. Doing the dog whisper helps and have a mental picture in your mind of things are going to happen before you start. Calm and confident helps.

Good luck!
Click to expand...

It was me and the girlfriend this morning trying with no success :(

We got him nice and calm and while I held him, she tried to inject the baytril into the side of his mouth and boy can he shift! I let go as I didn't want to hurt his spine :(

I started confident and ended up in despair :oops:

I will try everything when I get home from work guys! He missed out his injection this morning, will it do much harm? One way or another he is getting his evening one today!!
 
Homer said:
Hi all,

The other day I posted about Bart having some snot/sneezing going on.

Anyway yesterday we managed to get him into the vets and after being a git at the vets he was diagnosed with the snuffles! The vet explained it is something that lives in them and can be brought on by stress, but he's had a stress free life... not sure what could have changed around him.

Fast forward to this morning, and we tried to give him his .5ml of baytril and he would not have ANY of it! We tried on the floor [laminate, slidy so he can't get away], the rug, the sofa, his bed, his cage, nothing! He would not let us anywhere near him with the syringe, any time we got close he wriggled like nothing else and managed to get away.

I didn't want to hold him too tight incase I hurt him so I don't know what to do?! We're going to phone the vets today unless somebody has some good ideas and say we can't give him the baytril orally because he runs at the speed of light!

Any ideas guys?! We want our fuzz ball to be well again, I cleared snot off his shnozz this morning :(
Click to expand...

Is he moulting at the moment? one of our bridges bunnies Beanie, used to suffer badly with snuffles when he was moulting - their immune system is lower at these times.

I had same trouble last week when our Django had to have a course of baytril, and trust me, trying to hold a Belgian Hare with arms and legs kicking out everywhere isn't easy, even with a towel and two people! :roll:
 
Last edited:
As the others have said a towel is the best bet as i have two buns on baytril at the moment and both of them are like lightning if i don't have a firm enough grip:lol:. If all else fails and this is a bit tricky but i cut a hole into a piece of apple saveing the bit i cut out. Inject the baytril into the hole and plug it back up with the cut out bit. I give this to them and the sweetness of the apple combats the bitterness of the baytril and they eat all of it.
All bunnys are different so just see what works best for yours. Hope this helps and good luck for tonight.:D
 
Has he got a favourite food that you can hide it in? Charlie loves banana so I mashed a bit of banana up and hid it in there - not a scrap left! Might be worth a try if he is getting upset with it. Good luck X
 
I'm not sure if you are injecting subcutaneously or dosing orally. If it is an injection he needs to be kept as still as possible to avoid hitting muscle or blood vessels.

If it is orally then the burrito towel wrap is the best option. We have one who can be difficult to contain but have found using an armchair can help if the towel is opened out on the seat then face the bun towards the back of the chair. The back and armrests form a temporary restraining area. When wrapped have one person hold from the rear with the buns bottom pressed against the body as when they try to avoid taking the meds they will wriggle backwards to avoid the syringe. They usually surrender when they realise there is no way out.

All the other advice on behind the teeth, treat etc. is good. Being a member of the taster club I can vouch for how bad Baytril tastes.
 
Well update we tried all the suggestions here but still had no luck so we took him back to the vets who happily helped us out just as they were about to closed!

They showed us a different technique to pick him up (I was doing it wrong - I feel terrible!!) and how to make a proper bunny burrito.

This morning we did it within 5 minutes, he goes into the bunny box to reduce stress (he just wanders in quite happily) he then goes onto the table ontop of a towel, turned into a burrito and eventually we get the baytril in.

And then he has a lump of juicy carrot!

So we're getting there, but table, bunny burrito seems to be a good combination.

I feel terrible every time though, especially because I was picking him up wrong (not holding his bum)

sigh :oops::(
 
Well update

He decided that baytril was really bad, managed to escape from every grip we were showed, bunny burrito, the whole lot, to the extent of jumping off the bloody table :evil:

Anyway at the moment we are filling the syringe, and then hiding the tip of the syringe in a little bit of carrot and when he goes to bite BAM! in goes the baytril

Unfortunately he is wising up to this one quickly, the vet told us to try bread, but he didn't fall for that one either.

What else can we hide this stuff in?!
 
you sure thats a bunny you got there and not a kangaroo?????:shock::shock:
My Lily Shane is a good girl.......she takes her baytril cos her snuffles constantly reoccurs....when shes really bad, she gets the baytril.She knows the score!!
I just pop her on her back ever so slightly...and she swallows!!
Im not saying we never had problems.......
 
I was having the same problem with Pipkin. 1st of all the vet reduced the amount of baytril down to 2mls but at the same time made it stronger. Then I bought Beaphar Munching Sticks, these are really long treats which I half & squirt 2mls of the Baytril onto one half. Pipkin happily eats the baytril half while her husbun Munchkin happily eats the untreated half. In fact Pipkin now runs to me when she hears me shake the medicine bottle instead of running in the other direction :D
 
yvette i'm pretty sure he is just a very small very fuzzy kangeroo! i tried this morning with no luck so i'm going to get some banana at lunchtime and try again.

kipper where do you get these treats from mate?! give them a try too!!
 
our vet swears by putting neat ribena in with the baytril in the syringe to make it taste less bitter, also putting it inside apple, squirting it onto spring greens/other favourite strong veg like spinach, bunny burritos often work (as in wrapping in a towel, asl omake sure you putting in the gap between teeth at the side of mouth while holding head if you are trying to push into the front you wont get past the teeth!!! yo ucan try a bit of apple juice too in thebaytril to sweeten it.or a tiny bit of honey. x
 
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