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does your vet let you inject?

L

Lolly's mum

Mama Doe
i often think that injecting a bun is alot less stressfull than trying to give medication oraly.

i'm a single bunny-mummy and to try and hold a rabbit who is wriggling for england, with a syringe between my teeth to give stuff oraly is really difficult. i also find that the bun gets quite distressed and think that it would be alot better all round if i could inject. i realise that some meds can't be injected (eg fibreplex) but emeprid/metacam etc could be. i'd be happy to undertake training.

what do you guys think?
 
I have training but I find it exceptionally stressful for me amd get very panicked, and some of my bunnies just can't be injected by me and sit still, so I only tend to do it when a, there is no other option, b, someone and hold the bunny still or c, the bunny is too sick to move so doesn't need to be held.

I have one at the moment who we had to decide between oral Baytril and Metranidazole and Injectable Penicillin, and theoretically I would have wanted the injectable, but he would never cope with that and he won't be held by anyone else and no one else can inject so he's ahd to ahve the oral meds.

I would discuss it with your vets and see what they say.
 
I do all injections myself and have done for years. If I need any POM drugs I can also call the surgery and order whatever I need and it's ready for collection the next day. This avoids the stress of a visit to the surgery for conditions I'm able to treat myself so is better all round. I keep an emergency buffer supply of meds then order more as soon as they're used.

I have been looking after rabbits for a very long time and have a very good relationship with my bunny-savvy vet and we've built up a mutual trust. I think vets need to be careful about adopting this policy. For the less experienced, it's probably a good idea to take bunny along for an initial diagnosis then allow you to administer daily injections to complete the course of treatment without the need to return to the surgery daily, especially if the surgery isn't local - which many specialist surgeries are not.
 
Yep I inject its a lot easier when on abx every three days rather than going to the vets. I'm sure they would let you if you asked and a vet nurse would train you.
 
Yes I can inject our bunnies if needs be but most of them are on oral medication. With things like metacam and Septrin most of the bunnies taking it will happily take it straight from the syringe orally and consider it a treat :D I find baytril is the only real one difficult to get in orally and even then it is soon forgotten about with a bit of fuss and a treat afterwards
 
Yep my previous vet taught me several years ago so when I moved practice they let me carry on...although I did lose the plot a bit when I first needed to give penicillin so went back in and had a lesson with the nurse and she showed me a much better technique. It's come in useful several times, I've frequently injected engemycin and penicillin, plus I find that Baytril is actually a very good drug when it is injected daily at high doses...I wouldn't want to give it orally though!
 
Yes. But for most things we find it easier to use oral meds and put the medicine on something tasty. Buckley is not the type of rabbit who takes kindly to being held still while anyone does anything.
 
I think it's something you'd really need to talk about with your vet. My personal feeling is that if you have trouble holding a rabbit still so you can syringe feed them you'd probably have trouble getting them to stay still so you can safely inject them, that might not be the case for everyone though.

Have you tried taking the rabbit out of his/her usual environment to syringe medicine? I find it much easier to do claw clipping and that sort of thing if I take my rabbits inside because they struggle less in a strange place.
 
nice to know that some of you do inject, as someone said i would carry on the treatment following a consultataion not diagnose and treat without vets opinion. maybe i'll talk to the practice and see what they say.
 
My vet has let me inject Cookie before. He taught me how, and I did her two further injections she needed, to minimise her visits to the vets. I was really proud of myself when I did them. That feeling of pushing through the point of resistance is not particularly nice, but far less stressful for me than trying to give oral meds with these bunnies. My previous buns took their medicine fine, but these 3 are divas :lol:
 
I haven't had the need to give any of my rabbit much medication before, as they've been quite healthy. I know how to do injections as I've been a vet nurse apprentice for a couple of months. When ever I've had the need to give oral medications to my rabbits (the very few times) it's usually not been too much of a problem. When ever I give my oldes bun metacam (he has arthrisis) he just wants more! I think he likes the taste of it.:lol:
 
My previous vet taught me to inject and my current vet is happy to allow me to continue. It makes more sense than stressing a bun out taking him to the vet every day for a jab. My Bridge Bun Dylan had oral metacam as he got used to taking it and I find Baytril easy to give orally if it's mixed with a tiny amount of ribena or similar.

I find it much easier to inject my cats than to give them a tablet. With bunnies it doesn't make that much difference so far as administering the drug is concerned.
 
I prefer to do meds orally - but can inject and frequently do with things like subcut fluids, or when a particular med is better that way.

However I do not do penicillin as it is such a **** to get in - even the vets can use several attempts with a thick skinned bun - and that is just wasteful if at home - so I always take them in for that.
 
parsnipbun said:
I prefer to do meds orally - but can inject and frequently do with things like subcut fluids, or when a particular med is better that way.

However I do not do penicillin as it is such a **** to get in - even the vets can use several attempts with a thick skinned bun - and that is just wasteful if at home - so I always take them in for that.
Click to expand...

I'm so glad I read this. My vet lets me do penicillin injections at home but I hate it, I just struggle with it so much and now I've read this I'm hoping it's the penicillin rather than me :oops: i panic so much about it getting in their fur and them ingesting it and I seem to get it in and it leaks out again, nightmare. Mischa doesn't sit still either, I get him into the right position, pick up the needle and he moves. Last time I did it he moved back as I injected and after he wasn't right, we aren't sure if it was my injection giving (though i seem to remember my vet assuring me it wasn't), some reaction or a brewing ear infection but it's completely put me off and the thought now instills fear into me.
 
Luckily I haven't had to but I think my vet would be happy to train me if we needed to as I inject my diabetic rat twice a day. So far the food trick has worked and was far less stressful for both of us. :D
 
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