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It's Biolapis, Patrick... Not ricin. *sigh*

BettyLu

BettyLu

Alpha Buck
Has anyone got any tips of getting a bun to take bio lapis.
I've tried :

Mixing with water - he won't drink it
Sprinkling on food - he won't eat it
Mashing in banana - refused
Syringing - OMG MUM WHAT ARE YOU DOING OMG OMG STRESS SNORT STRESS SQUEAK GET OFF ME


:( he really hates it but he must have it whilst he's on penicillin.
Someone give me a magical answer pleaseeee
X
 
We've always just put it on their pellets.
Could you try dissolving it in a little water and wetting greens with it?
 
I just syringe feed it to my bunny. She hates it and won't drink or eat anything that smells like it. I just have to do it the hard way, but with time it gets easier and they don't fight it so hard. I guess that some bunnies just hate it and there's really nothing you can do about it:?
 
I was having a similar problem with my bunny refusing to eat or be syringed her recovery food. Someone suggested mixing it with ellas baby food (the carrot one or the broccoli one were recommended, and Nena liked both). I didn't think it'd work but she wolfs it down. Definitely worth trying. The carrot one smells really lovely, I can see why she'd want to eat it! I just mix the powder directly with the baby food puree and it comes out slightly thicker, but she likes it like that.
 
Thanks for the suggestions!


yaretzi said:
I was having a similar problem with my bunny refusing to eat or be syringed her recovery food. Someone suggested mixing it with ellas baby food (the carrot one or the broccoli one were recommended, and Nena liked both). I didn't think it'd work but she wolfs it down. Definitely worth trying. The carrot one smells really lovely, I can see why she'd want to eat it! I just mix the powder directly with the baby food puree and it comes out slightly thicker, but she likes it like that.
Click to expand...


This is a genius idea. Will get some tonight!
 
I used to put bluebells meds in a teaspoon of Ella's kitchen as they were in tablet form, works every time.
 
I tried this idea.. bought 3 different flavours, all were rejected. I'm now convinced he's doing it on purpose to annoy me. *shakes fist*
 
You'd need to run this by someone more experienced in case there are drawbacks, but what about seeing if he'll eat Protexin pellets?
They are made by the same company as Biolapis and contain the same probiotics.

Some commercial pellets also contain saccharomyces incl. Oxbow & Excel Junior, but probably not enough for this situation.
 
BettyLu said:
I tried this idea.. bought 3 different flavours, all were rejected. I'm now convinced he's doing it on purpose to annoy me. *shakes fist*
Click to expand...

I'm sorry but you seem to find yourself in the same position as I was with my last bun. She was just not having it. In the end I just had to pin her between my knees and syringe it in. Not pleasant but you can get it done quickly with practice.
 
BettyLu said:
I tried this idea.. bought 3 different flavours, all were rejected. I'm now convinced he's doing it on purpose to annoy me. *shakes fist*
Click to expand...

Little sod! What a shame :( It's worth trying again every day or so as you might find he decides he wants it as he picks up. It's certainly easier, so the sooner he starts co-operating the better!
 
Thanks for the new suggestions folks!

Coineanach said:
I'm sorry but you seem to find yourself in the same position as I was with my last bun. She was just not having it. In the end I just had to pin her between my knees and syringe it in. Not pleasant but you can get it done quickly with practice.
Click to expand...

When do you know if its *too* stressful for them? I blame the fact hes a rex and his fur is so silky hes like a slippery seal and just slides out of towels and things :/
 
BettyLu said:
When do you know if its *too* stressful for them? I blame the fact hes a rex and his fur is so silky hes like a slippery seal and just slides out of towels and things :/
Click to expand...

For me my ethics come into play if it's going to be a long term thing. I don't mind putting my Nena through 6 weeks of syringe feeding medication and injecting every 2 days because there's a high likelihood she'll be fine for a good while after this. If she gets another abscess I'd probably put her through it again, but if it was something that would never get better or it got to the point where she was having reoccurances every few weeks or months, I'd think about whether it was ethical to continue then.

Sorry I haven't checked your other threads, what is it that he's on penicillin for? Is it depocillin or penicillin? Is he eating okay apart from the biolapis? How long do they estimate he's got to be on the depo/penicillin for? It's a shame that he's getting so stressed by it, it must be heartbreaking to have to do it to him :(
 
yaretzi said:
For me my ethics come into play if it's going to be a long term thing. I don't mind putting my Nena through 6 weeks of syringe feeding medication and injecting every 2 days because there's a high likelihood she'll be fine for a good while after this. If she gets another abscess I'd probably put her through it again, but if it was something that would never get better or it got to the point where she was having reoccurances every few weeks or months, I'd think about whether it was ethical to continue then.

Sorry I haven't checked your other threads, what is it that he's on penicillin for? Is it depocillin or penicillin? Is he eating okay apart from the biolapis? How long do they estimate he's got to be on the depo/penicillin for? It's a shame that he's getting so stressed by it, it must be heartbreaking to have to do it to him :(
Click to expand...


Snuffles...
He's been on it for about 3 weeks now I think, lost track tbh, might be 4. Injecting him every day. He's eating ok apart from now he just won't go near his veg if its been in his bowl as he assumes I've put the biolapis on it. He seems fine and happy in himself, he hates being picked up anyway, but he just gets SO distressed when I try to syringe feed, starts squeaking which makes me feel terrible.
 
BettyLu said:
Snuffles...
He's been on it for about 3 weeks now I think, lost track tbh, might be 4. Injecting him every day. He's eating ok apart from now he just won't go near his veg if its been in his bowl as he assumes I've put the biolapis on it. He seems fine and happy in himself, he hates being picked up anyway, but he just gets SO distressed when I try to syringe feed, starts squeaking which makes me feel terrible.
Click to expand...

:( How awful, I understand why you feel worried about it. He's obviously not happy being syringe fed but it has to be done, poor thing! I wish they understood that we're only trying to help them.

I'm not very knowledgeable about treatment, but I wonder whether he actually needs the biolapis if he's only on one antibiotic? Nena is on depocillin injections (admittedly only every 48 hours not 24) and baytril twice a day, and she's eating fine. If we start to introduce another antibiotic I think that's when we'd have to look into giving zantac/cisapride because of the sheer amount of antibiotics. Perhaps it's worth getting a better opinion on that? Also, zantac and cisapride do a very similar thing to biolapis - might be worth asking your vet if you could try those in case he's happier to eat them or even if you can inject them to avoid stressing him? The stress he's having is probably causing more trouble to him than the antibiotics without the biolapis!
 
Is it runny?

When Ludo was poorly and it was clear he was getting distressed with the syringe, we wiped the rest of the medication on his paws and he licked it off. :oops:
 
Hesperus said:
Is it runny?

When Ludo was poorly and it was clear he was getting distressed with the syringe, we wiped the rest of the medication on his paws and he licked it off. :oops:
Click to expand...

That's a point, I hadn't thought about the consistency of the biolapis. Perhaps using a slightly wider syringe and mixing it with the ellas kitchen might mean it's easier for him to swallow?
 
yaretzi said:
For me my ethics come into play if it's going to be a long term thing. I don't mind putting my Nena through 6 weeks of syringe feeding medication and injecting every 2 days because there's a high likelihood she'll be fine for a good while after this. If she gets another abscess I'd probably put her through it again, but if it was something that would never get better or it got to the point where she was having reoccurances every few weeks or months, I'd think about whether it was ethical to continue then.
Click to expand...

I agree with you to an extent, however my heart bun was on thrice daily syringed medication for five months. Once we found a way of doing it that kept her firmly pinned and with timing to a minimum it was a lot better and I would have kept on with it longer had her health not deteriorated. And she was a pretty stressy bun who did not appreciate being handled.

BettyLu said:
Snuffles...
He's been on it for about 3 weeks now I think, lost track tbh, might be 4. Injecting him every day. He's eating ok apart from now he just won't go near his veg if its been in his bowl as he assumes I've put the biolapis on it. He seems fine and happy in himself, he hates being picked up anyway, but he just gets SO distressed when I try to syringe feed, starts squeaking which makes me feel terrible.
Click to expand...

How are you syringe feeding, i.e. what position are you and bunny in? And how much liquid is there to get in?
 
Coineanach said:
I agree with you to an extent, however my heart bun was on thrice daily syringed medication for five months. Once we found a way of doing it that kept her firmly pinned and with timing to a minimum it was a lot better and I would have kept on with it longer had her health not deteriorated. And she was a pretty stressy bun who did not appreciate being handled.



How are you syringe feeding, i.e. what position are you and bunny in? And how much liquid is there to get in?
Click to expand...

I've tried a few ways, I find the most successful is wrap him in a towel best I can, sit on the sofa and rest him in between my legs then lean over him holding him firm with my legs and one arm then get the syringe in the gap at side of his mouth, only squeezing a little at a time in.
I have tried doing it kneeling on the floor but I find he struggles more, i assume because hes on the floor so knows he can run if he gets out of my grip.
 
Coineanach said:
I agree with you to an extent, however my heart bun was on thrice daily syringed medication for five months. Once we found a way of doing it that kept her firmly pinned and with timing to a minimum it was a lot better and I would have kept on with it longer had her health not deteriorated. And she was a pretty stressy bun who did not appreciate being handled.
Click to expand...

I probably should have worded my post better :oops:. It definitely does differ a lot between rabbits and also between owners. I would never think badly of anyone for keeping a bunny going for longer than I'd choose to, unless the bunny was unable to eat/walk/poo by itself and was in severe pain and never going to recover. Whilst the bunny is still able to enjoy normal bunny things, even if they need syringing/injecting several times a day, I don't think there's anything wrong with keeping going.
 
BettyLu said:
I've tried a few ways, I find the most successful is wrap him in a towel best I can, sit on the sofa and rest him in between my legs then lean over him holding him firm with my legs and one arm then get the syringe in the gap at side of his mouth, only squeezing a little at a time in.
I have tried doing it kneeling on the floor but I find he struggles more, i assume because hes on the floor so knows he can run if he gets out of my grip.
Click to expand...

Have you tried doing it on a countertop? We struggled with Nena (doing it in her shed, doing it on top of her run) until we decided to put her on the utility room counter on a blanket. We syringe feed her, and she's able to dig furiously at the blankets between syringe-fuls or when she wants to get grumpy! It really seems to help. She doesn't like it, but giving her the freedom to express her disgust :)lol:) seems to have made her tolerate it more. We also give her plenty of different food etc up there so we can #1 see what she's eating and #2 associate the syringe feeding with food so it's not too stressful for her!

Do you have someone who can hold him still for you? Just at the shoulders so he can't run off. Nena wriggles like mad if there isn't 2 people there. It's a pain but they can wander off once you've done the syringing, so it's not too time consuming for them. I couldn't syringe feed Nena without my mom here.
 
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