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Metronidazole, Baytril and Metacam

ljlstevens

ljlstevens

New Kit
To cut a very long story short, my eldest bunny now requires long term medical care to keep her comfortable and pain free until her time comes, or until we need to make the decision if her health decreases :(

Our bunny savy vet has prescribed Metronidazole 0.6ml twice daily, Baytril 0.5ml twice daily and Metacam 7.5kg twice daily. The antibiotics will be used for several weeks and then she'll be on a break, it'll continue like that for the foreseeable future until decided otherwise. The Metacam will be ongoing without a break (she'll be happy with that as she loves the stuff).

My biggest concern is ongoing stress of providing medication twice daily, mainly Baytril as I'm aware it isn't very tasty for bunnies. Does anyone have any advise on how to make it more enjoyable, and more of a treat than a chore? I'm mixing it with juice currently but I'd rather not have to pick her up twice daily or disturb her, where possible, I'd rather train her to come to me for a yummy treat for her medicine.

I'm just relieved she's not in pain, and being her normal moody self, just need to make sure I don't cause additional moodiness (':

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ljlstevens said:
To cut a very long story short, my eldest bunny now requires long term medical care to keep her comfortable and pain free until her time comes, or until we need to make the decision if her health decreases :(

Our bunny savy vet has prescribed Metronidazole 0.6ml twice daily, Baytril 0.5ml twice daily and Metacam 7.5kg twice daily. The antibiotics will be used for several weeks and then she'll be on a break, it'll continue like that for the foreseeable future until decided otherwise. The Metacam will be ongoing without a break (she'll be happy with that as she loves the stuff).

My biggest concern is ongoing stress of providing medication twice daily, mainly Baytril as I'm aware it isn't very tasty for bunnies. Does anyone have any advise on how to make it more enjoyable, and more of a treat than a chore? I'm mixing it with juice currently but I'd rather not have to pick her up twice daily or disturb her, where possible, I'd rather train her to come to me for a yummy treat for her medicine.

I'm just relieved she's not in pain, and being her normal moody self, just need to make sure I don't cause additional moodiness (':

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Hi there and welcome to the Forum :D

When I syringe something unpleasant into my rabbit's mouth I tend to mix it with organic baby food. Ella's kitchen is a good brand, though there are several others too. Bananas and blueberries goes down well in our house :D

If your rabbit is of a mind to lap food off a plate, then you could try mixing it with something like that. Failing that, you could put the meds onto a small piece of toast, a shreddie, or a treat such as a fenugreek crunchie.

You could also mix it with some porridge oats. The sky's the limit and you can change what you use.

I find that I can get down to bunny's level and just syringe into the mouth without picking up. Certainly the Metacam, which as you've said, goes down a treat :D

Good luck xx
 
I used to dribble mine on to some pieces of mint with big leaves. The greedy guts would then just eat the mint and get the baytril at the same time ha
 
Thanks for the advice!

She lives with 3 other bunnies, two spayed girls and a neutered male, and unfortunately they're more greedy with food then her. She's a very stroppy girl, always has been, so if I poke my head around the corner she knows something is up! I'll try buying some wholemeal bread and try that first as I know she goes mad for it. She loves grapes too but it's a bit more fiddly with medicine and less absorbant (':

I'll try the wholemeal/seeded bread tomorrow morning and update on the results!

Also, does metronidazole taste good or bad to bunnies? I gave it a smell, it smells rather sweet, do they enjoy it?

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ljlstevens said:
Thanks for the advice!

She lives with 3 other bunnies, two spayed girls and a neutered male, and unfortunately they're more greedy with food then her. She's a very stroppy girl, always has been, so if I poke my head around the corner she knows something is up! I'll try buying some wholemeal bread and try that first as I know she goes mad for it. She loves grapes too but it's a bit more fiddly with medicine and less absorbant (':

I'll try the wholemeal/seeded bread tomorrow morning and update on the results!

Also, does metronidazole taste good or bad to bunnies? I gave it a smell, it smells rather sweet, do they enjoy it?

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In my experience, Metronidazole is bitter tasting, and so not too appealing to rabbits!

Good luck with the wholemeal bread. I hope that may well solve your problem, at least in the short term :)
 
I prefer to syringe meds straight into a rabbit's mouth if at all possible. They usually get used to it fairly quickly and you know they have had the correct dose.

Draw up all the meds first so they are ready - then just feed them in quick succession. I leave the nice one until last (ie metacam). Failing that, use something like apple juice or veg based baby food to make it taste better / as a final syringe.

I prefer not to put meds on food as you can't always guarantee they will eat it all and then you can't be sure how much of the full dose they have had. Where other rabbits are present, it is also more difficult to do. When I do use food, I use a small piece of bread - about thumb nail size and slightly dry (as it's more absorbent).
 
Well, the bread this morning wasn't such a success, she ate around it. So I had to chase her a little before I could catch and do it the old fashioned way. Unfortunately she has a horrible grudge against me since the two vet visits this week and sits on alert as soon as I approach :( to her I'm the horrible mummy. I'll try apple juice next. I want to try making it as pleasant as possible, as she is a grudge holder

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ljlstevens said:
Well, the bread this morning wasn't such a success, she ate around it. So I had to chase her a little before I could catch and do it the old fashioned way. Unfortunately she has a horrible grudge against me since the two vet visits this week and sits on alert as soon as I approach :( to her I'm the horrible mummy. I'll try apple juice next. I want to try making it as pleasant as possible, as she is a grudge holder

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What a conundrum :)

Hope you have some luck with the apple juice :D
 
It failed! Trial and error will continue, will update once I've found what works for her :)

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I started to use organic baby fruit smoothy which seems to be "accepted" but not overy enjoyed bless her. I think it's more the fact I'm picking her up that she doesn't like :(

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ljlstevens said:
I started to use organic baby fruit smoothy which seems to be "accepted" but not overy enjoyed bless her. I think it's more the fact I'm picking her up that she doesn't like :(

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Glad she likes the baby food :)

It takes a while to get the 'right' position to feed in. Trial and error really as all rabbits are different.
But most don't like being picked up ... Bless her xx
 
Most rabbits like metacam so maybe you could let her lap that up or other her the syringe. It's honey flavoured. With doughnut I've put medicine on little pieces of weetabix but I've found baytril is the hardest to give so would try and disguise that with the banana baby food. Not sure what the other one tastes like but once doughnut got used to coming over for her medicine and took it nicely without me picking her up I added the horrible one to the end of the syringe and quickly squirted the rest in. Id definitely try metacam on its own as doughnut thinks it's a treat and at least you know your bunny is getting the full amount of that
 
It's hard to selective feed her due to the other 3 bunnies she lives with. So while I'd rather let her eat it off of food, I'm more concerned that she might not get to have the medicine at all and the others eat it! Separating her temporarily during feeds would put her in a mood and off her food, so syringing directly and then giving her a yummy treat after appears to be the method best suited so far. My Blossom loves her metacam, no issues feeding her that hahaha

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