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Syringing bun who isn't keen - HELP!

R

racheyrabbit

Alpha Buck
Coffee, my foster bun, was spayed yesterday. She's been given some drugs (which the nurse said were antibiotics, but when I looked them up on google I found that they were gut stimulants :roll:) to be syringed 3 times a day.

I managed to get some into her last night because she was really quite dopey, but she's a little more awake now and isn't having any of it. Has anyone got any ingenious methods of getting her to take this stuff - she has to have 3ml 3 times a day which means its quite a lot to try and get her to take and she's already just growling at the syringe and moving her head into an unreachable position :roll:

She's eaten a little - a bit of parsley and a bit of celery - and has been doing lots of poos. I've got some metacam to give her later, so hopefully she'll be eating more by then and I can just put that on a bit of of food.

Any advice welcome...... :D
 
Flint & Barley were fed antibiotics by syringe. Flint used to have ribena or apple juice in it to make it taste better. I used to put him on his back, & nestle his head into the crook of my arm to get the syringe in his mouth.

Barley was a lot easier. I laid her on her back on my knee & she had the baytril on it's own. I fed her straight after (brocolli, carrot) so she got used to knowing it was followed by feed.

I'm not sure if you can mix the drug you mean with juice - you need to check with Jane!
 
I'm not even sure she'd take it mixed with juice. She doesn't do picking up, and she just gets herself so stressed at even the sight of the syringe :(
 
Does she like porridge? When Mary was on a course of Panacur, rather than stress him out by syringe-feeding him daily for a month, I mixed it with a little bit of soggy porridge and he lapped it up. Obviously post-spay her appetite might be a bit off but so was Mary's as he was quite poorly and not really interested in much food
 
It's worth trying a selection of foods to see if there's anything she will eat at the moment - if she's not had it before then be careful as you don't want to upset her tum while she's a bit poorly post-op, but even if she only ate a spoonful of it, it will make things less stressful if you can mix the meds in.
 
I've also mixed meds with food. It helped me out a lot when Fey got hurt, because she still hated to be handled at the time and if she kicked wrong she might have ripped out her stitches. I mixed the meds with a little canned pumpkin, and even though the taste changed a little she still ate the little bit that she needed to.

You could also mash up a bit of banana or put the meds in unsweetened applesauce. If you need to, you could try putting it on her paw so she eats it when she grooms herself. I she'd be able to flick most stuff of though, so it would have to be sticky.
 
I've left it on some food at the moment, so I'm hoping she might eat it. But, I might have to try it on something like apple later. Its just such a huge quantity to try and hide on/in food, and I've got to do it 3 times a day......
 
Has she pooped at all yet?

If yes and she is nibbling food tbh I would leave her be. Stressing her out with syringes etc will just slow her guts down more.
I am NOT a Vet of course and if your Vet has said she must have the gut stimulant then obviously you should follow professional advice. My concern is that if she is actually slowly recovering and is nibbling food stress may set her back.
......and gut stimulants given ORALLY to a bun whose guts aren't moving seems a bit pointless. I would have though sub/cut injection would be needed :? :?
Anyways, just thinking aloud really and your Vet is the professional!!
Hope Bun starts eating and pooping soon :D :D

Janex
 
She did quite a few poos last night, although I I've only seen a couple this morning. She ate some parsley and celery last night, but she hasn't eaten anything this morning.

I know you're not a vet Jane, but you know a LOT and your opinion is well respected! I was kind of thinking the same myself - the last thing I want to do is stress her out even more. When I had Kahlo spayed I had to give her 1ml of this stuff once a day - I've supposedly got to give Coffee 3ml 3 times a day. I know she's a big rabbit, but its nigh on impossible! The vet didn't even tell me it was gut stimulant - they said it was antibiotics....

I'll give her some peace and quiet for a while, and then see how she does with the metacam and apple.
 
,

I would echo the above and try some porridge oats mixed with some cooled boiled water.,,try some grated carrot as buns feeling a bit under the weather often can't be bothered to actually gnaw...also something as obvious as fresh grass..dandelions (the leaves and flowers.)....anything to get her eating..
...as for the med..instead of trying on her paw where she can flick it off..try dabbing a bit on the front of her mouth..she should lick it off and /or wipe with paw and then lick...worth a try!
 
Well, I offered her a bit of apple and she munched it merrily - so she had another bit. I then hand fed her some other bits and she ended up eating some celery, pasley and greens (which had some medication on them). :D

I'll try putting the meds around her mouth when I give her the next lot - that's what I ended up doing with Kahlo when she was spayed (although she ended up with a bit on her nose which just went hard and was there for ages!). She can have her metacam on some apple, seeing as that seems to be a favourite! She's certainly looking perkier, just not to happy with me :?
 
I think you should phone the vet and ask them what exactly the meds are - if it's a gut stimulant you could stop giving it her once she seems to be recovering well - but if it's antibiotics she must complete the course or you will breed superbugs that are resistant to the antibiotic.

Hope she's well soon - sounds like she's recovering now :)
 
The drugs are Maxolon, which I believe is metaclopromide? This vets does seem to be a bit OTT with the meds they give after a spay, perhaps because it means they can charge for them. A £60 spay ended up costing £90 with the meds.......

They do generally know what they're talking about though, except I didn't get to see the rabbit-savvy vet nurse yesterday :(
 
I wouldn't know - our vets give nothing, even when I begged for a bottle of metacam after Maa had her eye out :roll: I guess it's better to be all kitted up for survival, even at that price, as there's less likelihood of complications.
 
Well, on this ocassion I'm not paying so just gave them the money and left! With Kahlo they didn't give us anything, and made us go back three days in a row when she refused to eat giving us more medication each time (although they didn't make me pay for it all!) So, I agree - at least I'm all kitted out!
 
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