Syringe feeding meds, tips needed! sorry long post

[charlieevans17]

Hi,

I'm hoping that someone can give me some tips!

One of my buns (Moet) has had lots of scabs due to old bite injuries, yesterday she decided that she was going to pull all the scabs off and make them bleed! I was worried as she wouldnt leave the area alone and I didnt want her making it worse.

I ended up taking her to the vet who shaved (again) around the areas, cleaned up and gave her antibiotics.

I now have the task of syringing the antibiotics daily until we go back next week. As well as keeping it clean and her warm.

She is a very timid little rabbit and been through alot already.

Does anyone have any tips of the best way to syringe her?
I've heard of cutting the end off the syringe does this make it any easier?
Can they spit the meds back out (I know my cat tries to!)

Sorry its so long, I just want to get it right to make her better.

 

[tupperwarequeen]

I wouldn't cut the end off a syringe, it may leave sharp edges
If you sit on the floor on your knees with your feet togetehr behind you, get your bunny in between your legs, lean over and open her mouth and squirt in the meds a little at a time that should work

 

[melaniejb]

Hi!
When we were first given antibiotics the vet said to mix it 1/2 and 1/2 with fruit juice (apple/orange/tomato) which was OK but still Poppy didn't like it and we had to wrap her in a towel and hold her on her back.

We are currently giving Albert meds and have been doing so for over a month and still got a few weeks to go :roll: but as it was so stressful for him and he is so skinny and fragile, we mash up banana then feed the meds on a spoon with the banana...he gobbles it up really quickly and enjoys medicine time!!!

 

[bunnyhuggger]

Due to the stress it causes, we tend not to use syringes to give medication unless the bun has stopped eating, instead we drizzle the measured amount onto the bun's normal food. If you try this method, make sure all the food is eaten, so give the bun just a small amount of food to begin with and once she's eaten that, give her the rest of her normal amount. This works really well and there's no stress of getting a foreign object thrust into the bun's mouth so no dribbling, no struggling and a happy bun.

 

[charlieevans17]

Hi,

Thanks some really useful tips, I knew the forum would help.

I've gone down the line of putting it on some of her food and seems to have worked. Well for the first day at least!!

 

[AlisonA]

Yeah that's what I do with mine, small amounts of baytril absorb well into a little slice of apple or I score a piece of carrot and get it soaked into that (takes about half an hour to do that). I find it far less stressful for myself and bunny to do it this way! It also seems to get easier as they get used to the taste, they almost seem not to notice it after a couple of days.

 

[raine]

When TJ came home from the vet hospital where he stayed overnight, they told me to syringe him some meds. The moment I went near him with the syringe, he let out a scream. It was blood curdling as I had never heard a rabbit scream. He took one look at the syringe only and screamed and one wonders perhaps how rough they had administered the meds in the hospital to put him off in this way. Anyway, I took a large tablespoon, put the medication on the spoon and sat in front of him and presented him with the spoon. He licked it all off. Pleased yours is taking with food.

 

[hunnybun]

My vet showed me how to inject antibiotics easy once you get the hang of it.

 

[Happy Hopping]

if it is liquid antibiotics, in which it should be, they are already fruit mixed. So say it is 3 cc. You push 0.5 cc w/ the syringe, but reasonably deep in his mouth so he won't leak it out.

Pull the syringe out, or give him 5 sec. break, down the 2nd 0.5cc until you are done w/ the total 3 cc.

Remember if you feed too fast, the liquid may ends up in his lungs. But knowing it is antibiotics, it makes so difference, as there is no bacteria w/i anti-biotics.

The trick is to make sure the syringe is in deep enough, you definitely don't want the medicine to leak back out of his mouth.

 

[bunnyhuggger]

The only UK antibio I know of which is fruit flavoured is Septrin and not all ailments can be treated with this. Lucky the head tilt bun gets this and I would never consider syringing it into his mouth, it's much too stressful, very like force feeding. He gets his meds drizzled on top of his pellets and he takes it no problem that way. It's also not a good idea to syringe any liquid into a bun's mouth unless you know what you are doing, as you quite correctly say it could end up in the buns lungs. If you don't know how to give meds orally by syringe, ask your vet to show you how.

 

[maxxev]

Leela would (almost) always take her medications licking it of the end of thsyringe...the trick was to mix it with apple juice :wink: