When I had to syringe feed fluffykins medicine, I’d sit in his play area. I’d close the door to his condo so he couldn’t run away in there.

Then it’d be a case of just sticking the syringe under his mouth.. (I can admit it wasn’t the best method)! It used to take ages, me chasing him around with the syringe. After persistence it would pay off… a lot of persistence…

The other thing I’d do is get a hard treat and hold it up so he’d stand up to eat it from my hand. With the other hand I’d try and quickly stick the syringe into his open mouth n squeeze. After a couple tries of that however, he realised and strated rejecting the treat. At that point I’d break a bit off and let him have it (without the syringe)!

I can pick him up just fine, we always walk all over the house like that, but when it came to feeding I just couldn’t do it with him on my arm. I felt like he had to be opposite me so I could see his mouth.

I’ve read on here about adding sweet things like mashed banana or baby food to the CC to make it taste more appealing. Could you mash his fav treat and mix it in?

I’ve always used the same technique with Wick for syringe administration and it works well for a range of “I don’t like this” to “Get this terrible stuff away from me.” It does not require picking up.

Sit on the floor on your knees (imagine someone in practicing religious prayer) and have her butt against your knees to prevent her from backing up. Use your non-syringe hand and form a “C” grip around her neck, between her jaw and shoulders. The C should be small enough that her jaw and shoulders cannot get through, but also big enough that you’re not choking her. During administration, you will concentrate your strength on maintaining that C grip at the size it is, as well as the position it is in (i.e. try not to move that hand while your rabbit is potentially flailing). There are instances where Wick tries to back out, but since my hand is steady and he can’t fit his head through the grip, he just ends up sitting on his butt instead of his hind legs. Use your other hand with syringe and approach from the side. You’ll want to wiggle into the mouth gently, entering through the space beside her front teeth. As you depress the syringe plunger, do it at a pace that matches her swallowing so she doesn’t feel too overwhelmed.

Hopefully this helps. I fed Wick CC for a week for him being underweight, so it’s not unheard of!

Thor is a monster who won’t be restrained easily for syringe feeding. When she was sick with stasis, even then she was a fighter. The method we used was to drape a blanket over her, then bundle her up (restrained in the blanket with eyes covered they panic a lot less and are easier to handle). Then we’d place her on the table, expose the grumpy bunny head and syringe feed.

Admittedly this is a recipe for a miffed bunny, but it was the best method for us.

Neither one of my buns restrain well. They’ll flail to the death. We started squirting their meds on baby carrots. For critical care we’d mush it up with some banana and let them eat it throughout the day.

Posted By Wick on 12/01/2017 4:36 AM
I’ve always used the same technique with Wick for syringe administration and it works well for a range of “I don’t like this” to “Get this terrible stuff away from me.” It does not require picking up.

Sit on the floor on your knees (imagine someone in practicing religious prayer) and have her butt against your knees to prevent her from backing up. Use your non-syringe hand and form a “C” grip around her neck, between her jaw and shoulders. The C should be small enough that her jaw and shoulders cannot get through, but also big enough that you’re not choking her. During administration, you will concentrate your strength on maintaining that C grip at the size it is, as well as the position it is in (i.e. try not to move that hand while your rabbit is potentially flailing). There are instances where Wick tries to back out, but since my hand is steady and he can’t fit his head through the grip, he just ends up sitting on his butt instead of his hind legs. Use your other hand with syringe and approach from the side. You’ll want to wiggle into the mouth gently, entering through the space beside her front teeth. As you depress the syringe plunger, do it at a pace that matches her swallowing so she doesn’t feel too overwhelmed.

Hopefully this helps. I fed Wick CC for a week for him being underweight, so it’s not unheard of!

I tried this! Haha, I felt REALLY bad even considering holding him like that let alone actually doing it but it felt the most comfortable way for me. The hubby would get a “ehh what” look on his face when I held the ‘C Grip’ which made it even worse. Ultimately I always gave up the C Grip because I was a chicken – I couldn’t stop imagining fluffykins chomping down on the soft bit between my thumb and forefinger this getting scared and letting go.

He is absolutely not a biter, never ever bitten, it was only an irrational fear. Very real fear none the less. If i ever needed to force feed again I’d defo try this, was the most comfortable way.

There shouldn’t be a risk of being bitten since your hand is below their jaw bone (like if someone had their hand around your neck and you attempted to bite that hand; very difficult), so the only way your hand could get bitten is if your rabbit found its way out of the grip, turned, and bit the hand.

I’m glad it was comfortable though, and while I can never certify anything as “100%” safe or anything, I’ve done this with Wick over 200 times by my calculations and when done, there’s very minimal risk for me getting hurt or him hurting himself. The worst consequence is he tries to back out, can’t, so he sits on his butt for the administration rather than his hind legs, haha.

Again, not a choke hold. It’s just a security hold that happens to be around the neck area. I say “C” grip because even Wick’s small neck would be choked if I closed my fingers to do an actual grip. And the grip hand isn’t really near the mouth at all, so pretty safe.

I do realize I didn’t clarify “C” grip in this post’s description. “C” grip is making a letter C with your hand (thumb is the bottom, other fingers make the top while being side by side). So when I actually have my grip on Wick, my fingers (top of C) are on the underside of his neck, and my thumb (bottom of C) is around the topside of his neck.

I think since the goal is to get the calories and nutrition into her, then CC cookies should be fine (vs. a bunny that needed the extra hydration).

When I’ve had to syringe feed, I will sit on a chair, with a towel on my lap, bun on the towel facing away from me. I use the C grip as other’s have described, shown in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8iGZVYVm5Bg

I found it helpful to mostly focus on the hand under the jaw.

Also be sure to act like you are giving her the yummiest treat ever, I swear it helps. It’s easiest to syringe feed if the CC is the consistency of pancake batter. I find the instructions on the package make it too thick for the syringe.

Are you using the apple and banana flavor CC? My two beasts love the stuff and lick it off a plate. Some bunnies like the taste of canned pumpkin a lot, so she might like it more if you mix some pumpkin in.

I usually pet Wick to a loaf and get in position and get the hand grip there while still petting with the other hand. Kind of a sneak technique!

http://youtu.be/N12eJ5vdo4w

Made this today. Syringe fed him water while interrupting his breakfast.

Posted By Wick on 12/02/2017 10:16 AM
http://youtu.be/N12eJ5vdo4w

Made this today. Syringe fed him water while interrupting his breakfast.

Thank you so much for this wick. So that is exactly what I was doing only after the second jerk I’d get scared and let go! Now I know to just presevre… and yep was extremely aware of not closing the grip into a choke hold! My fluffykins looks the same size as your wick and my hands look about the same size as yours haha (I have small hands).

Go in with confidence and think critically about your approach (teeth gap). You’ll learn as you do more!

If you watch the beginning of the video, I just casually lift Wick up off the ground a few centimeters, plop him front and center, then pet him and grip him so he doesn’t move.

Wick comes with a double-snap most of the time, which is what I do at the beginning of the video to get him to me, but you can have your rabbit come to you by shaking a treat bag or something.

For Wick, he tolerates all medication administration very well because he knows, to no exception, if he needs to be uncomfortable for medical reasons, he gets a treat after we’re done. So after a shot, a gross medicine, or a topical treatment, I let the grip go and he just circles me and climbs me until I give him his treat, haha. Maybe making this association would be good for you as well!