Can anyone help me convince Bramble to take his meds?

[kirstyol]

So as you all know Bramble was a bit worse for ware after being neutered and having his teeth fixed on Tuesday. Because he wasn’t doing so well the vet put him on antibiotics and told me to keep his painkiller going over the weekend and to see her again tomorrow.

Bramble had been doing really well taking his medicine, apart from the fiberplex which he clearly didn’t like but that’s finished now so no problem with that. Over the last two days though he has been getting more and more reluctant to take the stuff, the vet told me to mix the antibiotic with blackcurrant which I have been doing but last night he was fighting and scratching and acting really aggressive when I was trying to give him it. He has never ever been an aggressive bunny so I decided since I was clearly distressing him that I would just leave what was left, he had taken about half of it. The vet said it was unlikely that he had an infection anyway so the antibiotics were really just a cover, just in case.

He took absolutely none of his painkiller this morning, I managed to get a tiny bit in his mouth but he refused to swallow it. At first I wasn’t too worried because he has been getting so much better over the last few days but now he has just lay down in the middle of his cage all day and not really moved. He is still eating and drinking so I am sure its not life threatening but I hate the idea of him being in pain and there is nothing I can do for him. He is just so not his self to day at all and he was starting to get a bit more like his self up till yesterday. He barely moved when I got up to give him his veg, normally if he is in his cage and anyone goes remotely near him he is up at the door wanting attention.

I am not expecting him to be just like his old self yet, its still early days after his surgery but I am worried that he is going backwards because he seems worse than yesterday. I am assuming this is because of his lack of medicine.

does anyone have any ideas of how I can try and convince him to take it? I was going to try and mash it up with banana but I am not sure if he will eat mashed banana since he only tried banana for the first time the day before yesterday.

[LongEaredLions]

I would try mixing it with something different-applesauce, mashed banana, fruit or carrots baby food.
Another thing you could try is rubbing some fruit on the end of the syringe. Stick it through the cage bars, and if he bites on it, squirt the contents of the syringe into his mouth. If the syringe has lots in it, you may need to do this several times.
If all else fails, you may have to bunny-burrito him, place the syringe in the gap behind the front teeth and squirt. Because of the placement of the syringe, he should swallow it. Good luck!

[jerseygirl]

Do ring and speak to your vet also. It might be the meds that are upsetting his stomach or appetite.

A friend of mine is having to medicate her rabbit 4 times a day at the moment. (Poor him & her!). For his pain meds, she has been cutting a thick slice of banana, cutting out a cap in the middle, putting med in there then lid back on top. Working so far! For another med she mixed with blueberry and syringed it.
Perhaps try something other the black current juice like LEL suggested.

[kirstyol]

I will try mixing it with something else, although I cant think of anything else I have that would be ok for him that I could put into a syringe. I might just try the banana, at worse if he doesn’t take it then its not like it has done any harm I guess. He wasn’t fooled by rubbing anything on the syringe unfortunately As soon as he sees the syringe he goes into defensive mode now, I will wait till the other half comes in from work and try again, that way he can hold him and I can try my best to get the antibiotic into him tonight before bed. hopefully the vet will take him off of it tomorrow and maybe she will say he doesn’t need the painkillers anymore either.

Oh I just realised, I own a blender!! I cant believe I am just thinking of this just now I feel so stupid, I could just blend some veg up and add a bit of water if needed to make it thin enough to go in a syringe. now I just have to try and convince him not to be scared of the syringe itself!

[kirstyol]

Well I have realised that I have given poor Bramble a pathological fear of syringes! Even the sight of one is sending him in to total terror mode, I really don’t know why the sudden change because he honestly didn’t seem to mind his medicine at all for the first few days, I am sure I haven’t hurt him or anything.

On the plus side I managed to sort of roughly mash a banana up so that it was soft enough to mix the medicine in, but also still sort of resembled food and that did the trick last night. Today the vet said he doesn’t need to keep taking the antibiotics but to keep him on the painkiller for a few more days so hopefully the banana keeps working because he is obviously in pain (he has been biting his wound slightly).

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