Force feeding/medicating two rabbits post spay is impossible.. any help?

[andy j]

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Force feeding my two lion head bunnies seems really impossible right now. 

They’re about 5-6 months old, we’ve only had them for 2-3. We just got them spayed yesterday and we have to give them pain meds once a day for 5 days. We’ve had to give them syringe-fed antibiotics for the last 3 weeks to clear infections in both of them before the spay and doing that when they were healthy and able to be picked up was hard enough. We would isolate them, put them on a high table so they don’t have the urge to run or jump, bunny burrito them and once we got over the initial difficulties of doing it, it just all became a matter when they would give up fighting long enough for us to stick the syringe in their mouths.

Now that they’re healing, we’ve really been trying not to pick them up and hurt them to give them their meds, but syringe feeding them anything is impossible. We’ve also been trying to hand feed them lettuce and hay because it doesn’t really seem like they’re eating on their own and they’ve taken some, but not much. They’re pooping and peeing still so that’s good. 

A nurse called to check up on our bunnies, we told her what’s up and she mentioned trying syringe feeding them food to get their appetites going. Well.. we all know how this is going. We managed to give both of them a little food and water by picking them up like we used to but they squirmed and fought us every step of the way.

With them fighting us over meds and food, I don’t really know what else to do. They’re still pooping/peeing so at least that’s a good sign, but I just want to make sure they’re eating enough and not in pain. 

[Dface]

Hey, Im sorry you are having such a rotten time with them!!
When mine were sick I used to make an apple puree-> boil apple pieces until almost mush then strain them through a sieve-then syringe feed them it, sometimes this helped.
I have also been told by my vet to offer fresh dandelion, they have pain reducing properties that can encourage them to eat.

Sometimes restraining them can make them fight more, it sounds mean, but holding the syringe slightly infront of them and goading them into biting it can help make it less of an ordeal-you’ll need to have them facing away from you with your body acting as a block so they cant reverse away-you can do the same with a leaf of something to tempt them to eat it.

Sometimes the stress of being interfered with can reduce a rabbits appetite

[tobyluv]

If they are pooping and peeing, it may be that your rabbits don’t need to be force fed. Are they making a good many poops, or just a few? Have you tried other greens or veggies or fruit to tempt them to eat? It’s always a good idea to have a big variety of their favorite greens on hand to tempt them to eat after surgery. Were you given Critical Care, or did you make up a pellet mash to force feed them with. Critical Care is a little easier to work with, but both can be messy and frustrating to work with when rabbits are resisting being fed. You can try mixing a batch of Critical Care or pellet mash and putting it in a dish to see if they will eat it on their own either out of the dish or off of your fingers. You can add a little baby food or mashed banana to the slurry to tempt them more.

If you are getting the pain medication, or most of it, into your rabbits, they shouldn’t be in pain.

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