Giving meds to a wiggly bunny

[BunnyBunBun]

I took my baby boy Link to the vet two days ago to get neutered. He hasn’t shown any issues yet and was back to his hoppy self very quickly; the vet tech was surprised he was so energetic so quickly after his surgery

The problem I’m having is trying to get him to take his meds. Yesterday, my mom gave him some banana slices with his antibiotic pill mashed in one. Guess which one he didn’t eat?

I watched the House Rabbit Society video on the best way to give a rabbit a pill so this morning I tried that method. While I don’t think I got the banana mashed enough, I am having some difficulty getting anything into his mouth. He’s very squirmy and doesn’t like me holding him or putting anything near his mouth. I’m having the same problem with his pain meds, which is a liquid. I know I’m getting it near his mouth as his cheeks/chin are wet and I can see him lick and wash it off his face. I can only hope they’re getting into his system that way.

I don’t want to hurt him and he is a little bunny so I am not trying to hold him down too hard or force his mouth open but I don’t know what else to do to get the meds to him. I don’t want him to get an infection from his surgery so I’m trying to follow protocol but Link’s a bit uncooperative.

Does anyone have any advice? Should I just keep trying what I’ve been doing and hope he gets used to it?

He also squirms when I try to look at his incision so I’m having difficulty making sure it’s all right. I don’t believe there are any issues there as he hasn’t indicated otherwise but it’s hard for me to check myself to be sure.

[Cay07]

Hello,

My three boys were recently neutered and were similar to your rabbits, very wriggly and uncooperative!

I ended up syringing their painkillers (already a liquid) and their probiotics (a powder that I made liquid by adding water).

My trick was to have all three in a confined area and close it off, I used the hideaway in their hutch and blocked the entrance to it so they were together for moral support but in a space where they couldn’t wriggle away. I would give them all their breakfast salad and whilst doing this, I would slowly give bits of their medicine each time they opened their mouth for food or during their food, obviously checking they didn’t spit it out and noting who had which medicine.

I tried to do this is as quickly as possible over the 10 days, but my bunnies are happiest when eating so seemed to cooperate more during their happy time. Is there any chance your tablet could be made into a liquid solution and syringed?

[BunnyBunBun]

Is there any chance your tablet could be made into a liquid solution and syringed?

I mushed the tablet today and mixed it with some mushed banana and water to put in a syringe. I think part of the problem is I don’t think I mushed the banana enough so it was hard getting it out of the syringe. Actually getting it into his mouth is the problem.

I had him set up on a tray table in the family room this morning but he plays in that room so that could be part of the reason he was so wiggly. He doesn’t go into the kitchen much so I might try to do it on the kitchen table tomorrow to see if that helps.

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