Medication Nightmare

[KiwiMama]

 My rabbit recently had head tilt due to an ear infection and I have been giving her liquid medicine through a syringe twice a day as recommended by the vet. Each day it’s becoming more difficult to give it to her. I have tried to do it alone but now I need my boyfriend to help me each time. I wrap her in a bunny burrito and sometimes she manages to jump out. She digs her head down making it hard to reach her mouth and I end up getting the liquid all over her face instead. I know some people wouldn’t recommend putting her in a trance, but I have tried that and it doesn’t work with her at all. She still fights while upside down. I’ve even tried to be gentle and putting the syringe to her mouth without restraining her but she hates the smell/taste and hops away.

I just want to know if anyone has any tips on how to make this process easier. I don’t want to be rough or stress her out because I have to give this stuff to her for another week. Any advice?

[LBJ10]

Is it an antibiotic? I haven’t had to give my rabbits antibiotics, but I did give Wooly pain medication. It was flavored with something sweet and he was actually begging me to give it to him. Are they able to do that with antibiotics at all?

[longhairmike]

what size syringe are you using? sometimes theyre less spaztic abot putting the 1 cc or 0.5 cc in their mouth even if it means filling up a few times.
plus there’s less loss if you do overshoot.

 

see if you can get her held upward (maybe a 45degree angle) while she is straddling your forearm. then put your other arm over her back and holding the head (two fingers on top, two on one side, thumb on the other,, kinda like a vulcan bun grip) if they’re straddled and sandwiched firmly between your forearms just right, the feet will still be freehanging, but no amount of kicking is going to allow them any contact with anything or leverage to push off from.

once youve mastered the hold, have the 2nd person squirt the syringe in the side of the mouth. (maybe i should make a vid?)

[littlemissflip]

Have you tried mixing it some juice to make the medicine more palatable? Captain Danger happens to love taking his antibiotics (he thinks they taste like candy), but when we had to start giving him fenbendazole for his E. cuniculi, the medicine is unflavored and chalky. We mix it in a 1:1 ratio with a little bit of strawberry-banana fruit juice or carrot juice (we use Bolthouse Farms–all fruit, no preservatives, etc.). All we have to do is hold out the syringe, and he laps it up like a treat!

Not sure that every bun would be that excited about meds, even with the juice addition, but it might make it less of a struggle.

PS–we also limit his sugary fruit treats (in general, but especially on medicine days), so that he’s not getting too much sugar.

[KiwiMama]

It is an antibiotic and the vet told me it tastes sweet so they should like it. It is pretty sticky though, I guess thats why she hates it because it can get under her chin and it’s hard for her to clean.
I’m not sure what size syringes I have, I’ll have to check that out, but the vulcan grip sounds good. I will try it out tonight.

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

How are you putting it in her mouth? Maybe technique could help? Restrain bun…position yourself so you can see her mouth (maybe have boyfriend restrain bun)-gently use your finger to open one side of her mouth slights. Put the syringe in slightly…just the tip…and squirt. If it gets in her mouth she’ll eat it. If some gets on her lips (and you don’t wipe it off on your shift putting her down) she’ll clean it up.

Also-don’t expect her to understand that your doing this for her own good Give her favorite treat when you are done. Let her run around or do her favorite thing after. Make it rewarding

[Otti]

 The first thing I would do is call your vet and ask if it’s okay to mix the medication with something else. If you mix it with just a tsp or so of apple sauce, I promise she’ll eat it right up, no syringe necessary.

 

If, however, you can’t mix this particular medicine with other stuff, then here’s my technique in case it helps you.

 

1. If your bunny lives in a pen, make sure you are with her in a closed pen (if not, pick a limited space like a bathroom so she can’t go all over the place).

2. Kneel on the floor and place the bunny between your legs, with her face facing out towards your knees.

3. Get a round pet bed (like the one in the link below) or a towel folded up a few times to resemble the weight and size of the pet bed. 

4. Holding the rabbit down between your knees with one hand on its shoulders, reverse the pet bed/towel on top of the rabbit and tuck the sides of the pet bed in between your legs and around the rabbit, so the pet bed/towel essentially cocoons the rabbit between your knees, leaving access at the front to stick the syringe in.

5. Squeeze your legs together a bit to get a better hold, and make sure you are holding the rabbit down by putting one hand on the pet bed so you can press down on the rabbit’s shoulders.

6. Get the prepared syringe and bend forward, so you can look into the front of the “cocoon” and  insert the syringe in the rabbit’s mouth. Try to squirt the syringe as fast as possible without overwhelming your rabbit.

7. Release very angry rabbit lol

 

Works best if done quickly. Just start over if things start to get complicated LOL

 

This works for my rabbit but it might not work for yours. I found that just holding him down  with my hand, he fought much  more, but with the weight of the pet bed tucked around him and my legs/hand holding the pet bed down, he doesn’t fight as much.

 

Here’s the type of pet bed I’m talking about but I think like I said a heavy folded towel that still big enough to wrap in the same way around your rabbit would work.

 

http://www.petco.com/product/110990…erralID=NA

[KiwiMama]

Thanks for all the advice guys! I’ve been trying different things and some days its easier than others. She is pretty small though, she’s only about 4 or 5 months old so even when I wrap her up in a medium size towel it’s hard for me to reach her mouth because she tucks her head down. I can still get it done when I have someone helping… I just feel bad about stressing her out because she breathes heavily whenever we do this. Once were done she’s okay and she doesn’t hide or look too upset. She just cleans herself but still lets us pet her. I’ve got one more week to go so hopefully she can bear it for a little longer!

 

P.S. it’s still me…. my profile name had to be changed because it was inappropriate… 

[LoveChaCha]

Oh, the rabbits will breathe fast (nose twitch) when they feel they are scared/caught. It is for their own good. I had to give my bunny medication on 3 occasions via syringe and she hated it as well. They get over it

Vibes to your bunny.

[BinkyBunny]

I use a combination of what people have said. I wish I had a video as it’s difficult to explain but basically you want to keep your bunnies feet on a secure surface—-on the floor either position the bunny between your legs, their face where knees are — or if on counter, lean over bunny with both arms secured on each side. Place one hand over the bunny’s face, separate your middle and pointer finger on each side of your bunny’s face, sort of covering her eyes and securing her head so that she can’t wiggle her head around, and then put the syringe in the side of the mouth.

Before I learned that trick at one of the HRS seminars, I would have a difficult time with some bunnies who would kick their legs  and squirm their head. (even while in a trance, they can pop right out of it kicking unexpectedly)

The method I learned keeps them securely contained, keeps them upright so less chance of aspirating, prevents them from kicking and injuring themselves and me, and helps prevent them from moving their head so I can just get their meds in quickly and get the whole ordeal over with. Much less bunny stink eye afterward as well.

I don’t know if I was able to explain it well or not. If it’s still confusing, I can try and take pictures or video of what I am talking about. If I don’t have the heart to torture my own bunnies, I am sure I can use a toy bunny. And of course, it will be compliant and allow me to show off how supposedly easy it is. LOL.

[KatnipCrzy]

It could help to put them on a table or counter that they are not used to being on- wrapped up or restrained in a towel so they don’t jump or fall.

I would not recommend giving if tranced- aka on their back- as that would make it easier for them to aspirate (breathe) the medication into their lungs and cause pneumonia or other major health issues.  And that is more likely to happen if they are struggling.

Griff after his neuter did not want his Metacam (the other bunnies loved theirs post-op) so I put some on a treat, let it soak in and then gave him the treat- he ate it slowly as he was unsure and not quite pleased about the new flavor but he learned it was not unpleasant and that helped giving the meds afterwards.  Because it is a sweet med that most bunnies like this can introduce a new flavor with something they are already used to (American Pet Diner bunny treats, Oxbow treats or Acidophillus tablets).

 

[Jenna, Chubs & Comet]

I had to give one of my buns antibiotics on two differen occasions. He is my shy guy and HATED it. Sometimes it would take me almost an our just to catch him because he knew what was coming! I ended up being able to mix his medicine with a little bite of mushed up banana and then he ate it right up! If you can mix it, I would try that. Another thing is that I was told it’s bad to trance them for meds because they might aspirate it into their lungs so I’d recommend not going that route! Hope it’s helpful.

[KiwiMama]

nope… none of the above has worked well. Putting her on my legs face down makes it close to impossible to keep her still while trying to put the syringe to her mouth. I only have one hand to hold her entire body, and another hand trying to get the syringe in her mouth. The vulcan grip kind of worked but I needed the help of someone else.. I was hoping to be able to do this alone because I can’t have someone with me at the exact time that she needs her meds every day.
As for mushing food up with the medicine, I have given her a small piece of banana when she was younger and she ate it. The minute I put some mushed up banana in her pen she took off in the opposite direction, and after a few minutes she did come around to investigate what it was, but all she did was sniff it and leave it. Oh well… 3 more days to go.

[BunnyBuns7]

Ask your vet if it’s ok to mix the meds with juice or maybe a small amount of sugar free apple sauce? Or maybe you need a syringe with a longer tip. Ask the vet if they have a curved tip syringe.

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