Ways to hide/mask medicine?

[bunnnnnnie!]

Zeus is just too smart for his own good sometimes.  He was eating his Baytril (inner ear infection) sprinkled on kale – then got smart to it and refused to eat it.  So I switched to putting it on tiny pieces of bread (two pieces each about the size of a very small grape) – he ate that really well for a few days, but now is beginning to turn his nose up at that, too.

His Baytril is compounded and flavored, and he gets 1 cc in the morning and 1 cc at night.  His appetite in general has been a rollercoaster – eating really well, then not so great, then really well, not so great, etc.  I will not force the meds into his mouth – it terrifies him and with the inner ear infection, he loses his balance and begins to roll.

Any tips on other ways to hide the meds?  I thought about adding the tiniest sprinkle of sugar to the bread – I know it’s not good for him, but I’m desperate.  He doesn’t like bananas, pumpkin, apple sauce, or baby food.

[MoxieMeadows]

My bun, Moxie, has been taking baytril twice a day. Hers are in pill form and LIVER flavored. I normally crush it and mix it into baby food.

[MoxieMeadows]

I somehow missed the last line where it says he doesn’t like baby food, sorry that my above post doesn’t help! (Although my bun will ONLY take her baby food/meds with once specific flavor of baby food, other than that one flavor I’d have to sit on her and syringe it into her mouth as she struggled and tries to box me…So not fun!)

[bunnnnnnie!]

Yeah I think he just doesn’t like anything that is the texture of paste – so baby food is a no-go, unfortunately.

[MoxieMeadows]

Are there any other fruits or veggies that he likes that you might be able to hide them in?

[bunnnnnnie!]

Posted By MoxieMeadows on 3/17/2015 11:55 AM

Are there any other fruits or veggies that he likes that you might be able to hide them in?

He’s really a picky guy – kale and carrots are his favorites.  Kale is a no-go, and I’m not sure how I’d hide the meds in a carrot.  He only likes baby carrots right now – not the “full sized” ones.

[bunnnnnnie!]

He does like cilantro – I’m not sure how I’d sprinkle the meds on that though, as the leaves are so small?

[LittlePuffyTail]

Is he a big pellet eater? Maybe try making a warm mush with pellets, water and the meds? A long shot but worth a try, I figure. Zeus sure is a fussy bunny!

[bunnnnnnie!]

Unfortunately he’s not a big pellet fan, either. I know – he’s very persnickety about food!

He ate over 75% of his meds hidden in the bread last night, so yay on that. We’ll see how much of it he eats today. I may end up calling the vet and seeing what our other options are. I wonder if a different antibiotic would taste better, or even if ear drops or a sub-q injection could be done over oral antibiotics?

[MoxieMeadows]

When you say compound do you mean pills, or liquid? Because if it’s a pill maybe you could try to hollow out a baby carrot? It’s kinda a long shot but it might work…

[bunnnnnnie!]

Right now he’s on liquid. I have some leftover pills left – but they’re the gross liver/meat flavor like you’d mentioned and he can smell them from a mile away.

[MoxieMeadows]

Ha ha, Moxie can too. For the first day she was tricked into eating it in a banana chunk, but after that she was suspicious and always smelled her treats first.

Hmm, Does he like a little apple/pineapple/grape juice? Would he drink that if you mixed the meds into it?

((((Vibes so Zeus will take his meds!!))))

[bunnnnnnie!]

He’s not a pineapple juice fan, but I could try apple juice. I think if I get home tonight and his morning meds are still uneaten, I may try a bit of juice or some carrot baby food.

[MoxieMeadows]

Good luck!

[bunnnnnnie!]

Thanks!

This is possibly a silly question, but has anyone tried putting liquid meds just on their bunny’s paw so the bunny would groom/lick it off? I know that’s a trick for cats.

[bunnnnnnie!]

In case anyone ever wants to try it – putting meds on the paw and trying to make them lick it off is a no-go. Zeus’s fur is so dense he didn’t even feel it, and it ended up just drying up on his paw.

I tried to squirt the meds directly into his mouth last night and that just is not going to work. He got extremely panicky and was gasping for breath. I only got 0.5 cc into him, when he was supposed to get 1cc.

I did offer him half a Nilla wafer with meds on it – and he ate that happily. So we’ll try a Nilla wafer for a few days. He’s just getting very suspicious, smart boy!

I did leave a voicemail for my vet, he’s out of the office today but will call me tomorrow morning. The vet tech just mentioned off-hand that an injection may be a better choice.

[Sparky04]

Hmm, I don’t know, but good luck. Mordecai loves banana so it was easy to hide his medication. Our african grey on the other hand, too smart for her own good.

[Author]

Messages