Re: A Quick Tutorial on Syringe Antibiotics
Some more information about syringing (for meds or food)
- With meds, it can be helpful to mix them with baby food to help disguise the taste (especially if they're not already flavored). Chicken or turkey baby foods are often well-liked, as are carrots, peas, and sweet potatoes. The meat baby foods will probably need to be watered down a little bit to go through the syringe easily. First suck up the medicine (to get a correct measurement), then suck up some baby food (not a ton or it'll be hard to get it all in) and lightly shake the syringe to mix them.
- Here's a thread with some recommendations for soft diets that can be syringe-fed to sick hedgehogs:
http://www.hedgehogcentral.com/forums/12-diet-nutrition/19-soft-food-recommendations.html Hills A/D and Carnivore Care are two great options that you can get from your vet. Both are meant to be syringed to sick animals.
- If you're syringe-feeding a sick hedgie or one that's on food strike, aim to get around 24 mL of food into them each day, or as close to that as you can. The general rule of thumb is 1 mL/hour - so if you get 4 mL into them in a feeding, you can wait 4 hours to try again. This can be worked with around work/school schedules as well.
Some advice from Kalandra:
If she will allow you... keep a syringe with a bowl of food to give her when you are snuggling with her. I have had plenty of times where I had one very sick who wouldn't eat much per sitting. I'd sit with them, snuggling them and when they would wake up, they would take a couple more CCs.
Also consider how you hold her when you syringe feed. Sometimes changing the position you are feeding helps. I've had some that would sit in my lap, I'd use my left hand to steady their head and offer the syringe from the side. Typically those didn't even need the hand steadying them once they figured out what was happening.
Others liked to be held against me while being fed. Any other method and they would get antsy and not take food after a few bites.
Remember to go slow, and if she gets antsy and wants to take a break, its time for a break, but offer her some more food after a few minutes.
It can be tough trying to get a hedgehog who doesn't feel well to eat. Keep at it and don't get discouraged.
- For a sick hedgehog, keep their usual food in the cage overnight, in case they get interested in eating on their own again. You can also offer a "smorgasbord" of food - whole kibble, crushed kibble, soaked kibble, baby food mix, canned food, cooked meat, etc. Offering a few different options may convince them to nibble at a couple different things and get a bit more food in them than they might eat otherwise.
- Experiment with different size syringes. Some hedgehogs may like a bigger syringe (5- or 10-mL) so you don't have to stop & refill as often. Just make sure to go slow with bigger syringes, as the food comes out faster. Some may prefer a smaller syringe (1- or 3-mL) so they're not getting as much food at once. (Personally for Lily, I used 1-mL and filled 3-4 syringes at once so I could keep going as long as she'd let me.)
- Probiotics can help a hedgehog that's on antibiotics. Antibiotics can kill the good bacteria in the digestive system in addition to the infection they're meant to fight, giving the hedgehog green poops. Probiotics help restore good bacteria to the gut. Small animal Bene-bac or human acidophilus can be used. Try to give probiotics a couple hours before or after antibiotics, to avoid having the medicine kill the good bacteria.
Bene-bac dosage (from Nikki):
Pocket Pets and other small mammals: Under 1 lb, use ¼ to ½ gram at birth and on days 3, 5, and 7. These levels should be given before and after marked environmental changes. Two feedings, 3 days apart are recommended. Place gel on food or directly into mouth.
Acidophilus dosage (from Kalandra):
Not all acidolphilus capsules are created equally. Some have a much higher count of live bacteria than others do. Also has it been kept cold? I see a lot of stores storing it on the shelf instead of keeping it cold here lately. I'm leery of those, I've always been told the bacteria will die faster if kept warm.
With really bad stools I'll use 1/2 - a full capsule a day. That depends on the size of the capsule and the live culture count and how bad of stools we are talking about. If they are bright green, mushy, and mucousy, yeh I'll give more. If they are just green but fairly well formed, I'll give much less.
If possible, mix it in a little baby food and let the hedgehog eat it that way, or you can syringe feed it. If the stools are really bad, I try to get it in twice a day for a few days to "jump start" the bacteria in the gut, and then bump it back to once a day during the normally feeding time.
I typically use it for about a week after the stools return to normal.
