[shwiggy]

Ziggy had a cyst drained at the vet today and was put on an oral antibiotic (sulfatrim) to kill off/prevent any infection. Unfortunately he doesn't agree with me that it's good for him (hey, I've never had a medicine that really tasted good either) and I am wondering if there are any tricks to get him to eat his dosage. If the syringe gets near him he just freaks out and I don't want to choke him by pressing too hard. What have you guys done to get your hedgies to take oral medicine that they dislike? He has already foiled my plan of coating a pile of worms with it.

 

[silvercat]

Sylvie is on oral antibiotics right now. I've done a couple tricks.

Filling frozen meal worms (ie. injecting them).
Putting peanut butter on the tip of the syringe (only worked once)

What I normally do is 'sit' her on my lap, so I'm holding her belly & gentle pressing her against me. I then use my index finger to gentle push back her visor (like brushing hair out of someone's face). This way her head is sitting between my fingers & she can't curl up. Once in this position I will bring the filled syringe near her and, well for lack of a better description, poke her in the mouth until she opens. This normally works though she has had the occasional bad day when it just isn't happening. She'll let me know with a little squeek if my grasp gets tight or she's really upset

I know some people on her ask there vet to add flavoring to the medicine (ie. beef or chicken). I asked the pharmacist when I picked up this stuff, but he recommended against it, saying depending on the medicine it can react and kill the medicine.

 

[Herisson]

I injected Baytril into large canned crickets using an insulin syringe. It worked perfectly for me, but I have been told that some will not go for it.

 

[krbshappy71]

Good description, Silvercat, and I'm anxious to read any other replies on this. I haven't had to go through it yet. I do have a syringe on hand, and I don't know what kind the vet gives out but mine has an extended long plastic nose-tip like an elephants nose on the end that I think will be helpful to get the medicine further back into its mouth than just the short tip.

Maybe that would help?

 

[shwiggy]

Thank you for the replies, it appears I will have to trick him. I can get him to eat it when he is docile but at night he just flails madly around if I hold onto him for too long making it impossible.