I cannot get my rabbit to take his medicine

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Gelly

Gelly
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After a bout of GI stasis, I have to give my bun 2 medications + 2 as needed. He HATES medicine and I cannot seem to get him to take it. I’m afraid to hold him while I administer because he twists and turns and might hurt himself. I tried giving it with a treat or mixing it with banana but the little dude doesn’t fall for that. This has been a really frustrating experience so any advice is appreciated.
 
I put the medicine on a little kitchen oatmeal, enough to soak it up, they love that.
I crush tablets to powder, and mix it in somewhat damp oatmeal.
 
I had to give my bun meds for the first time today and the youtube videos are a LIE!!
she kept turning her head and wouldn't stay still.. it was a 2 man job, I got my housemate to help hold her, we wrapped her up in a towel and eventually she gave in after a couple of minutes of fighting back and let me put the syringe in her mouth, spat some out and got mad at me for 30mins. Another 20 days of this 😩

She also acts this way when I tried to get her to try some banana on its own. She HATES banana
 
I had to give my bun meds for the first time today and the youtube videos are a LIE!!
she kept turning her head and wouldn't stay still.. it was a 2 man job, I got my housemate to help hold her, we wrapped her up in a towel and eventually she gave in after a couple of minutes of fighting back and let me put the syringe in her mouth, spat some out and got mad at me for 30mins. Another 20 days of this 😩

She also acts this way when I tried to get her to try some banana on its own. She HATES banana
A rabbit that hates bananas? Are you sure you have a rabbit and not some imposter?
 
haha I tried to trick her hoping if she would just "taste" it she will like it which will make medicine time hopefully easier.
I rubbed it in her pellet dust, and shoved a few oats in it. She put it in her mouth and spat it out lol and was sooo grossed out. Evertrime banana is near her face she moves her head away (like when I'm feeding her meds) or she will RUN.

Attempted several times now, don't think it's going to happen.
 
haha I tried to trick her hoping if she would just "taste" it she will like it which will make medicine time hopefully easier.
I rubbed it in her pellet dust, and shoved a few oats in it. She put it in her mouth and spat it out lol and was sooo grossed out. Evertrime banana is near her face she moves her head away (like when I'm feeding her meds) or she will RUN.

Attempted several times now, don't think it's going to happen.
We should have an administering bunny medicine support group
 
Apollo has to take metacam at the moment because he has sore hocks. He absolutely hates the flavour of the medicine but If I smear the tip of the syringe in banana, he’ll eat it like it’s nothing. I’ve also tried sticking a blueberry at the end of the syringe but he just pulled it off and ran away. I’ve been getting him used to the syringe since I got him, so it’s never actually been hard to syringe feed him because he thinks that’s gets nice things from the syringe (like applesauce or banana).
 
I had to give my bun meds for the first time today and the youtube videos are a LIE!!
she kept turning her head and wouldn't stay still.. it was a 2 man job, I got my housemate to help hold her, we wrapped her up in a towel and eventually she gave in after a couple of minutes of fighting back and let me put the syringe in her mouth, spat some out and got mad at me for 30mins. Another 20 days of this 😩

She also acts this way when I tried to get her to try some banana on its own. She HATES banana
Sounds like this is going to be a looonnnnnngggg three weeks for you. Rather than forcing her to eat it, try filling the syringe with puréed apple (pure apple sauce), or mash one of her favourite treats and give her that through a syringe. She’ll likely eat it, because it smells good, unlike the medicine which smells horrible. And because you have to feed medicine everyday, try to smear her favourite treat over it, or wrap it in her lettuce or herbs. Also to stop her spitting it out, put it where her cheeks would be (because she’d have to swallow it), let me insert a picture. I’d put the syringe in between her teeth, in that big gap, and syringe it to her (stopping every so often, making sure that she can breathe).
I hope she gets better!
 

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I know it is difficult to hold them still, but I've had success in preventing them from spitting their meds out by being sure to put that syringe in the cheek area, not the mouth.

I've used mashed banana to disguise meds but if that doesn't work, the syringe-in-the-cheek area has worked like a charm. They cannot spit it out if it isn't in their mouth where the tongue is. Angle the syringe toward the bunny's back end and use the syringe tip to part the lips on the side. Keep the syringe tip on the outside of the teeth/gums (not where the tongue is). Squirt a little at a time to give them time to swallow.
 
good news! today when I called her for meds she happily ran and ate it so I didn't even need to find the corner of her mouth. She was abit confused midway but continued licking it . It's 28 days of EC meds actually haha..
 
I had the same dilemma too! My bun has to take antibiotics for respiratory infection for 7 days, for the first 3 syringe feeds was successful and he seemed to like it but last night, he refuse to even lick the syringe. So I decided to mix it with his pellet. Glad to see this thread and learned some tricks which I'll try to apply this weekend :)
 

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