Zeus says NO to meds!

[bunnnnnnie!]

Zeus is on SMZs for two weeks as a preventative thing, since his skin was a little reddened under the shave he got from his brief bout with poopybutt.

He’s being NAUGHTY with a capital N for his meds!  My boyfriend holds him and I give the meds, but he flails and moves his head around a ton, and seals his little mouth shut really tight.  Most of the time, it’s about half in his mouth and half all over his fur on his dewlap. .

Any tips or ideas on making the process go smoother?  It really doesn’t matter how we restrain him, he can still move his head around enough to make it really difficult.  I’m almost wondering if just putting the meds on his dewlap and letting him lick it off would work?  He always grooms himself a ton and licks off all the meds afterwards.

For what it’s worth, he’s getting 1 cc of SMZs twice daily for ten days – two weeks,

[MimzMum]

Can you insert it into some kind of treat for him? Or can you hold him on the floor between your knees and wrap him in a towel and insert the syringe from the side of his mouth?
You want to be careful if he struggles so that he doesn’t wind up aspirating the meds.
I found Mimzy couldn’t tolerate the trimeth sulfa, he would really struggle with it too. Eventually we realized he fought it because it was causing an allergic reaction and upset his tummy.
Perhaps if it gets really bad and he’s not taking his doses, another antibiotic could be prescribed? Is he razor burned very badly where he was shaved?
Sending vibes for Zeus (((((((vibes))))))))

[LBJ10]

Hmm, I don’t know. What does that stuff taste like? With Wooly, it took about a week and a half before I finally just tried giving him his antibiotics without restraint. I just got him in a corner and then showed him the tip of the syringe. He wrinkled his nose and made this face of disgust. I waited, then he started to sniff it more. Then he tried to bite the end and a gave it a little push. He ate it and came back for more. It’s so weird because he would fight and fight and I was having to force it in his mouth. Then he just started taking it.

[bunnnnnnie!]

Posted By MimzMum on 11/11/2013 08:26 PM
Can you insert it into some kind of treat for him? Or can you hold him on the floor between your knees and wrap him in a towel and insert the syringe from the side of his mouth?
You want to be careful if he struggles so that he doesn’t wind up aspirating the meds.
I found Mimzy couldn’t tolerate the trimeth sulfa, he would really struggle with it too. Eventually we realized he fought it because it was causing an allergic reaction and upset his tummy.
Perhaps if it gets really bad and he’s not taking his doses, another antibiotic could be prescribed? Is he razor burned very badly where he was shaved?
Sending vibes for Zeus (((((((vibes))))))))

I’ve tried just about everything to hold him still and no luck, he gets crazy wiggly and with his size it’s definitely a two person job.  I have been really careful about aspirating, if the medicine goes anywhere outside of his mouth it ends up on his dewlap.  He’s actually not razorburned at all, the skin was just a little irritated from having a poop matt on it, the vet said there was no apparent infection and that the SMZs were only a “just in case” thing.

The meds don’t seem to be bothering his tummy at all, he’s acting totally normal and eating really well.  He always gets a tiny treat after he takes his meds.

I did end up caving and I took a piece of really wet kale this morning, and just squirted the meds on the kale.  He had eaten most of it by the time I left, we’ll see what I go home to.  It’s not the most ideal thing for getting it into him every 12 hours exactly, but the drama of giving it to him orally isn’t ideal either!

If he keeps eating it on the kale, that would be awesome.

[bunnnnnnie!]

Posted By LBJ10 on 11/11/2013 08:35 PM
Hmm, I don’t know. What does that stuff taste like? With Wooly, it took about a week and a half before I finally just tried giving him his antibiotics without restraint. I just got him in a corner and then showed him the tip of the syringe. He wrinkled his nose and made this face of disgust. I waited, then he started to sniff it more. Then he tried to bite the end and a gave it a little push. He ate it and came back for more. It’s so weird because he would fight and fight and I was having to force it in his mouth. Then he just started taking it.

You know I don’t really know what it tastes like, it smells really sweet and it’s cherry flavored (the liquid is pink).  I honestly don’t think it even makes much difference what I’m even giving him, I think he just feels the little syringe on his lips and freaks out before he even tastes it.  He was terrible for the Metacam after his neuter for the first 3 or 4 days, then finally realized it tasted good.  Melodramatic bun!

[LBJ10]

Yes! Wooly would jerk his head any time the syringe came into contact with his lips. Once he figured out it tastes good, he finally calmed down. But like I said, I had to corner him and offer it to him and wait for his to stop wrinkling his nose.

[bunnnnnnie!]

Well, happy update, SO FAR just squirting the SMZs on his kale is a big hit.  He doesn’t even seem to notice it’s on there, and I try to really spread it on the kale so there’s no big globs of medicine anywhere.  Hopefully he’ll continue eating it, I’m trying to not jinx myself!

[Hazel]

Yay, nice job!

[MimzMum]

Sounds like a win to me!
Hm…Mimzy thinks Zeus shouldn’t be complaining…the meds he is on currently tastes like chicken. lol…..
I’ve given Mimzy kale in small amounts once or twice a day for weeks and had it not affect him too badly. Sometimes it’ll give him poopy butt. I know we’re concerned with keeping oxalates low, but apparently that may be a myth.
If it works for however long the meds are for, it’s all good.

[bunnnnnnie!]

Posted By MimzMum on 11/13/2013 08:44 PM
Sounds like a win to me!
Hm…Mimzy thinks Zeus shouldn’t be complaining…the meds he is on currently tastes like chicken. lol…..
I’ve given Mimzy kale in small amounts once or twice a day for weeks and had it not affect him too badly. Sometimes it’ll give him poopy butt. I know we’re concerned with keeping oxalates low, but apparently that may be a myth.
If it works for however long the meds are for, it’s all good.

Oh nooo…. chicken flavored???  Must be a cat-formulated medicine?  Poor Mimzy, LOL!

Yeah, kale is Zeus’s all-time favorite, so I figured it’d be the best bet on concealing meds.  To kind of counteract that he’s getting more kale than usual, he’s getting maybe only a tablespoon of pellets a day (very small amount for his size), next to no treats, no other greens, and of course plentiful hay.

When you hand him the kale, he grabs it, yanks it out of your hand, and runs off with it to eat it on his tiles so nobody “steals” it.  My boyfriend finds this quite funny to watch.

[Elrohwen]

Glad you got him to take it on his own!

When I’ve given Hannah meds, I position her between my knees, with my feet closed so she can’t back up. It works best if she’s facing a wall or the pen, so she can’t move forward either. I use my left hand to hold down her shoulders, and the right hand to stick the syringe in the side of her mouth. One thing I learned with Otto is to make sure to stick it far enough into their mouth that they can’t easily spit it back out.

But it’s much easier if you can get them to take it on their own! Good boy, Zeus. Usually when I’m giving meds it’s when they already aren’t eating, so there’s no chance they’ll take meds on their own.

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