Tips on syringe feeding

[Tessie]

Hey, so Luna’s on a month’s course of Lapizole. A worming treatment recommended by my vet as studies show it prevents the development of E.Cunculi. 

Anyway, supposedly it’s aniseed flavour and rabbits quite enjoy it. Today was our first day trying it. 

So here’s what I did: I sort of put the syringe in her mouth (she was NOT happy, can’t say I blame her) and she moved about a lot which made it tricky. Anyway, she did seem to sort of enjoy the stuff, she licked it off her lips.  All in all it was fairly stressful, we tried leaving her sitting, we tried restraining her… I think she thinks the liquid is okay but doesn’t like the syringe. 

We have to do this everyday for a month, and I’m sure we’ll have to syringe her again at some point in her life, so any tips on how to syringe feed and how to make it less stressful for her? 

All tips greatly appreciated! 

[LittlePuffyTail]

Did you have her on a table or on the floor? I always sit my bunnies on a towel on the table and follow up with piece of banana or fave treat. They get to know that after the meds there is a treat coming.

[Albus Dumblebunny]

When I first got Alby, he had parasites from the farm that he lived on. I had to give him medicine via syringe twice a day for 10 days, and he hated it. His vet taught me to wrap him in a bunny burrito with a towel, place him on the table, and stand behind him, and that seemed to work well. When I tried to do it from the side or from the front, he would immediately bury his face in the towel. He got rewarded with a treat after each dosage. Some days were definitely easier than others!

[Tessie]

Tried a towel with not much luck… Tried on a table and the floor.. It’s really difficult! :/

We’re trying putting some on her pellets so they soak it up and then see if she’ll eat it… If she does, does this count as her taking the medicine?

[Tessie]

She ate all the pellets with the stuff soaked in … so does that count as her taking it?

[Giles's Mom]

I had to syringe feed my bunny a few weeks ago as well, and I could only find one way to get him to take it. I dipped the tip of the syringe in a little bit of plain, canned pumpkin just to get him to put it in his mouth because he loved the taste of the pumpkin and hated the medicine. Once he had the syringe in, I had no problem getting him to swallow it. It really helped!

[bunnluff]

Sometimes you just have to be a tad forceful with this type of thing. There is no other way around it. Here’s what works for me: I kneel on the floor with bunny between my knees and facing away from me, kind of pinning down. Then I lean over bunny so I can see and lift up the lip with my index finger and thumb. That way it’s easier to get the syringe into the side of the mouth. You have to move quickly, if you worry about them being upset or uncomfortable it will just stress you out and make it tougher for you both. I’ve rarely had to do syringes but I’ve got it down to a system that works pretty well.

[somebunny243]

My rabbit has had to take a few different medicines and foods through syringes and he hated the process at first. I did what the vet showed me for the first two dosages (bunny burrito, held his face still to put syringe in etc.) but it was a big fuss for him. On the third try I sat on the floor and put the syringe in front of him (no bunny burrito or trying to hold him still) and let him smell it. He automatically started to bite and tug on the end of it and ever since then there’s been no hesitation and he will take anything from a syringe. I found that the less I tried to force him into taking it the more excited he got thinking it was a treat!

[Tessie]

Still struggling with this!
I’ve tried wrapping her up and everything, she just wiggles her head out of the way! grr!
Anyone know if her eating food with the medicine on it counts as her eating it?

[Bam]

As long as she gets the medicine in her stomach it doesn’t matter how it gets there. If she accepts food with medicine on it, that’s great.

[Author]

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