I need help | medicine

The Rat Shack Forum

Help Support The Rat Shack Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

bruxingbeauties

New Member
Joined
Nov 26, 2020
Messages
3
Location
Canada, Ontario
I need help finding ways to get my rats to take their medication. One of my girls recently passed away from pneumonia and I have 2 left. They started showing signs that they were sick too so I took them to the vet. They were given medicine and so far biscuit has taken them really easily and is back to normal which is amazing, sugar on the other hand will not take the medication. She screams bloody murder when I try to give it to her, won’t eat it in food or take it literally with anything. I have to pin her down and put the medication in her mouth, which I absolutely hate doing because she hates it, it takes 30 minutes and there’s always a chance she could aspirate the medicine. Either way, when I get it in her mouth, she spits it out. Yep, that’s right. After all that work she spits it out and WILL NOT TAKE THE MEDICINE. I don’t know what to do because she keeps getting sicker and I really don’t want to loose her. Please help me ! Here’s how bad she scratched me trying to get away, I’ve never been bitten by a rat which I’m very thankful for but she definitely was putting up a fight over the medication. I tasted it and it’s really disgusting so I don’t blame her. Shes such a sweet girl and I feel so terrible about this. I really don’t know what to do 😞any help would be appreciated.

FFEDFDA6-CE7B-43BB-9DE2-065E60F16794.jpeg

F38912EB-858C-4321-8033-06A8D150C70F.jpeg
 
Sorry to hear about this! What kind of medicine are you talking about? People have all sorts of ideas about how to give rats meds when they don't want them, but to me the problem is, if you get too clever (putting it on their ear, etc.), you can't really monitor the dose very accurately. I will go with whatever mixer is healthiest, but when it gets tough, I go with a teaspoon of melted vanilla ice cream... they all seem to like that.

But I know what it's like to have picky eaters. One of my rats is disabled and always struggling to maintain her weight, but at the same time, a crazy picky eater. No joke, she'll even reject ice cream unless it's Hagen Daz vanilla. She needs to take meds every day and I just squirt them down her throat--but she's small so it's not such a big deal. Good luck.
 
They are so cute with their little heads poking out!

Definitely depends on what medication. I always get the pure medication- never premixed or compounded- and mix it up myself. You never know what your particular rat will like and if you get the entire bottle premixed with tooty-fruity flavor or whatever they happen to have at the pharmacy and your little one happens to despise that flavor you are out of luck. Also never let them add water to a med that is powdered and says "just add water" on the bottle. You are just increasing the volume that you than have to dilute (and also shortening the shelf life dramatically). Whereas your rat may not like the meds when diluted with water- they may like it just fine when diluted with something else.

So I take the powder or liquid and mix it with strawberry ensure or chocolate ensure or honey or icecream or whatever base they like best and keep diluting it until they no longer reject it. I have been lucky that most of my rats will take their meds without me having to over-dilute them. Usually I can get by with as little as 2ml of diluent per dose. Just don't try to dilute with something they eat all the time and are already familiar with because they may realize your subterfuge. It should be something that they consider a treat and do not have previous knowledge of how its supposed to taste. Start at a reasonable ratio that you yourself can stomach, and then go from there. If he still refuses violently, cut the ratio in half, or try another base. That's my advice; hope this helps.
 
Last edited:
Thank you !! I found a way for her to take it 🤍 she will take it in strawberry syrup, I know it’s not a healthy option but it’s the only thing she will take it in. also one of my girls was really small but i started giving them pediasure in the vanilla flavour and they really have put on weight and are healthy now. Maybe you could try that !
 
Sorry to hear about this! What kind of medicine are you talking about? People have all sorts of ideas about how to give rats meds when they don't want them, but to me the problem is, if you get too clever (putting it on their ear, etc.), you can't really monitor the dose very accurately. I will go with whatever mixer is healthiest, but when it gets tough, I go with a teaspoon of melted vanilla ice cream... they all seem to like that.

But I know what it's like to have picky eaters. One of my rats is disabled and always struggling to maintain her weight, but at the same time, a crazy picky eater. No joke, she'll even reject ice cream unless it's Hagen Daz vanilla. She needs to take meds every day and I just squirt them down her throat--but she's small so it's not such a big deal. Good luck.
Yep, you're right Ratdad. You gotta take matters into your own hands with something completely irresistable. I give mine whipped cream or homemade custard. Custard that is homemade is rat crack. My rats go absolutely insane over it, espeically if I heat it in the microwave first and give it to them warm. Once they take their meds in the custard, I reward them with some more. I've never ever ever had an issue giving my rats meds. They happily take it when I give them the the right lickable treat. Hell, when I'm making the custard, my little buggers can smell the vanilla extract and milk and they go nuts.
Thank you so much !! I got her to take it in strawberry syrup :)))
That's awesome!
 
Thank you so much !! I got her to take it in strawberry syrup :)))

I think Deb Ducommon recommended strawberry syrup for this purpose...

Ensure works well, but I recently bought some Ensure Protein Plus vanilla and none of my rats, even the big eater, will touch it... but they love regular Ensure. Too bad, cause it ain't cheap.
 
Back
Top