Masking meds for those stubborn ones.

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Thanks. I am going to have to get really creative with Clara. She does not like to take meds. I tried to hide it in baby cereal, because the bread trick only worked partly this morning. I was very late for work and she still didn't get all of the meds. This evening she doesn't look as good as she did yesterday.
 
Binx is one of the worst patients on this planet. She refuses to take medicine from a syringe; no matter how deep we get it in her mouth or how long we hold her, she manages to hold it in her throat until we set her down. Then she lets it dribble out and wipes her face on whatever cloth is available so she doesn't have to clean her face. When she had her surgery, we had tiny trails of meds running all around the cage. :doh:
The only thing that works with her is Stonyfield Farm organic vanilla yogurt. (She's so prissy! I assume any yogurt would work for most rats.) I take about 3/4 tablespoon of yogurt and squirt the meds into it on the spoon. Mix, then I let her lick the yogurt off my finger. Usually it's half the yogurt, some play time, then the rest of the yogurt. She won't eat it all unless I let her lick my finger; the spoon is beneath her.
It's also been nice to have some Oxbow supplemental powder from the vet. Got it for when Molly was sick and not eating, but Binx is loving it 'cuz it tastes like green tea. Sometimes I put a bit in with the yogurt to make it smell like a new treat. Gotta be careful, though, since she doesn't like the clumps and spits them out. :puke: It's so funny, like in an old-time western saloon, she just spits the little bits right out the side of her mouth and keeps on eatin'. :giggle:
Hope no-one else's rats are as spoiled as mine! It can be quite the pain! (And I wouldn't have it any other way :wink: )
 
ok, so now I feel really dumb. I meant to post this under the "how to make them eat meds" thread, and somehow it's all on its own. How do I delete this and put it where it belongs!?
 
One of the mods could move it for you.
And, by the way, I have had rats like that. All but one of my current crew will trample over each other to get to their meds. The other one is so reluctant that it's a long job getting her to take what she needs. She has an inner ear infection, so skipping her meds is not an option! Your story sounds awfully familiar!! :lol:
 
I figured something out that might help. I now and giving baytril and doxy to Hazel but she seems to get tired of licking at the syringe. So last night I put the remainder of the baytril I was trying to get her to take on a spoon and let her lick at it. It was a hit. I'm going to try that today. They can lick at it on their terms.
 
I finally found a winning formula for Clara. She likes banana, so I mixed up some banana mash (minus the yogurt) and added Strawberry Nesquick and Nestle Raspberry Yogurt baby cereal. Then I used that for everybody's meds. Clara loves it, and she now comes eagerly to the door at med time.... just like all the others!
 
SO I have decided that Hazel doesn't like Doxy other problem is that I am giving her so much that diluting it with ensure is a pain I end up giving her a bunch of ensure to hide the Doxy. But then I give her the .05 baytril and she laps it up. I think the doxy is too strong or thick for her. I got banana flavour and it's not what she likes, next time I will try peanut butter. The spoon method fell flat so today I gave it to her in baby cereal. She took that really well so I am going to try that. Baby cereal, ensure and doxy. Oi
 
I'll be trying some of these tomorrow. This is day 4 of Pint not taking her Baytril. I've tried a few things, among them bananas, yogurt, applesauce, and even sweet potato, which is like crack for all of them. She won't take it. Finicky little monster! (Her sister and mom love whatever she's had, though - the poor girl gets put back in her cage and they smother her, licking the remnants right off her face!)
 
95% of the time, all we've ever needed was a dab of Cool Whip. :mrgreen: It's worked for us, for years. Oh sweet necture of the gods! :wink2:

I do have a few that are on several meds (2 antibiotics, lasix and heart meds) which can be kind of tricky. To avoid the "front foot shuffle" or the "icky icky, chin rub" dances, we'll sometimes have to add a drop of chocolate syrup to the Cool Whip.

We have a fantastic compounding pharmacy that mixes all our meds in yummy flavors, but there always seems to be the occasional rattie that can detect meds in anything. For those, we've gotten pretty creative. i.e. A/D, babyfood and ensure...which is always a big hit for the ones we have trouble getting to eat, so we'll just add their meds to that.

There's nothing I hate more, than to have to syringe the meds in them directly. It's just so dang stressful for me and them. Thank goodness, the Cool Whip works so well.
 
Yesterday I tried the cool whip trick to get Baytril into Staples who wasn't digging ensure....he actually grabbed the syringe and put it into his mouth!!! I squirted it in. I was waiting for him to give me a dirty look and then do the face scoot dance across a towel.... but he didn't even notice and even came back for more!

Hooray for Cool Whip! They really seem to go nuts for it. Seriously the easiest time I have ever had medicating someone! Thanks, JoRats!
 
Ok we had to start giving Baytril for the first time ever. I knew it tasted foul but didn't really know what my girls would accept...

So far i have had success with the baytril mixed with Coconut cream (out of a tin), they go wild for this. I have alsomixed it with some Soy formula.....i make the formula a little stronger then normal and that was also a hit ;)
 
I'm kind of the 'mean scary nurse' type when it comes to medicating rats... I just don't have the patience to beg them to take something. My girls LOVE the baytril I get from the vet - because it's suspended in butterscotch flavor. The boy still hated the stuff. No interest whatsoever. Also hated the berry flavored motrin he had after surgery. I got him to eat the meds if I mixed it with some bolongese baby food, but it just became a pain in the butt, so I'd scruff him quick, squirt in both meds, and be done. He eventually just let it happen instead of fighting me, because he knew it would be over sooner that way.

I have to give meds to various animals on a given day at work (pet store), including rats which are unsocialized and don't give one hoot about the butterscotch flavoring. They also wont touch any 'strange' foods, if I were to try and mix meds with food. Instead, I have to be persistent, but quick, so they don't get too stressed.

I'm fortunate that the baytril is flavored in the first place, and that the girls push each other out of the way to try to get to the other's syringe (at one point, they both had a URI at the same time, and they'd race to get done and run over to the other one to steal their 'treat').
 
I recenly had to medicate a lot of rats at once and I went through all of the gammit of normal things that work great. Cherry Snow Cone Syrup, Chocoloate Syrup, Baby Cereal, Baby Food but the rats would not take them. I finally found my miracle concoction and it worked like a charm for 2 1/2 weeks. Normally for me what I find is that after a few days they catch on and will stop taking them and you have to find a new trick. No new tricks needed with this.

I used peanut butter and thinned it down with vanilla soy milk. I mixed the meds right into them and would mix up a day or two at a time and the rats were fighting to get the syring out of my hands and yanking and pulling on them. I almost worried about choking them cuz they were so busy worrying about getting the syring away from me and not actully swallowing the meds.

Staci
 
Thanks for these great new ideas. The banana-peanut butter-Strawb Nesquick mixture has been working for me for a long time, but there are occasional times when it is still a struggle. If I keep some Kool Whip on hand and remember the pb-soymilk trick I will feel in control! Right now I have five rats on meds for life: one with heart problems (six meds), one with severe lung damage, and three seniors with hind-end degeneration. The first two take the meds no problem, but the three old girls are picky about eating in general.

Did I mention earlier on this post my other concoction? Chicken broth (low sodium, preferably home made) mixed with Lyle's Golden Syrup makes the Baytril go down very easily!
 
After reading this thread I realize my rats are pretty easy to medicate. All I have to do is mix the meds with ensure, either chocolate or strawberry and they take it!!

This has worked almost 95% of the time...lol
 
lilratsy43 said:
After reading this thread I realize my rats are pretty easy to medicate. All I have to do is mix the meds with ensure, either chocolate or strawberry and they take it!!

This has worked almost 95% of the time...lol

This works wonderfully until my rats decide it's boring and then I have to switch of something else. I have very picky (and spoiled) rats.
 
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