Masking meds for those stubborn ones.

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Have any of you ever had to give your rats pills?

Pepper has had major symptoms of a neurological problem recently, and of course went tot eh vet. She was getting abs in case it was an inner/middle ear thing,b ut teh vet was pretty certain it was her brain, so she got a shot of steriods. It worked wonders! But now to give her the prednisone, they gave me PILLS! Teeny tiny pills. They broke up pred tablets into 1/8ths.

First I was smart and when I was at teh mall, I got a big order of fries and took the leftover ones home. I give each rat a tiny peice of fry and for pepper I stuck her pill in it. She just kept eating around it, but finally I just handed her the pill and she ate it! I think it smelled so much like fries she didn't care WHAT it was! It was pretty funny though when she bit into it and tasted how bitter it was and made a really funny face. It's worked 3 times now, sticking it in fries or just rubbing it all over teh fry so she gets tricked. Pepper has always been very petite too, so I don't worry about her getting fat...Henry ont eh other hand is a big boy, so he only gets the tiniest bit of fry to keep him from trying to steal Pepper's.

Any other ideas are very welcome to give me tips on how to get these pills into her. I only have 2 fries left! But I will keep getting more if it means she will take her meds!
 
You need to crush the portion of the pill into a fine powder first - between 2 teaspoons works well (or you can get special pill crushers), and then mix it as thoroughly as possibly into something really yummy.
I had to give a heart medication once where I had to divide the pill into about 30 bits :shock: For that one I found it easier to crush the whole pill into powder first, then fold a piece of A4 paper lengthwise and put the powder into that so it made one long thin line, then divide into the right amount of parts.

Stirred into approx. 1/2 teaspoon of something sweet that they usually find irresistable and disguises the bitterness like chocolate pudding or soft cake works well, you need to keep cagemates away of course. You can roll it into a little dough ball and then hand that to your patient who will take it from you and munch on it happily!
 
A small square of bread helps the medicine go down, medicine go down, medicine go dowwwwwn. A small square of bread helps the medicine go down ... in the most delightful way! :thumbup:
 
Oh, yes! The bread trick is great. It is one of SQ's favourite ploys with the reluctant ones. I am going to get Cool Whip and bread to leave with the pet-sitter when we are away over Christmas, just in case she has problems getting the meds down them.
 
Baby Food has been my Baytril and other meds disguise. I normally buy the sweets, like a fruit compote or a rice pudding or something. Works fine for me :D

The vet once recommended mixing it with Ribena aswell. I just find baby foods the easiest. I know the rats enjoy them, its quickly prepared, and you can just store the opened jar in the fridge and two jars normally gets you through a whole treatment (assuming a jar of baby food lasts 3 days once opened and refridgerated).
 
Would you believe that a couple of mine turned their noses up at Cool Whip??? the others loved it, of course. I also discovered that baby food can work wonders.

Alternating between a sweet and a savoury disguise can help. I got that idea from my pet-sitter, who used it to great effect with Georgie.

And when in doubt, use 'em all! Baby food with a drop or two of Strawb Nesquick did the trick for my oldies last night.
 
I just thought I'd drop by and offer what has worked for me in the past. I've tried yogurt, cheese whiz, ensure, baby food, strawberry syrup, and all have had some to moderate success, however all of them very quickly lost their 'appeal'. The best thing that worked for me: competition. Yep. I would put the syringe to the rat inside the cage, and because they were so opposed to their buddies getting at this 'treat' they would gobble it up in a second! I kid you not, this was the most effective method I had! XD
 
I will definately try that.At first she took it by just licking it up my finger,then she knew better :wallbang:
I tried all sort of stuff but it only work once,maybe twice.
The competition thing sounds like fun :cheeky:

Thanks for the input,much appreciated.
 
Thanks guys for all the tips...I have 5 ratties on meds and they are not impressed with the syringe thing. So I just sent hubby to the store for baby ceral and cool whip.
 
So far all my girls have been really good with meds. I hide it in the following (I am careful not to use anything with calcium in it if I have to give doxy):
chicken gravy baby food, mashed avocado, cooked mashed sweet potato, NutriCal, baby oatmeal mixed with soy milk or Ensure, nutritious yeast flakes mixed with water, cool whip.
I just found that for my new girl (she is weary of everything new!) the only thing that works is Kefir (strawberry flavor).
 
I've tried a few, because I've found what works for some, certainly does not work for others. Here's what I've tried successfully:

Med's mixed with.......

Huckleberry syrup - I have not had a rat refuse this yet.
Yogurt
Jam
Juice
Ensure - this works well for ratties that are on the skinny side and you want to help bulk up.
 
Godmother said:
:eek:fftopic: Yum, where do you find huckleberry syrup outside of BC? I have fond memories of picking huckleberries when I was growing up.
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My sister actually bought it for my husband when she was in South Dakota. I can't even find it here in BC and I love huckleberries. I have fond memories of picking them when I was young too.
 
Most of my girls will take their meds with anything! I've given meds in Ensure, applesauce, mashed peas, mashed potatoes (just potatoes), oatmeal, mashed bananas...anything they love to eat, and that is just about everything anyway.

Now the problem I have is with Amy. She is a rescue from a very bad situation. The woman who had her, also had a BUNCH of other rats. Like 300 or so. Amy never got to have things like mashed bananas, peas, oatmeal, you name it. The only thing I can get her to eat is rat blocks! She loves those things.

We had her on QT and she had no problems. NOW she has a sneeze and won't take her meds! I've tried everything I can think of. I even took some rat blocks and ground them up, added a few drops of Ensure and the meds, and she ate it. Now she won't go near it! I tried mixing the ground blocks with water and meds, again, no go.

Everything that has been suggested here, I've tried, except for the Cool Whip, and just picking her up and squirting it in her mouth. I feel with the situation before we got her, that would just tramatize her even more. I guess I'm going to have to try some Cool Whip. Wish me luck with that!

Anita
 
My vet mixes my meds with diluted syrup. I believe it was corn syrup. Rats love sweet.
Never had a problem and Jade had meds twice a day, every day of her little life. :)
 
jorats said:
Good luck!! Cool Whip has never let me down but I did have to change it up, if I kept giving cool whip, they wised up. :roll:
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Thanks! I was finally able to get Amy to take her meds, IF I mixed it in just a tiny bit of canned cat food. :sick2: But she loved it, and the vet said ANYthing to get meds in her. Amy only got maybe 3tsps total, since I didn't really want to give her cat food. Amy is all better now! :nod:

Anita

Edit: So for a while, Josie decided to be a problem taking HER medicines. ARGH!! :gaah: If it wasn't one of the girls, it was another one refusing medicine. But I started putting Josie's medicines on a tiny piece of pizza crust, HARD and dried out, and she will take it that way.
 

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