Masking meds for those stubborn ones.

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Do ya'll have any suggestions for masking Clavamox?

My boys were good about taking it the first few days, but they've decided that they dislike it/can taste it. I've tried peanut butter, banana baby food, strawberry nesquick, chocolate syrup, cheese dip, and force-feeding (doesn't really work).

This is helping them with their breathing, but is almost impossible to give them :rant: :rant:
 
sarunia said:
Do ya'll have any suggestions for masking Clavamox?

My boys were good about taking it the first few days, but they've decided that they dislike it/can taste it. I've tried peanut butter, banana baby food, strawberry nesquick, chocolate syrup, cheese dip, and force-feeding (doesn't really work).

This is helping them with their breathing, but is almost impossible to give them :rant: :rant:
Click to expand...

never given clavamox to a rat but I can hide it in tuna water or a mashed oyster for my cats.


All the rats I've got LOVE oysters, so maybe try that?

even the water that canned oysters comes in smells tasty (well it's really stinky and my cats AND my rats seem to love the stinkiest things!)


OH I've got one thing that works really well, the syrup that baked beans comes in- or even a mashed up baked bean
 
the one thing my rats have never turned away when masking meds is soy yogurt! they've turned away super sweet things, baby food, even that ID cat/dog food. but soy yogurt is the magic trick. vanilla or peach = shoving matches for who gets their meds first.

the only thing I can't cover is the oil supplement my youngest boy is supposed to be taking :p he refuses it even with the forbidden peanut butter! (I prefer to not give them peanut butter, but resorted to it with this. but no! hehe/.
 
I've had some really picky ones. When I mix meds like a doxy capsule, I usually use maple syrup or agave and water so it is really sweet to start with. I don't buy strawberry quick for anyone here and I prefer a natural syrup. I like to syringe to be sure the medicine goes down but with the really bad ones I make a PB and abx sandwich. I start with a little piece of whole wheat bread, then I put the liquid meds on it (I mix them so I have .2 ml liquid or less to give) then I spread a thin layer of PB and sprinkle the crushed baytril on top. I then roll the sandwich so the PB and abx are on the inside. Pretty much everyone will eat this.

The trick for me with cagemates is to make sandwiches for everyone. I try to make the medicine one smaller so it gets eaten quicker and no one goes to steal it (just cut and roll that one differently).

Unfortunately, it is why everyone got fat while Spike was sick. But he just wouldn't take anything if the others didn't get it too. (Oh, she couldn't have spiked the sandwiches with meds....everyone is getting one!). And syringe feeding meds would give him the screaming blue wheezies.
 
Ive tried Bananas(baby food and mashed up naners), whipped cream, strawberry jam, peanut butter, apple sauce, nesquick, all of the above MIXED with nesquick....

And Roy is sick of it all.

I'm at my whits end! Anyone have any ideas of anything I havent tried? D: Keeping in mind hes on doxy, so no calcium...
 
Hello,

I just found out (was looking at it because some tap water can provoke/worsen allergies) that our tap water contains
CALCIUM mg/l Ca 54,3
(MAGNESIUM mg/l Mg 6,4)

If I have to give Doxycycline to one of my ratties, should I remove the water bottle for 1-2 hours (or give the bottle-water with a low mineral%)?
Or is it OK/not to worry about (too low to interact with the Doxy, f.e.)?
:?

I did also use some tap water to mix with the Doxy :emb: :wallbang:
(I crumble some speculaas and mix it with water so that it becomes half-fluid after some mixing, and then add the Doxy)
 
My trick: Soy vanilla coffee creamer. Poor it into a bottle, add a squirt or two of chocolate syrup, a little water and shake. Suck up the meds in syringe then the creamer. All of my boys will fight over this. I use this with Baytril (my vet does not flavor it, nasty stuff) and Doxy. It has no calcium. Also mixes well with peanutbutter flavored Zith.
 
Buttescotch flavoed baytril works geat, even for my girl that wont take other flavors in pb, chocolate syup, and whipped ceam
(that is viewed a a treat by every other rat, and you only need a tiny bit :thumbup: ) Butterscotch doxy needed to be added to whipped cream for her though, I guess doxy tastes worse than baytril. There's always one in every bunch, but I'm glad I no longer have to waste tons of meds now that I know what to use for her. I used baby cereal before, and it works for a couple days with picky missy, but the other girls lap it up, but it has way to much calcium and other minerals for some antibiotics.
 
I still haven't found that one thing that I can put all the meds in and that my girls will take every time. However, I have found a few things they like a lot .. as long as I give them only .1cc at a time with a dab of ...

peanut butter mixed with water so it's very runny
chicken noodle cup-a-soup
cool whip (usually I feed this to them on my finger)
margerine
ritz bitz (I cut them into quarters and give one quarter and let the meds soak in first)

I'm so glad for this thread.. 'cause I never know what my girls will take tomorrow.. it's a great reference!
 
Never thought I'd be posting in this thread....

So for his entire life Dominic has been a med taking machine. Baytril? Put in in yougurt. Baytril and Doxy? Baby food or rice cereal and it vanishes. Twice a day sppon full of personal noms was the best idea his parents ever came up with to him.

Dom also is a chronic URI rat. He got his first one at 20 months and it was a doozy. It left him a little "off" sounding in the chest and sinuses ever since. Our vet guesses he took some scarring but no way to tell. Since then he'd get a URI, go on Baytril and Doxy for 4-6 weeks and be done with it. Repeat every 2-3 months.

So earlier this month we decided to try a different combo of ABS to see if it would kick it a little better. He'd been on Baytril and Doxy for about 4 weeks and we needed a refill. We decided to try a Zithro/Doxy combo and see if it would do any better since this one seemed slow to leave.

Bad. Idea. Apparently Zithro tastes like month old roadkill meets high school cafeteria on budget cuts or something.
Rice cereal? Nope.
Add a little honey to make it sweet? Nope.
Add a little coco powder? Nope.
Go "Aww, screw it, we'll try yogurt even if the Doxy won't absorb as well." Yup.
Vanilla yogurt? Nope.
Blueberry yogurt (which previously Dom thought tasted so amazing it should be illegal in 34 states)? Nope.
Mixed in with crushed up soaked lab block? Nope.
Attempt to get him to take it off a finger, as food offered by or stolen from humans is obviously superior? Nope. Bwuh?!

So, back to Baytril..... and now the little furball will not take anything given to him in a spoon or on a plate! Apparently treats are now evil and we have yet to be able to get him to take a full dose of his meds this week. :gaah: :gaah: :gaah:

Thoughts?
 
DadRat said:
Apparently treats are now evil and we have yet to be able to get him to take a full dose of his meds this week. :gaah: :gaah: :gaah:

Thoughts?
Click to expand...

I've had that kinda thing happen too. And what I did was give some of the ole' treat my girl used to like with no meds in it. If she still wouldn't take it, I'd leave it out for her, and eventually she did eat it sometimes. Also, my two girls often fight over food, so one time I had them out together and gave a non-med version of the treat. As soon as the other girl went after it, it became desirable again for the girl who needed the meds.

Good luck to you and your little one!
 
I think it might have been how the pharmacy flavored it - the strawberry has worked in the baytril, and the doxy, but if they put the same amount of flavoring in this much bigger bottle, it might not be enough/the right flavor to hide it. Right now Dom is taking it in mashed banana in the cage, rather than in a spoon. *fingers crossed, knock on wood*
 
Crank tends to be real picky about meds and usually i'll put med on a tiny piece of bread but this time there's too much med, he just wouldn't eat it. Mixed with baby food has never been a winner here so i tried Glucerna (diet Ensure) and it works like a charm! I mix everything up in a spoon and put the stuff back in the serynge then he licks the last few drops left in the spoon.

I'm curious about two things tho.

How much Ensure/Glucerna is an okay amount to give daily?
How long does it keep for in the fridge after opening, untill the expire date?

Crank is doing MUCH better then he was and he's already stopped chirping but i don't want to cause another problem by giving too much vitamins!
Thanks all!
 
I don't know how long it is good for, but I know with most things, you can put it in an ice cube tray and freeze it, then thaw an individual cube as needed.
 
Dazzle87 said:
I don't know how long it is good for, but I know with most things, you can put it in an ice cube tray and freeze it, then thaw an individual cube as needed.
Click to expand...
Right, i haven't thought of that!
 

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