My rat won't take his medicine.

[Lourice]

I was given medication for my rat Louis because my vet thinks he has Staph. He scratches a lot and i don't think it's from bedding, and she didn't find any mites, so she says it's staph.

but louis won't take his meds. i have to feed it to him through a syringe, and he just won't have it.

i tried putting it on a treat, he got grossed out, and then forced himself to eat the rest of the treat after there was no more liquid on it.

what do i dooooo.

 

[victoria]

Staph is not very common in rats. How did your vet rule out mites? Many vets will treat if there are symptoms because it's relatively cheap and safe to at least rule them out.

Here's a video another forum member made on how to force medicate. It's an important skill to have, even if your rat will take meds with food. What did your vet prescribe for staph?

[BBvideo 450,375:w6a4jgik]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-_bFMkutKk[/BBvideo:w6a4jgik]

 

[jorats]

Oh boy, it sounds like your vet might not be very experienced with rats. Mites almost always come up negative on a skin test.
What type of medicine were you given?

 

[Lourice]

Oh boy, it sounds like your vet might not be very experienced with rats. Mites almost always come up negative on a skin test.
What type of medicine were you given?

i'm not sure, but it's a white liquid that smells fruity. and she did a tape test against the skin and looked under the microscope, and she said she didn't see anything. but she did give me Revolution along with the antibiotics for the staph. So i did one dose of Revolution and i've been giving him the antibiotics for the past two days.

i figured out to just mix it with some yogurt and he eats it right up.

should i not give it to him anymore? i want to do as much as i can to make him stop scratching.

 

[Lourice]

Staph is not very common in rats. How did your vet rule out mites? Many vets will treat if there are symptoms because it's relatively cheap and safe to at least rule them out.

Here's a video another forum member made on how to force medicate. It's an important skill to have, even if your rat will take meds with food. What did your vet prescribe for staph?

[BBvideo 450,375:154pwnh1]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-_bFMkutKk[/BBvideo:154pwnh1]

thanks so much, this is so helpful!

i've been mixing it with a little yogurt and just feeding to him from a spoon haha so that's been sort of working but I'll try this next time

 

[victoria]

thanks so much, this is so helpful!

i've been mixing it with a little yogurt and just feeding to him from a spoon haha so that's been sort of working but I'll try this next time

Don't mix meds with yogurt. Even yogurt that's not labelled as probiotic has bacterial cultures in it (needed for fermentation) and they will make the antibiotics less effective. I find mixing apple sauce, peanut butter, and honey (or another sweetener) works very well for masking meds for some rats. There's an entire thread dedicated to ideas, just don't use yogurt .

 

[jorats]

Oh good, you did do the revolution. That's great. You might have chlorpalm or clavamox for the meds, avoid dairy with it. Some people have success using strawberry Quick to mask the meds.
And like Victoria said, we have a whole thread on it cause many many rats don't like their meds. lol viewtopic.php?f=21&t=4656

 

[jennifervb]

I was given medication for my rat Louis because my vet thinks he has Staph. He scratches a lot and i don't think it's from bedding, and she didn't find any mites, so she says it's staph.

but louis won't take his meds. i have to feed it to him through a syringe, and he just won't have it.

i tried putting it on a treat, he got grossed out, and then forced himself to eat the rest of the treat after there was no more liquid on it.

what do i dooooo.

It is in the genes of rats not to like their meds. :cheeky:

There is no greater brain teaser than to figure out how to get your little fuzz-nut to take his/her meds. It's exhilarating really. I came up with ideas (with Rat Shack support) that I never thought I ever would have been able to come up with otherwise.

You have a little Socrates in that cage. Pit your wits against his... you will be amazed at what you can accomplish with help from your fellow Shackers. Hang in there! This is a war we have all had to fight! :wink2:

 

[Lourice]

thanks so much, this is so helpful!

i've been mixing it with a little yogurt and just feeding to him from a spoon haha so that's been sort of working but I'll try this next time

Don't mix meds with yogurt. Even yogurt that's not labelled as probiotic has bacterial cultures in it (needed for fermentation) and they will make the antibiotics less effective. I find mixing apple sauce, peanut butter, and honey (or another sweetener) works very well for masking meds for some rats. There's an entire thread dedicated to ideas, just don't use yogurt .

I didn't think of apple sauce!! Good idea. And he's been fine wit the yogurt, i finally got him to eat ALL of it, but I'll switch to something else if you say it's not the best thing. ahaha

also, as a side note, he is literally ON TOP of my head right now as i type this, playing with my bobby pin. rats are the greatest.

 

[*Rebel_Angel*]

I dont beleive in masking meds I fear by doing that that they don't get the full effect of it so I force meds and for now mine are too lazy to do the hole holding meds in their mouth to spit it out later when moms not looking.

The instructive video works wonders,

I hope ur lil Louis feels better soon!

 

[victoria]

I dont beleive in masking meds I fear by doing that that they don't get the full effect of it so I force meds and for now mine are too lazy to do the hole holding meds in their mouth to spit it out later when moms not looking.

The instructive video works wonders,

I hope ur lil Louis feels better soon!

That's not always an option though. Every rat and situation is different. You can't give meds to a rat on an empty stomach so mixing it with food, depending on what it is masked with, forcing or masking it is not any different.

 

[*Rebel_Angel*]

sorry lol forgot the in my opinion part lol!

But definately I'll keep that in mind!

 

[avatarkyia]

The best way to get my rats to take liquid medication is by letting it soak into a small piece of bread. They eat it right up!

 

[Megan Fleischman]

I tried applesauce and bread and those didn’t work for both rats that needed medication. What worked every time so I knew they would eat it all was mixing the dose in a dab of honey yogurt, sometimes with a drop of maple syrup.worked every time for my girls! One thing that was also suggested but I never tried was soaking the liquid med into a piece of popcorn. Maybe kettle corn would be better