Tricks for giving meds?

[BlueBalloon]

HI,

Does anyone have any tricks for getting meds into ratties? My two boys are both on baytril and doxi for the next 3 weeks 2X a day, and I feel like the worse rattie mom everytime I have to force feed it to them I even got it in fruit flavor ( banana baytril and strawberry doxi) and they both refuse it. So any tricks would be greatly appreciated.

Although after med time I did get lots of kisses on the face from my boys 

[Claymore]

I don't usually give liquid medicines.  The only one I give that is not tasty is the doxy, and I try to hide that in baby food, or use it to thin out a small amount of peanut butter.  I don't like the peanut butter idea because the doxy doesn't stay mixed in to well.  Try the baby food or another treat that will mask the flavor.

[silver]

For the last two days I've been sucking up the baytril dose in the syringe (I have the clear foul tasting kind), then suck up some icecream topping with it- I've been using chocolate syrup but that might not work with the doxy, I know someone who uses strawberry though. My rats fight each other to suck it from the syringe! Even my grouchy slightly aggressive boy will take it with no trouble, and he is 100% impossible to force feed (he'd rather struggle, kicking and screeching for half an hour  )

[scout]

Try mixing the dose in a spoon with something tasty they like:

jam
syrup
chocolate
mayonnaise
olive oil
chicken broth
baby food (mine like sweet potato & chicken)
cod liver oil (mine go nuts!)
soy milk
ensure

and as a last resort, I've only had one rat ever (in 7 years and more than 100 rats) reject Nutrical paste.

The one thing you don't want to mix it with is anything containing dairy. The calcium will bind with the doxy and render it useless.

[guardiantrinity]

My three week battle just ended last Friday, so I completely understand! I found mixing the baytril in some strawberry AND a tiny bit of chocolate ice cream topping worked well for my girls (two of the three would refuse just strawberry). For the Doxy, it worked best mixed with very potent smelling baby food (mostly the beef, chicken, and turkey ones) but I had to switch flavors every couple of days or so or they would start wising up the fact I hid it in there.

[Ealai]

When I have to give my boys meds I usually opt for Banana baby food on a plastic spoon. I've noticed that they won't take it on a metal spoon. I've also heard that dairy interacts badly with some meds or that it can weaken it's potency...that's just what I've heard and I could be wrong so I try and steer clear of anything with dairy.

[Jaspie]

Currently having the same problem, only my meds are powdered rather than the liquid stuff (my girls love the liquid Doxy, wish I had that instead!)  I tried mixing it in with some baby food but my girls hate the stuff, I wiped some on Mystique's mouth and she wiped it off on my shirt.    Now I've been using the Nurti-cal to mask the task which is working better, but still such a pain!!

[meetimarco]

for some reason my boys refuse to take the meds outside their cage but the minute they see the syringe come through the bars of their cage its like Christmas all over again. sometimes they dont finish it and turn away, thats when I have to get rough with them and take them out of the cage and pin them down to force feed the rest. They squeak a bit but get over it fast. Then I shower them in treats.

[TnM]

I know the feeling... just the mention of doxy gives me shudders. I found that mixing the meds with(don't shoot me, it works!) a small amount of pepsi in a little container and if the rat won't willingly drink *that* then soak it up with cheerios and hand feed those, or hand feed with a small syringe or one drop at a time on a finger. Another thing that worked fantasticly was this stuff my mom had to flavor coffee there was a vanilla and carmel syrup, or even regular old honey or maple syrup might be fine.

As with dogs, rats can get competitive about food, so making that work with you can help, for instance take two syringes of the syrup mixture and feed through the cage bars(bad to do, I know, but that's the point it makes them grabby and possessive about what they're getting because they can't actually grab it) feed the rat you're not trying to medicate the one without the meds and let the other rat get nice and worked up and then give her her syringe near the other rat... do this randomly even when meds don't need to be given and they'll always look for the syringes as super high value treats and won't even hesitate about a little funky taste.

[bug.dragon]

You could also try a bit of honey
And I had one girl who REFUSED to be tricked, and fought like crazy - when I know her meds tasted just like sugar water! She DID like to lick me though, so I would just put the amount necessary into the syringe and dab it onto the web between my thumb and forefinger - right where she liked to lick the most and she had a blast with that (go figure )

[chiropteragirl]

I put the rat that needs the meds in the bathtub, with a blanket to catch drips. Then I put the meds in a shallow dish with chocolate soymilk and wheatgerm. Works like a charm.