Baytril

Any idea how to make baytril taste better? The bet said it was horrible but I didn't expect Jeeves to act this badly to it. She told me to dilute it with 0.5 of water but it doesn't seem to be doing much.

Mix it with something yummy such as juice or fruit puree. And always offer a treat immediately after to take away the taste and to apologise.

Sorry if I sound completely dim, but what is fruit puree?
How much would you suggest?
I gave him some grass straight after and he loves his grass do I am slightly forgiven.

cheryl'n'bruce'flo wrote:Mix it with something yummy such as juice or fruit puree. And always offer a treat immediately after to take away the taste and to apologise .

My two go crazy whenever I'm drinking pineapple juice if that helps, and I believe it's ok for them when given in moderation.

I can guarantee the asda chosen for you bottles are sugar free, but I don't know about any other kind

Humum is having the same problem with Jack, despite mixing his with apple or banana organic baby food. Apparently Baytril has been made liver flavoured to be more appealing to cats and dogs Can you imagine a taste more alien to a rabbit?

Humum is thinking that the stress of giving Jack his Baytril is probably undoing half of the benefit it is supposed to have. She half-promised us we'd never have to have Baytril again, and that's turned into a firm promise. She's going to insist on Flagyl, Septrin or the Alamycin injections in future if any of us have to have anti-biotics. She's going to take Jack in on Monday and see what else the vet is happy to put him on, he has been on Baytril for 3 weeks and he's still unwell

Sorry - we were no help at all, were we? Do let us know if you find anything that does work.

We've heard cranberry juice is worth a try, and could see that as it is strongly flavoured. But Humum already knows we don't like that either

Sparky wrote:Humum is having the same problem with Jack, despite mixing his with apple or banana organic baby food. Apparently Baytril has been made liver flavoured to be more appealing to cats and dogs Can you imagine a taste more alien to a rabbit?

Well that explains a lot!!!

No wonder they hate it. I wouldn't be impressed either!

Humum was never convinced that apple-and-liver or banana-and-liver were going to be more acceptable than plain liver flavour

Liver flavoured? That's honestly shocking no wonder he hated it so much!
Zantac no problem, baytril he lashes his head about.
Gosh thank you for telling me I will get something tomorrow asap! Bad mummy! You were great help Sparky, I can completely understand why Jack still isn't better on it. You'll have to let me know how your humum gets on for future reference.

Thumper2001 wrote:

I can guarantee the asda chosen for you bottles are sugar free, but I don't know about any other kind

-Does the juice have to be sugar free out of interest?

I can't for the life of me remember what organic baby food was recommended on here. I want to say Ella's kitchen but I could be wrong.

I'm sure some carrot flavour meds would be a nice change!! No liver and carrot, just carrot!!!

I think Tuckerbunnies use Ella's Kitchen, I'm not sure what we have - Humum just made sure it was a safe fruit, and organic. To be honest, for an extra 1.0 - 1.5ml in the syringe, Humum was less bothered about what was in the food than she was about making it more palatable to Jack.

She's really lost faith in Baytril for anything other than minor infections or to ensure a minor infection does not set in in the first place. It's done nothing to help any of us, and Humum is reading more and more that people are finding it ineffective. It seems that Baytril is so widely used in rabbits that Baytril-resistant strains of bacteria are becoming more common. But as it is the only broad-spectrum anti-biotic licensed for rabbits, it will continue to be used. Luckily, our vet will prescribe anything once she is convinced it will help, as long as Humum signs a release form thing. The Alamycin injections I have are a farm drug. We came across this drug when we were desperately trying to save Molly's life and willing to try anything. Unfortunately it was too late for her but Humum is convinced it is why I am still around and that if I had been left on Baytril, I wouldn't be.

Sparky close your ears, you don't need to hear this.

What you can do is draw up the baytril, clean the outside of the syringe well then draw up something that tastes good such as juice. Don't shake the syringe or turn it over too much as you want the bun to get a taste of good stuff first and relax into taking the meds. This way they get the nice taste followed by a quick hit of nasty baytril. When I am giving it to the piggies I often use metatone which is good for stimulating piggie appetites. They seem to fall for this trick every time. It has been ages since I have had to give the buns baytril.

Dotdot - what dose is Jeeves on? Jack has 1.2ml once a day, so it is quite a lot to get him to accept.

cheryl'n'bruce'flo wrote:Sparky close your ears, you don't need to hear this.

I don't mind at all. After three rounds of Baytril plus all the meds for my tummy, I freak out so completely if anyone even thinks about going near my mouth with a syringe that oral meds are just not an option for me any more. I get meds by injection (which I don't even notice).

I can see your trick working for a small dose, but Jack is quite capable of jerking his head away as soon as he tastes the first molecule of Baytril so getting 1.2ml down him is quite challenging and just leaves Humum feeling mean. He won't even accept a treat afterwards. So Humum has got into the habit of nebulising him after while he is stressed and breathing hard, so the solution gets right in his nasal passages. She is so mean

He has been given a 1ml dose twice a day.
I know just how your humum feels, I felt blimmin' awful today, he hid tonight when it came to medicine time

I believe this vet would also be open to suggestions, she noted how there weren't a huge amount of abx that buns can cope with but there are slowly more becoming available. She did mention about another which they give to buns who have syphilis but the name escapes me.
The vet we saw last week though didn't want to prescribe abx as she felt they could make buns worse.

Thanks for that tip Cheryl!

How many days does he need to be on it for? That's the problem with Jack - at the moment it is 'indefinitely' and while the treatment is causing him stress, it will be lowering his immune system and making him more susceptible to the pasteurella. It's not that other abx aren't available, it's that they have not been licensed for buns so using them could be a bit of a risk, although there are ones which are commonly used which one can be reasonably confident are safe. Perhaps some might cause longer-term problems but without them the bun might not survive long enough to worry about long-term.




Humum has never thought to ask why buns get given anti-biotics for stasis episodes, she'll ask when she takes Jack in.

Fill your syringe with the baytril and then just dip the end of the syringe in a little bit of honey or mix a tiny bit of pineapple juice with the baytril . Hopefully that should work.


Yes we do use 'Ellas Kitchen' we love their baby foods as they are organic and the bunnies like them.

The vet suggested we give his Zantac and baytril half an hour apart, I think this was because she said it was stress him less, but of anything it's stressing him more picking him up, syringing him, then putting him down and doing it all again half hour later. Would you say it's worth giving them together?

If he is getting that stressed out I would give him them together.

They will be together tonight then, bless his heart.

Is he ok with the flavour of the Zantac? Or does he freak out with that because he thinks it might be Baytril?

The first two doses he had he was brilliant with it, but this morning he freaked out a little because he thought it might be baytril

Answering an earlier question I don't remember the vet saying how long he needs to be on it but she did lot of calculations and measured out specific amounts so I'm wondering if it's until it runs out.
I'll probably give her a ring to check though.