Dougal took his meds again, he even licked the bowl

Well hopefully I can get him to take metacam then from it easily, when I try again tomorrow for the next dose, the baytril I will get my dad to hold for. I think it is because the 2nd one was the horrid one so he remembers the fowel taste to it and that I took him to the vets again which he does not like , he is so good for them though and he is for me, just not good at taking meds for humum.

It does become so much easier when you are a bit more confident that what you are doing is ok, and that you can probably handle Dougal a little more 'firmly' than you think at the moment

Katieb wrote:Daisy takes his metacam straight from the syringe..... The baytril we have to chase him and for ..... He's been having it for 3 years.... Yet still we chase... Every day.

Time doesn't make it taste any better, you know

Bruce will also beg for metacam and take it straight from the syringe. Flo does not like syringe feeding so is not so keen. 

I find with Flo that one of 2 approaches works. Firsty in order to put my hands on her I have to encourage her to go to one of her places that she is ok to be picked up from. Option 1 is to sit her on the corner of the dining table facing outwards. I then hug her to me and give the meds. Option 2 is to hold her supported on my hip at her rear and with my hand supporting her front legs and so she cannot see anything that she might think she can jump on to. 

My trick for baytril is to draw up the baytril then clean the outside of the syringe. Because Baytril is quite heavy you can then draw something else in front of it. If Dougal gets a taste for the metacam then this may be good. Pineapple juice is another good option. You want to make sure this nommy substance is smeared around the end of the syringe. Rabbit tastes and smells this and thinks noms are on offer and puts the syringe in their mouth and then WHAM you hit them with the Baytril (cue and extremely disgusted reaction from said bun). Funnily I find that buns will repeatedly fall for this.

You are probably right Sparky as in the vets the first time, she asked me to hold him, he backed into my belly and I held him still twice, the 2nd time we went yesterday he let me hold him again 3 times i n place on the table in the bottom of his carrier as we take the top part off to get to him easily as it has no top opening but plenty of room for him inside.

The trick with the pineapple juice sounds brill Cheryl , will try that on both syringes and see what happens, thanks for the tips, will let you know if they work.

Glad Dougal has had his meds

Aw he certainly hasn't made it easy for you! Glad to hear he's finally taking his meds

No he has not ,the tinker but at least he had them kind of in the end , thanks.

Sparky is going to come to my house and help me tomorrow, show me a few tricks and that so that is good. Glad for the help and thanks everyone on here for all your help with all my questions and sorry if I am a pain and worry too much too. Appreciate it, what a lovely forum this is to be on.

You can never ask to many questions hun, I don't expect any of us will ever know all that there is to know about these complicated creatures x

True, I did not realise how complicated they where, that is the reason I always read up on them and seek advice/help because I do not think anybody should get any kind of pet without first researching how best to take care of them. Most people just assume carrots and lettuce and keeping them in a hutch with no exercise is fine and it just is not as we all know. I must admit, I did not know lettuce (iceberg) was bad for them and carrots until I did my homework on the beautiful complicated creatures. I did exactly the same with our sweet Gimli  ( dwarf hamster) we lost to cancer the day before we got Dougal, I miss the little chap, he was not like a normal Russian dwarf he was more like a tiny dog lol. Dougal has his kind soul and personality a lot like Gims.

I am hoping it is Sparky's Humum that this coming not Sparky herself. I may be doing Sparky a disservice but I don't believe she would be any help at all with giving meds!

cheryl'n'bruce'flo wrote:I am hoping it is Sparky's Humum that this coming not Sparky herself. I may be doing Sparky a disservice but I don't believe she would be any help at all with giving meds!

I just can't persuade Humum to leave the car keys within reach

I would come over and help, though... it's just that I would be helping Dougal and not his Humum

My Humum is off over there at 4pm today

You have a fabulous Humum sparky 

I Agee with Cheryl though, I'm mot sure what would happen if you helped Sparky x

me too, although after tonight maybe he needs Sparky to tell him to be still and take his meds.

I will let Amanda tell you the fun she had here chasing sir Dougal around his kingdom .

Thanks for that hun, much appreciated, now you know I was not exadurtaing how bad he is for not liking being handled and taking meds. He is so different and good with evrything else, you would not think it was the same bun. He is so sweet and funny and loving. You will have to come round some time to see him just been himself and happy and not when we are forcing meds down him. He was so happy most the day, binky dancing around and running, he had not been himself doing this until he had the meds from the vet and his spot on treatment so they are doing him wonders but it is just getting the little monkey lops to take them. I think it is the syringe also aswell as the taste , he does not like it, wish they had a simple tablet that tasted like timothy hay, then he would om om om it down .

Thanks for the noms and the pro biotics etc too, very much appreciated, you and your husband are so kind for all that and you for coming over to help. Would you like to take a sample of the hay we have for Dougal next time with you hun? it is a lot of money but for us it doe snot work out bad as he is 1 bun so it last a bit and he loves it, from here I get it http://www.pet-supermarket.co.uk/Products/CA3623/oxbow-western-timothy-hay

we buy the 4.05kg bag, it is well packed so you get a lot of hay in it and it is so green as you pointed out, and he just goes mad for it. Ih and the pet shop I use , the one I mentioned that has brill prices is ont far from me, hilly but not a long way away. http://harvest-animalfeeds.co.uk/  address is on there, you will love it, it is a brill shop and they are so nice whoown it and they will get anything they can for you.

I'm glad you got some help from Sparky's humum (and not Sparky herself!)

How nice

Humum came home and said 'And I thought you were difficult, Sparky' - who me?

Dougal really, really did not want to take his meds. Even the Metacam (Loxicom) he had a bit of a sniff and thought about tasting it but decided not to He hid in a box but let Humum get a little bit into his mouth at a time without too much protest, until he'd nearly had it all and decided that was enough. He tried some plain pineapple juice from a syringe and decided that was quite nice but even then was a bit wary of the syringe in his mouth. Then they tried the Baytril-then-pineapple-juice trick and he had really had enough by then. They ended up having to chase him round his room and when they could pin him down for a few seconds he got given a bit, then he was off again. And he is really a wriggly and very fast rabbit who is so determined not to be pinned down and so desperate to get away that they could not be firmer with him for fear of hurting him. Eventually he ended up between the two of them and Humum just got the last of it into his mouth. It took about an hour though, so she can entirely sympathise with the adventures his Humum had with him yesterday.

He is a really, really lovely little guy and obviously very well looked-after and his Humum is smitten with him (quite rightly). He did not mind being stroked anywhere or nose-rubbed but as soon as you move your hand down near / round his belly he is off.

His Humum has been doing all the right things, slowly getting him to tolerate being touched round his tummy - it's just a shame he has needed these meds now and not when he's had a chance to learn that it's ok to be picked up sometimes.

For tomorrow, Humum had suggested he is enticed into his carrier and moved out of his room so the stress he is being put under is not happening in his safe territory. Hopefully, if his Humum can reach in through the carrier door and control him enough in a nice confined space to get his meds into him, it can all be done with a lot quicker... as long as he does not make a really determined effort to get out through the carrier door.

She says sorry he needed to be put under so much stress to get his meds in, we hope he has calmed down now and is back to binkying and that you manage ok with him tomorrow

Thanks for the kind words there, and I like how you said to sparky you thought she was difficult  .

He is happpy again, he did not run and bink, well not sure actually as have left him to settle but when you went I put his stuff back and then put some noms in his bowl with some pellets and he was eating them out my hand before I put them in the bowl, he also run up to me so he seems fine. I think he realises as he is a clever little bunny that us humums are inf fact making him feel better with the awful meds we are shoving down his throat. His humum wonders if just mixing in a bowl with the baby food would work? she is going to ring vets tomorrow for more help too and take Sparkys humms advice on baord also.

I would very much and I am sure Dougal would like to see Sparkys humum some time again without the meds and syringe so he can see how truly nice she is and that she is not some stranger shoving nasty meds doen his thorat and humum can see how funny and settled he is without that too. I thnk you would both get on well if you give him a crnchie next time once he gets to know you without the awful meds on he will be you pal for life and if you give him a nose rub too, elthough he only seems to let humum do this and does not let hudad see, when I say to hudad awww look at him, he loves nose rubs he acts like he does not and moves away and looks at him as if to say "I am boy not a wuss, Humum lies" .

Are there any more tricks that we can learn, that we can try as a back uo in case the carrier thing does not work humums and hudads on the forum?

Thanks again hun .

Bunny burritos are good especially when done with fleeces. You need to wrap Dougal up tightly in a fleece blanket with only his head stuck out. Buns will often feel safer like this. The fleece also has some elasticy give in it that means the bun can wriggle a bit and not just wriggle out of the wrap. It is not the easiest thing to get a bun into though.

Well done Sparky's Humum

I would love to try this but do not have a fleece blanket , I do not think I wil get Dougal like that tbh but I can try some time or bororw a fleece blanket.

Thanks for the tips.

They are quite cheap in the animal section in Asda or in petshops.

I will have to try and get to asda or somewhere when I can, we do not have an asda in our town and I don't drive but when we can get to 1 we will try him with it, be good to get when he is neutered and i need to give him his meds. hopefully that will work, my husband is going into town tomrrow, my dad is taking him so can get him to look in the pound shop, Darwen is rubbish for shops, we do not have anything hardly but at leats we have a very good pet shop and ppund shop, apart formt that there is nothing really.

Thanks hun, it is worht a shot and a good idea.

cheryl'n'bruce'flo wrote:Bunny burritos are good especially when done with fleeces. You need to wrap Dougal up tightly in a fleece blanket with only his head stuck out. Buns will often feel safer like this. The fleece also has some elasticy give in it that means the bun can wriggle a bit and not just wriggle out of the wrap. It is not the easiest thing to get a bun into though.

i use this method with my Chinchillas, and trust me they are like trying to hold onto a slippery fish. I just use a t-shirt tho, so you may find a soft towel works just as well    hope you have better luck next time he needs his meds

That is another good idea, I am so brain fried lately between chasing Dougal, looking after hubby, remembering appointments, tablets, myself not being A1 and having some problems so I have not thought of these things.

I rang up the vet and she suggested some robinsons cordial on a biscuit, apparently that should work, but this is sweet Dougal we are talking about :lol:and there is not tricking the clever mite so we will have to see, if not it is towel time then, something needs to work. On a good note he is much happier and back to his normal crazy funny boy I know, he has been pounding his tent, playing peek a boo, running around, being a humummys boy , he is still clingy with me and loves me so that is good.

He finally had them with no stress.

I first tried what the vet said with coridal juice on a biscuit with it and he was not interested, I only tried it with cordial without the meds first and he did not like biscuits so I then tried in on a fenugreek crunchie, but this time with the baby food apple falvor mixed with some loxicom but he knew it was on so then I said to Hudad, give the crunchie here I will mix it it in a bowl with more baby food and pellets and put in a bit of fresh herb mint leave and basil. Mixed it well and he ate some of it then was not sure so I gave ste half a handful of readigrass and said mix that in to and he gobbled it all down bar some tiny bits of grass and baby food stuck to the bowl. Main thing is he got his meds down in 1 go and only took 10 mins rather than 10 hours. .

I got hudad to stay with him as he knows "humum at this time tricks him and gets the yuk meds, and he is no stupid boy, me is too clever he says rubbing his bunny paws together, I know what yer doing humum".

Humum binky dances around like her bunny, I think if Dougal saw me he would look at me like I was a noob  or more than likely join me in the dance. he is so lively and happy today as he usually is, it makes me so happy seeing him being his dancing, energetic self again who loves and clings to his humum, even if she does try and poison him.

Well done Dougal, you have trained your Humum to give you a big bowl of yummy nom to disguise the taste of the medicine 

I assume the Baytril was in there too?

I'm glad you found a way that works for you without causing the little monkey all that stress