Syringe for medicine

[feather78]

My bunny Houdini is a little over three years old, and I have had him for almost three years now. He had blood in his urine a few times in July, so I took him to the vet, and the urinalysis and x-rays came back fine. Now he is leaking urine, and it is staining him, so I took him again. The x-rays came back fine again, and the vet gave me Baytril to give him, 2 doses a day for ten days.

Now here is the problem. I never pick Houdini up, since he doesn't like it. He comes to me, and I pet him, but I don't hold him. I guess I should have gotten him used to being held because now it is scaring him (literally almost to death) that I am picking him up AND forcing medicine in his mouth. It took me almost a half hour to get him last night (he knew something was up and would not come near me and kept hiding under the couch to get away), and when I finally got him,I could hear him squeaking when he was breathing, and I trulythought he was going to die.

SO, is there any other way to give him this medicine before I give him a heart attack? I will try anything, and if it doesn't work, I will buy more medicine (if it's ok with the vet) to make up for any solutions that don't work. I have only given him two doses, and he won't come near me at all. It took me a very long time to get him to trust me and bond with me, and I am so scared that he already hates me. He will not come out from under the couch if I'm in the room, and if I go to another room and come back, he runs the second he sees me. Any help would be amazing. Thanks in advance.

 

[missyscove]

Many people don't consider Baytril to be a particularly useful antibiotic these days because so many bacteria are resistant, but that's beside your question.

Since it's in a syringe I assume the Baytril is compounded. Is it flavored? I've gotten my rabbits used to taking a syringe by offering them syringes of diluted juice on occasion as a treat. If the Baytril isn't flavored, you can syringe out the dose, then fill the syringe with something tasty like juice which he may be more willing to take.
If he already associates the syringe with something awful, I'm not sure how much you can do. You won't get him running toward something he hates so you won't be able to get him to take something he doesn't like.
You might be successful hiding the baytril in something else (squirted on his veggies, in a treat, etc, but that's tricky with liquid medications.

 

[feather78]

Now I'm nervous that the Baytril won'tmake him better. :/

I don't think it's so much the syringe (although nowit's probably that too)as me trying to catch him and then pick him up. He is a very picky eater, but I'm going to try feeding him applesauce and maybe mashed bananas, and if he eats that, maybe I can hide the meds in there. Thank you for your ideas!

 

[tonyshuman]

I have even heard of injecting the medicine into blueberries or raisins.

 

[feather78]

I like the blueberry/raisin idea. I tried applesauce with no medicine, he wouldn't eat it. I mixed the applesauce with water and put it in a bowl to see if he would drink that, and he did, but only a little bit. I don't think he would have touched it with medicine in it. He is so picky. I guess I will just have to keep catching him and using the syringe, but I feel terrible. He is justso on edge and completely nervous.

 

[tonyshuman]

You could mix it with pedialyte if he will drink all of that.

 

[feather78]

I will try the pedialyte. Thanks.