hiding medicine

[sismith42]

Hi all, My 2yo boar squeeks when doing a wee, so I took him to a vet who said there might be an infection, and there's definately a bit of urine scald on his willy (ultrasound ruled out stones). We've got some meds (enrobactin for the infection, and loxicom for the pain) but he hates taking it! She did tell me that they usually accept the loxicom fairly well, but to either disguise the taste of the antibiotic with undiluted Ribena, or other diluting juice, to make it go down easier. Otherwise, we could just syringe it in, then syringe with water to get rid of the taste. My problem is that he doesn't like either, and doesn't like the diluting juice even without the medicine in it!

Any suggestions on what to do to make medicine time less stressful?

We're also being more careful with cleaning the cage, and she suggested a bed on legs so the urine can escape (lazy boar likes to sleep in his wee :eyeroll: ), but googling hasn't shown me anything like that?

 

[Bill & Ted]

Hope your little boar gets better soon. Have you tried vet bed, it’s great for piggies that pee in their sleep, wicks away all the dampness and keeps them dry. You can buy small pieces for bedding areas on eBay and cut it to the size you want.

 

[furryfriends (TEAS)]

With medicine time, just make sure you’ve got everything ready first and be firm but quick. Check out this thread that shows how I medicate the piggies at TEAS.

Medicating your guinea pig - Instructional video on Facebook

 

[Lady Kelly]

To be honest I never dilute the antibiotics or syringe water after. I usually give the loxicom first so they are a bit more unsuspecting of the antibiotic syringe. It's a cruel to be kind situation but I find that if you hold their head and just get it done it's all over with fairly quickly

 

[sismith42]

Thanks all! He does seem more chilled about it now that the routine goes: 1 fresh mint leaf, the antibiotic, the rest of the mint branch (we grow it in the garden)