Any other piggies fussy with medicine?

[Freya1234]

Smokey is currently having Loxicom and Frusol twice a day (I explained why in my thread). He absolutely hates both of them but definitely Frusol more, I think this is because the Frusol has a sweet fruity flavouring (could be strawberry?) and he absolutely hates strawberries and won’t touch them. This is becoming a bit of a problem because he has worked out when medicine time is and is trying everything he can to avoid taking his medicine including trying to spit it out into my lap. This is making me a bit concerned because I think he will have to be on Frusol for the foreseeable future to help his heart, I have tried giving him a pea flake after his medicine as a reward and he does look forward to that but he‘s a bit of grumpy pig with me at the moment!
Do any other piggie slaves have fussy pigs with medicine? How do you get around this?

 

[alpacasqueak]

Smokey is currently having Loxicom and Frusol twice a day (I explained why in my thread). He absolutely hates both of them but definitely Frusol more, I think this is because the Frusol has a sweet fruity flavouring (could be strawberry?) and he absolutely hates strawberries and won’t touch them. This is becoming a bit of a problem because he has worked out when medicine time is and is trying everything he can to avoid taking his medicine including trying to spit it out into my lap. This is making me a bit concerned because I think he will have to be on Frusol for the foreseeable future to help his heart, I have tried giving him a pea flake after his medicine as a reward and he does look forward to that but he‘s a bit of grumpy pig with me at the moment!
Do any other piggie slaves have fussy pigs with medicine? How do you get around this?

Aw bless him poor chap, hope he’s doing well. It can be a nightmare, most piggies love metacam/loxicom, Jess loved it for 7+ years (would even lick it off cagemate’s chins!) until she was diagnosed with palliative kidney issues and even worse spinal arthritis and had to have it daily, then she hated it!
I pretty much had to be cruel to be kind tbh and just force it a little! You feel so mean but she needed it! Sometimes I’ve found it can just be the restraining they don’t like, like piggies I’ve syringe-fed and they get used to it after a while and start cooperating! But others can be stubborn beasties like her!
Wrapping them like a burrito etc like on the piggy guides could be helpful too.
Hope he starts being a good boy for his meds soon! x

 

[Freela]

A lot of pigs hate medication... I just finished giving mine a course of Baytril and one in particular took it very poorly, kicking and squirming and then giving me the cold shoulder afterwards. There's not much to do other than persevere and try to make it as pleasant as you can with pats and a nice treat after it's over.

 

[Freya1234]

Aw bless him poor chap, hope he’s doing well. It can be a nightmare, most piggies love metacam/loxicom, Jess loved it for 7+ years (would even lick it off cagemate’s chins!) until she was diagnosed with palliative kidney issues and even worse spinal arthritis and had to have it daily, then she hated it!
I pretty much had to be cruel to be kind tbh and just force it a little! You feel so mean but she needed it! Sometimes I’ve found it can just be the restraining they don’t like, like piggies I’ve syringe-fed and they get used to it after a while and start cooperating! But others can be stubborn beasties like her!
Wrapping them like a burrito etc like on the piggy guides could be helpful too.
Hope he starts being a good boy for his meds soon! x

Yes, out of the two the loxicom is definitely the more popular one but he definitely would rather not have it!
Thank you for your words of support, I might try wrapping him up if he keeps being stubborn and squirmy

A lot of pigs hate medication... I just finished giving mine a course of Baytril and one in particular took it very poorly, kicking and squirming and then giving me the cold shoulder afterwards. There's not much to do other than persevere and try to make it as pleasant as you can with pats and a nice treat after it's over.

Yes, i’m trying to make it a positive experience for him but he certainly is a stubborn little pig!

 

[Deleted member 139433]

They can be fussy. I agree that Baytril is by far the worst!

my little Odin () pretty much had every medicine going at some point or other. He loved Loxicom/Metacam and would be pulling the syringe out of my hand, but hated everything else

When Rocket () was on Zithromax, he surprisingly liked it! Used to come over to the bars to take his medicine. I didn’t even need to catch him!

 

[Pound Shilling & Pig]

Which do you give first? I have not yet come across a pig that doesn't like loxicom/metacam! I always give the metacam first, I think if you give something they don't like first they still have that taste in their mouth which ruins the flavour of the metacam so they don't enjoy that either.

My vet prescribes furosemide (The active ingredient of frusol) tablets. They are very small and a pig only needs about 1/6 tablet, depending on their weight, so it is a bit fiddly but you can grind it up into a powder and then divide that into tiny portions. Some piggies may then eat a slice of cucumber or something with it sprinkled on or you can add it to a ml of syringe food if they like that.

I think @furryfriends (TEAS) has a video showing ways of medicating piggies. I don't know how to link you to it tho

 

[furryfriends (TEAS)]

Medicating your guinea pig - Instructional video on Facebook

 

[Freya1234]

They can be fussy. I agree that Baytril is by far the worst!

my little Odin () pretty much had every medicine going at some point or other. He loved Loxicom/Metacam and would be pulling the syringe out of my hand, but hated everything else

When Rocket () was on Zithromax, he surprisingly liked it! Used to come over to the bars to take his medicine. I didn’t even need to catch him!

Wow! Smokey coming over to the bars to take his medicine would be like a dream for me, he is running as far away from me when he sees the syringes and medicine bottles

Which do you give first? I have not yet come across a pig that doesn't like loxicom/metacam! I always give the metacam first, I think if you give something they don't like first they still have that taste in their mouth which ruins the flavour of the metacam so they don't enjoy that either.

My vet prescribes furosemide (The active ingredient of frusol) tablets. They are very small and a pig only needs about 1/6 tablet, depending on their weight, so it is a bit fiddly but you can grind it up into a powder and then divide that into tiny portions. Some piggies may then eat a slice of cucumber or something with it sprinkled on or you can add it to a ml of syringe food if they like that.

I think @furryfriends (TEAS) has a video showing ways of medicating piggies. I don't know how to link you to it tho

Oh, that could be part of the problem! I thought giving the frusol first might be better because then he knows he has something to look forward to after (as he prefers the loxicam but still isn’t crazy about it) maybe i’ll try it the other way round and see how that works.
I have to speak to my vet in a couple of weeks to give an update on how he’s doing so I might speak to her about the tablets as that does sound much easier. Thank you

Medicating your guinea pig - Instructional video on Facebook

Thank you, i’ll have a look at the video

 

[Freya1234]

So some good news!
This morning Smokey took his medicine in the cage, he was in the hay tray and so I managed to sort of stop him from getting out of the hay tray by approaching him from the front with the syringe. I tried giving the loxicom first and i think that worked better, he still tried to move his head away when i gave him the frusol but he gave in eventually. Thank you for everyones help and hopefully this isn’t just a one off time.