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Guinea Pig will NOT take his antibiotics

MichelleM

MichelleM

Junior Guinea Pig
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Ganon is on antibiotics for another 8 days and no matter what I do he WILL NOT take them. I've tried covering the feeding syringe in food he likes to mask the smell and that worked for 2 days, but not anymore and he won't give it more than a sniff.

Holding him to get him to take is does not work. I've searched and searched online for advice and all anyone can tell me is the stupid towel trick (which doesn't work with Ganon!) or to take him to the vet to have the vet give him his meds, which is expensive and I can't go see the vet twice a day for the next week.

I'm incredibly frustrated and desperate for help. Please please please give me any advice you can!
 
What antibiotics is he on? I use w little diluted sugar free ribena when I have a piggy who doesn’t like the taste of a medicine. Pop the medicine in to the syringe first followed by the ribena so that they drink the ribena first so the syringe is already in their mouth with something yummy.

baytril antibiotic tastes disgusting and hardly any pig likes the taste
 
My vet also recommends adding ribena to baytril to hide the awful taste, I'm not sure the piggies are convinced but the vets certainly are so its worth a try! Best of luck and healing wheeks for piggy x
 
I usually just take hold of the head and shove it in, Leonard tends to not back up too much but you can wrap them in a towel to block their escape. How I do it is sit them on a towel, fold the towel up over their back from behind, wrap the 2 sides around, like making a burrito. That frees up both hands, one to pull their lips back, the other to put the syringe in.

I took a video a while back, he absolutely hated sulfatrim, tried to spit it back out and all sorts. But by being cruel to be kind we got it over with quite quickly, holding them over the top of the head the way I do in the video causes a very brief freeze response, just enough time to stick the syringe in.

 
I had to Google Ribena because I'd never seen it before. Is it available in the US?

@Eriathwen, thank you for the video, I'll try that!

A towel burrito unfortunately won't work. I've tried and tried and tried and tried. Ganon simply does not go for being wrapped in a towel to any capacity. :(
 
Good luck! It gets easier with practice, dont worry. Some of them seem to find being restrained in a towel more stressful than helpful so it makes it even more difficult, I find, so I dont bother half the time. It depends on the piggy.
 
Or I guess if you are in the US grape juice? I think that's what we used to see in Kroger when we lived over there instead of blackcurrant juice in the UK. None of this stuff is what piggies should normally have to eat but if its half a syringeful for 8 days and piggy needs his meds and just wont take them I'd be trying apple or grape juice x
 
What I always do is stand the piggie up on their hind legs on my lap, with their back pressed to my stomach. Then I put the syringe in their mouth off to the side, where they don't have teeth, so even if they mouth is shut you are just shoving it into the gap between their gums where they can't really close you out. If you like, you have make this a two-person job if you have another person around, with one holding and one administering the meds. The towel thing never really worked for me either, they just panicked because they were wrapped up in a towel! Hope you find something that works. One of my pigs was on long-term suppressive antibiotics so I got really good at giving meds!
 
So I tried with some apple juice this time. I made sure Ganon got some before trying with the medicine and he was "eh" about it. He liked it for a couple tastes and then lost interest. If Dibbler were the one on the medicine this would be a lot easier, he's so food motivated and falls for all the tricks every time. Ganon's too smart for his own good because he catches onto all of my tricks after the first time.

How I got him this time was by sitting with my legs out, creating a "wall" around him so he couldn't easily run away. I tried covering his head quickly like in @Eriathwen's video, which certainly helped for a moment, I just have to learn to move more quickly. I had him on his back feet with his belly in my palm, facing away from me. I was able to eventually get the syringe with the Baytril and apple juice in his mouth long enough to give him his medicine.

He knows, though. He won't come anywhere near me if he even sees the syringe.

Side note: My vet made the Baytril chicken flavored of all things! First time Ganon was on it years ago it was at least banana flavor so he went for it for the first couple of days. I really can't blame him for hating it so much. Even as a human the chicken flavor smells horrible, but for a guinea pigs? Anyone else ever encounter this?

Thanks all! Just seven more days of thid (or 14 more doses).
 
Good luck. Trying to give a piggy something that tastes horrible is never easy. I have given Baytril with a bit of sugar free orange cordial in the past to my Rainbow Piggy Lenny and that worked.
 
Same trick I learned last night worked again this morning. Ganon's certainly not happy about it, but it's done with more quickly and he doesn't mistrust food I offer to him now at least.

He definitely gets as stressed as I do when it becomes a prolonged thing. He'll start obsessively chewing on the cardboard toys that are out for him and hide for longer periods afterward. This was he's pissed for a few minutes and then happily munching hay afterward.
 
When I gave my guinea pig, Bindy Antibiotics, the vet added it to a strawberry tasting creamy looking syrup. She really liked it and it was an absolute breeze. I would pop her on a chair so I could see her mouth. Pop the syringe near her mouth and she would be like. 'Oh yes that yummy stuff, I'll have that'. I think she came to look forward to medicine time, it was that good and boy it gave me so much more confidence in administering it. Could you ask the vet for something like that? I wouldn't do it any other way, I can tell you, it made it so easy.
 
So Ganon and I have an understanding I think. He's still certainly not happy when he figures out it's time for his medicine, but he's stopped struggling so much when I pick him up and is a lot calmer about the whole experience.

But I do have a followup question: The bottle of Baytril says to give him 0.5mL every twelve hours for ten days. But I'm on day seven and it looks like there's only enough left for a couple, maybe three more doses, which would mean they run out after day eight. Is this okay? I've only ever given him the exact amount prescribed.

Also, a huge thanks to everyone for their advice! The juice I think is absolutely making it less unpleasant for Ganon to take the medicine, and I've got a much better system about how I hold him to get him to take it! Everyone here has helped to make this week much less stressful for Ganon and me both! :luv:
 
Glad the juice trick is working and Ganon is taking his medicine :)
I think if you are running low on the baytril best phone the vet, I think its dispensed out of a huge bottle not very accurately, occasionally we've been given a dose too few or in some cases twice as much as we've needed!
If he seems better then 8 days may be enough but always best to check with the vet, don't want to stop too soon and have him get ill again x
 
Thankfully I brought him to the vet before the URI really affected him. I brought him in on a hunch because he would get a little wheezy every other day or so, but he would cough once and that would seem to clear it. He still ate, played (and pooped) all normally like it didn't bother him. I wasn't sure if it was just dusty hay irritating him, but Dibbler never wheezed, so I was worried Ganon might be getting sick. The vet told me it did sound like there might be something in his lungs, but it was very mild, so the antibiotics were more of a preventative measure.

Ganon's been fine since, with no wheezing, but I'll be sure to check with his vet if the medicine doesn't last. Thank you, all!
 
Eriathwen said:
I usually just take hold of the head and shove it in, Leonard tends to not back up too much but you can wrap them in a towel to block their escape. How I do it is sit them on a towel, fold the towel up over their back from behind, wrap the 2 sides around, like making a burrito. That frees up both hands, one to pull their lips back, the other to put the syringe in.

I took a video a while back, he absolutely hated sulfatrim, tried to spit it back out and all sorts. But by being cruel to be kind we got it over with quite quickly, holding them over the top of the head the way I do in the video causes a very brief freeze response, just enough time to stick the syringe in.

Click to expand...
Such a good boy 💕. Nice to see an owner being gentle but also firm with Leonard. He needs his meds. Not sure he'll ever forgive you, but as long as he gets better that's the most important thing x
 
Freela said:
What I always do is stand the piggie up on their hind legs on my lap, with their back pressed to my stomach. Then I put the syringe in their mouth off to the side, where they don't have teeth, so even if they mouth is shut you are just shoving it into the gap between their gums where they can't really close you out. If you like, you have make this a two-person job if you have another person around, with one holding and one administering the meds. The towel thing never really worked for me either, they just panicked because they were wrapped up in a towel! Hope you find something that works. One of my pigs was on long-term suppressive antibiotics so I got really good at giving meds!
Click to expand...
The side of the mouth worked for me the first few times with one of my piggies. Then after a couple of days she got really good and took it like it was a treat! Must have been one of the less nasty tasting medicines.
 
MichelleM said:
So Ganon and I have an understanding I think. He's still certainly not happy when he figures out it's time for his medicine, but he's stopped struggling so much when I pick him up and is a lot calmer about the whole experience.

But I do have a followup question: The bottle of Baytril says to give him 0.5mL every twelve hours for ten days. But I'm on day seven and it looks like there's only enough left for a couple, maybe three more doses, which would mean they run out after day eight. Is this okay? I've only ever given him the exact amount prescribed.

Also, a huge thanks to everyone for their advice! The juice I think is absolutely making it less unpleasant for Ganon to take the medicine, and I've got a much better system about how I hold him to get him to take it! Everyone here has helped to make this week much less stressful for Ganon and me both! :luv:
Click to expand...
I have had a similar thought. Looking at what's left and thinking oh dear, doesn't look like it's gonna last for the full treatment time. And I've been wrong. I have found vets to be very accurate in dispensing the total amount needed based on dosage amount and number of dosages. That's been my personal experience anyway.

You are doing a great job with Ganon x
 
Piggylove82 said:
Such a good boy 💕. Nice to see an owner being gentle but also firm with Leonard. He needs his meds. Not sure he'll ever forgive you, but as long as he gets better that's the most important thing x
Click to expand...

Leonard needs to be handled extra carefully as he has fragile bones from his Osteodystrophy bless him. He forgave me with a lot of bribery 😂 but it took him a while not to be suspicious of syringes. The video was taken just over a year ago I think, he gets medication 3 times a day now (painkillers) which he happily takes through the bars of his cage! He's a very good little man.
 
Eriathwen said:
Leonard needs to be handled extra carefully as he has fragile bones from his Osteodystrophy bless him. He forgave me with a lot of bribery 😂 but it took him a while not to be suspicious of syringes. The video was taken just over a year ago I think, he gets medication 3 times a day now (painkillers) which he happily takes through the bars of his cage! He's a very good little man.
Click to expand...
He's gorgeous too ♥️
 
MichelleM said:
Thankfully I brought him to the vet before the URI really affected him. I brought him in on a hunch because he would get a little wheezy every other day or so, but he would cough once and that would seem to clear it. He still ate, played (and pooped) all normally like it didn't bother him. I wasn't sure if it was just dusty hay irritating him, but Dibbler never wheezed, so I was worried Ganon might be getting sick. The vet told me it did sound like there might be something in his lungs, but it was very mild, so the antibiotics were more of a preventative measure.

Ganon's been fine since, with no wheezing, but I'll be sure to check with his vet if the medicine doesn't last. Thank you, all!
Click to expand...
You are clearly on the ball with your piggie’ health.
I took Phoebe to the vet before Christmas when I noticed she’d started grunting and hooting.
I always work on the basis of better to be safe than sorry.
As with you and Ganon, I’d caught a URI just as it was starting.
Like your boy she resists being wrapped in a towel.
A week later she was fine, hope the same will be true for Ganon.
 
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