Syringe Feeding and Giving Medication
Giving Your Rabbit Medication / Force Feeding / Syringe Feeding
How to Syringe Feed - The Rabbit Doctors video
How to do a Bunny Burrito
How to Wrap a Bunny Burrito - Wrapping a naughty bun! - The Rabbit Doctors video
“Sometimes rabbits who are as good as gold when they’re at the clinic put up quite a struggle when you try the same procedure at home. Every rabbit/person pair will work out their own routines. But to give you a head start, members of the House Rabbit Society have pooled their experience and come up with the following tips for medicating bunnies at home.”
Medicating Your Rabbit - The House Rabbit Society
“It is vital that rabbits keep eating steady amounts throughout the day and night, however sick rabbits or those that are recovering from an anaesthetic or in pain may be reluctant to do so. This is where assisted feeding is needed. A rabbit’s system can shut down very quickly in cases like this.”
Syringe Feeding Guide - RWAF
How to give your rabbit a pill
How to Measure Medications - The Rabbit Doctors video
Assist feeding/medicating a ‘difficult’ rabbit -
How to go about syringe feeding
Prepare the product – check the mixing instructions, and work out the volume of food required. Follow the on pack directions and instructions since paste that is too watery may increase the risk of aspiration. Please ask us for help if you’re unsure.
Often when syringe feeding, it is not the food that deters the animal from eating, but the procedure of restraint. So it’s very important that the caregiver remains calm and relaxed. Slow and deliberate movements with frequent breaks will decrease the stress for both the animal and the caregiver.
Tips:
Take a deep breath and relax
Get on the floor or in a location where the animal is comfortable
Give a syringe of water to the animal prior to feeding
Stroke or massage the animal
Use the best syringe – use a clean syringe with a wider opening. 5ml and 10ml syringes are easier to handle than 20ml syringes.
Find somewhere quiet and comfortable –choose a room that is away from the noise and distractions. A rabbit or small pet that is calm and relaxed is more likely to eat.
Wrap in a towel – place your rabbit or guinea pig onto a towel and gently wrap the towel under its chin, then fold over the body from both sides to create a swaddled comfortable pet.
Keep your pet comfortable – don’t stress your pet by holding awkwardly. Keep them in a normal position on your lap and gently raise the chin. Gently tuck your pet against your side using your forearm, then hold the head, placing an index finger directly under the chin, and a thumb at the base of the skull. Place your remaining fingers on the chest to prevent your pet from moving forward. Although the head may be gently elevated, it is less stressful for your pet if you lower your head in order to look at the mouth and to monitor chewing.
Insert the syringe – gently place the tip of the syringe between the lips, just behind the front incisors.
Check for swallowing – only introduce a small amount of food at first, and make sure you see that the food is being swallowed. The first mouthful fed should be no more than 0.2 to 0.5 ml of the paste to make sure your pet actively chews. Never feed more than 1-2 ml of the paste at a time, and never dispense food while the animal is vocalising it may increase the risk of aspiration (the entry of the paste into the respiratory system).
Go slowly – continue feeding small volumes of food (1ml at a time), ensuring its not just being held in the mouth. Don’t rush.
Be patient – feeding by syringe can be messy and frustrating. It’s important to stay calm and persist.
Flush afterwards – when you’ve finished feeding, feed a final small volume of water. This helps to ensure all the food is cleared from the mouth.
Giving Subcutaneous Fluids
Subcutaneous fluids are given to your rabbit in the following instances -
Shock
Stasis or blockage
Circulatory Collapse
Blader Stones
Bladder Sludge
Renal Failure
Click this link to see how to give Subcutaneoous FLuids (link)
How to Make Critical Care - The Rabbit Doctors
Burgess DualCare Assist Feeding Leaflet
Oxbow Critical Care - How to mix, administer and how much to feed.
Using Critical Care
Mix one part of the powder with 2 parts of warm water. Please ensure Critical Care is fed at room temperature or warmer.
Critical Care should ideally be prepared fresh for each feed. If necessary, the powder when premixed with water can be refrigerated up to 24 hours.
If the consistency of the prepared feed is too thick, you can add water at any time until you have the desired consistency. (Remember if you increase the water content in the preparation of Critical Care™ for a thinner liquid consistency, you will also need to increase the total volume of the meals to ensure the animal’s energy and nutrient requirements are met.)
Load a large, wide bore oral feeding syringe from the back by pulling out the plunger and filling the syringe by scooping the CC ‘paste’ in with an ice block stick or similar.
If you only have small syringes - aka 1ml ones, you will need to make the CC mix much thinner so it will draw up into the syringe. Cutting the tip of the syringe off at the base of the ‘waist’ can make it easier as it increases the size of the hole at the end.
How much to feed -
Generally, for a herbivorous mammal, the amount is 3 tablespoons of dry product or 50 ml of mixed product daily per kilogram of body weight. A weaker animal should often be given more frequent, smaller meals.
A sick or post surgical rabbit or any rabbit with deficient intake of nutrients also benefit greatly from Critical Care™. Remember that rabbits are easily stressed by change or when syringe feeding. Therefore the feed should be administered as carefully and calmly as possible. Ideally rabbits should be fed Critical Care(TM) every 3 to 4 hours. If this causes the animal too much stress, limit the feed to 3 times daily.
The following table provides information on how much to administer at each feeding.
But my rabbit doesn’t like it ...
Most animals enjoy eating Critical Care™. But some animals are accustomed to a certain taste and some are so weak that they refuse everything.
Here are a few helpful suggestions in this situation:
Always prepare the feed fresh.
Make sure that you use warm water to intensify the product’s natural aroma.
Initially give a very small amount so the animal can get used to the taste.
Try again a little later.
For syringe feeding, please use an oral or catheter tipped syringe from your veterinarian.
If necessary you can optimise the taste for your pet by temporarily mixing in a small amount of a highly palatable treat, such as a pureed apple. [NOTE: sugary fruits and vegetables (apple, banana, carrot) can result in abnormal digestion in rabbits and guinea pigs, so ensure that these items are a very minimal part of the diet.]
Remember that if you are upset and stressed in an assisted feeding situation it can upset the animal. Be calm and patient and take a break if the meal is becoming a battle for either of you. Try again a little later. Or call your vet and discuss the situation.
Other ways to include CC into your rabbit’s diet -
* Place the prepared feed in a bowl.
* Offer the feed on a small spoon.
* Administer using a syringe in small amounts between the lips. Not too much or your pet could choke. Special syringes from your vet will facilitate this type of feeding. Often it will be necessary to take the plunger out of the syringe and scoop the feed into the back of the syringe. Insert the plunger and the syringe is ready to use. The product cannot be siphoned up through the tip unless a catheter tipped syringe is used.
* In special cases, your veterinarian can administer Critical Care™, prepared with more water, with special feeding tubes.
* Form into small balls for the transition period from the liquid to a staple diet. This is done by using less water during preparation.
* Sprinkle a little of the powder as a top dressing on normal food to improve the taste. You can also mist your animal’s hay with water and then sprinkle the powder onto the food, giving the powder better adherence.
Using DualCare
Mix 50gms of Excel DualCare nuggets with sufficient warm water to produce a watery paste that can be passed through a wide tip feeding syringe. Using 2 parts warm water to 1 part Excel DualCare, allow the nuggets to soak for 3-4 minutes. Alternatively it can be offered in a shallow bowl or spoon for your rabbit to lick and lap. The consistency can be altered to suit the method of feeding and your pet’s preference.
Feed up to 10ml per kg body weight of the mixture, four times a day, though it’s important to be guided by your on pet as some won’t tolerate as much as this and should need to be offered smaller quantities more frequently. Always use fresh mix at each feeding.
Assisted feeding can often stimulate an animals appetite quite quickly, so don’t forget to offer whole DualCare nuggets and fresh leaves at the same time. The nuggets can be eaten dry as your pet recovers.