# How am I supposed to do this? :(



## Sputnik (Mar 28, 2009)

After just one shot at trying to get Apollo's meds into him, I'm already at my wit's end  He won't sit still if I try and give it via needle into the skin, and he won't take it orally either. I only got a litte into him tonight, and it was just because he was mad at the syringe and he bit onto the end of it. 

How the heck am I supposed to give him his medication? He absolutely hates me now.


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## Cait (Oct 3, 2008)

What is the medication?


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## Maplewood Stud (Jan 2, 2009)

honey what medicine have u got to give?
when rusty had a sniffy nose i was recommended to use liquid echinacia and hes a pain in the bum and wouldnt use a syringe and i dont blame him.
if i need to give them anything like that i either put it on a treat, usually a cheerio or if they wont take it just smear a little bit either near their face or on their tail or somewhere where theyll get the medicine off when they wash. 
i was also told some things u can add to their water but i have never done this as i change the meeces water everyday so i could never measure how much medicine theyd be getting.

i dunno if thisd helps u at all honey, hope it does.

if i were u id get apollo out and play with him or give him a cuddle for a good while before giving him his medicine and then making a fuss of him again a while after hes taking it.

with rusty and smokey i get them out and play with them first, then put them back in their cage to have their echinaciad cheerio then a while later i let them come back out to have a roll round in a ball, they seem to forget all about it,... so may be worth a try...

good luck, let us know how u get on.

leigh xxx


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## Sputnik (Mar 28, 2009)

He gave us Bayrtil.

Apollo won't go near me at all  So I put the meds in one of his favourite treats. Hopefully it will be gone when I get home from work...


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## Paul (Jan 3, 2009)

You could try injecting into the scruff, just pinch the skin on the neck and you'll get a little slack - inject into the gap. But I would only recommend if you've been shown how to do this. When I lived in the US, my vets gave me vaccines to adminster to my cats and I became a dab hand at it.

In the UK, only vets can administer meds via a needle - best we can do with baytril is to adminster on a snack - sweet biscuits work well.

Paul


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## Cait (Oct 3, 2008)

I agree, put the correct dose on a small bit of biscuit and make sure it is fully absorbed. My vet did previously tell me to put a drop on their heads and let them lick it off, but I have since been told that it may burn the skin so this is not a good idea, however this person was not a vet and had no proof whatsoever and my mice never suffered any ill effects this way.


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## Sputnik (Mar 28, 2009)

Thanks for the help  I will try those.

And about injecting - I know how, as I'm taking a vet assistant course, but the little bugger just won't sit still enough for me to do it properly.


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## Dragonfly-Stud (Oct 5, 2008)

Melt a yoghurt drop mix with meds allow to reset feed to animal............job done........worked for me anyhow.


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## SarahY (Nov 6, 2008)

Injecting Baytril can be dangerous as it can OCCASIONALLY cause very, very nasty burns round the injection point, and there's no way to tell which rodents it will affect until it happens. I never inject Baytril now as it happened to one of mine, and after some research I found that it seemed to be quite common.

Here is a link about how to (and how not to) administer Baytril: http://www.rathealth.co.uk/articles/baytril.html. It is a rat page, but it's basically the same information for mice, they're very similar anatomically. It also has a picture of a baytril burn on a rat at the bottom of the page.

Hope Apollo feels better soon!

Sarah xxx


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## sommy (Mar 1, 2009)

Ooh! That burn is nasty


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## Sputnik (Mar 28, 2009)

Thank you all for your help! He is now taking it readily, when I mix it with Strawberry Ensure (meal replacement drink).

About the injections, he was injected with it at the vet and he was okay, but now that I know, I won't let them do that again. My usual vet probably would have known not to.

He's still turning, but he can walk in a straight line for a few steps now, so he looks like he'll be slowly improving. How long do you think he'll have to be on it? The vet said 10 days.


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