Giving Medication Orally

by Charlie'sAngel Thu 19 Apr 2018, 10:15 pm

Hey everyone, Im a first time mouse owner and first time poster. Wanted to say thanks, and that you guys have been a great help in figuring out how to care for Charlie. Some background first:

Funnily enough I never planned on owning a mouse but I found Charlie as a baby in the parking lot of a pet store. Instead of taking him in to be possible snake food I took him home. Ive had him now for about two years. Charlie had begun to grow a tumor about 3 months ago, in the last few weeks he has come down with an itch. I have always made sure to keep things hypoallergenic and his diet had been corrected a long time ago. Taking him to the vet they treated for mites, which he did not enjoy of course. The scratching continued and now he has no fur on his chest and scabs on his head between his ears. The next trip to the vet I had been given a topical antibiotic with steroid to help with itching. When I applied it he squeaked and ran off, but came back later to play like ususal, as I continued to apply the medication he saw me coming and would go through lengths to get away from me. The last time I applied he squirmed around the cage seeming like he was in alot of pain.

Another followup with the vet, she now has me trying a flavored oral medication. My problem is that I cant figure out how to get Charlie to take it. The vets are rougher with him than I've ever been, picking up by the tail and flipping over etc. Including when showing me how to feed him his medicine. When he smells the syringe he cringes like Im going to hurt him. Assuming this doesnt work, the vet says that its the tumor spreading. Knowing that Id rather enjoy my limited time with Charlie than torment him everyday.

Sorry for the long post, what Im asking is: Is there a way to give him this medication in a way that he will be okay with, or at least get used to? The vet says he should like it since its flavored but like I said he's scared of it.

by Jadamouse Thu 19 Apr 2018, 11:06 pm

you could try mixing it in with a small amount of baby food or plain porridge, think of it as like trying to feed a small child vegetables and hiding it in other food that he likes. fruit flavoured baby food is often a big hit with mice from my experience Smile

well done for rescuing him, it warms my heart to see that people are so willing to welcome little fur babies into their lives Smile

by Charlie'sAngel Mon 23 Apr 2018, 3:36 pm

Thanks for the advice jadamouse, after trying 5 different kinds of baby food on their own I can say that he's very picky and doesn't like any of them. I think I'll try porridge next since he loves uncooked oats as a treat.

In the meantime I've been smearing the medication on his fur near his backside and he just licks it off! He doesn't like it so much and still runs away if I try in his cage but he does come to me again, and he doesn't seem to care if I do it when he's in my hand.

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Giving Medication Orally

Giving Medication Orally

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