How to administer medicine to degus

[genelia]

Hello all, this is my first post.  I have 3 degu sisters, they are approx 4.5 - 5 years old. One was breathing abnormally since Thursday.  Clicking sounds and laboured breathing.  I took her to the vet's yesterday (Saturday) and after X Rays doc said she has pneumonia.  He said the other 2, having shared close quarters would most probably have pneumonia as well.  He gave me meds for all 3.  2 types of antibiotics to be given once daily: 1) Apo Doxy Tabs 100 mg, to be crushed and DIVIDED INTO 100 and buried in peanut butter. 2) Baytril 50 mg tabs to be crushed and DIVIDED INTO 25 and buried in peanut butter.  Well I got home and realized they don't even like peanut butter.  That's one issue.  The other is how I can divide a teeny tiny pill into exact doses of 100 and 25.  Has anyone had any experience working with medication in this form and how did you handle it?  Also is peanut butter even safe for degus to eat?  The "natural" one I got from the store is not of a workable consistency and the only kind that has a nice texture is laden with sugars and added fats/salt. 

[littlepaws1999]

Hi and welcome to the forum!

I have never received medication in a pill form, it's always a liquid. So hopefully another member answers soon.

I have to ask thought if the vet you took them too is truly a small animal vet, which knows things about degus?

I also don't think peanut butter is very good for them. Even if it's so called "natural" it could still have sugars and other bad stuff in it. But anyone correct me if I'm wrong I just never heard of anyone ever feeding peanut butter.

If you want to try possibly crushing their pellets and adding water to it until it's a paste and add the power to that, that might be a healthier option.

[Karma]

Natural peanut butter is pure ground up peanuts with NO added ingridents - thus you do need to mix the oil back into it once you have bought it and store in the fridge or it will just separate on you. You also want to mix it before you put in fridge or it is extremely hard to handle ..... All from experience lol. There is almond, pumpkin seed butter that would also work - can find it in the health food stores or the organic section of some other grocery stores.

I would ask the vet if he can give you liquid meds - much much easier to give. You should be able to take the prescription to a compounding pharmacy if the vet can't get them.

[genelia]

@ littlepaws999 thank you so much for the welcome. Your suggestion to crush the pellets and make a paste was brilliant! I did that and it worked out well. Now I'm drying the bits out with a fan and hopefully they'll be nice and crunchy for the degus by tomorrow AM. About the vet, he does seem to be quite knowledgeable about degus and he is one of the few docs in town who treats rodents.
@ Karma , I visited a compound pharmacy today and they told me to call back tomorrow to see if they can help. Hopefully I can get some meds in liquid form! That would be much easier.  Thanks for the nut butter info.  



Here is what it looks like to make dough out of pellets & medicine and cut it into 100 portions!

[deguconvert]

GOOD GRIEF!!! You excellent and diligent owner! Well done!

Welcome to the forum Genelia, it is lovely to meet you, though I wish it were for healthier conditions. I will be following how your treatment goes. Although I think the vet gave you quite a daunting task, he also seems to be hitting the pneumonia hard, with the two different meds. Pneumonia can be hard to treat. How successful have you been giving them the meds so far? (After discovering the dislike for peanut butter? Oh . . . idea . . . have you tried organic tomato paste, unsweetened and salt free of course? I've had degus that would do anything for tomato paste.)