Help to get antibiotics into sick degu

[garfieldette]

Hi

I posted recently about one of my new degus, Cheeks. who turned out to have an ulcerated mouth. My vet prescribed 0.03ml of metacam and 0.1ml of Sceptrine twice a day.

But, I had only had them a week so had had no chance to bond and hand tame Cheeks before her needing medicine.

She initially took the metacam straight from the syringe but ran a mile when I tried with the Sceptrine.

I have tried putting it on oats, in the middle of a mini shredded wheat, on a mini shredded wheat with natural peanut butter to mask the smell, with natural baby food and mixed with the metacam to sweeten the taste but with no joy.

She will now not take anything off me, not even her favourite treats and has invented a new noise which she uses when I come near her with a syringe (pretty sure its a goo swear word!).

Her mouth is getting worse and she is losing weight. She wont come near me. We are both exhausted of me trying to chase her around and catch her. I have phoned my vet who is trying to look for an alterative to the sceptine, or an injectionable antibiotic but I wanted to ask if anyone has any suggestions on things I can try to get these drugs in her.

If I separate her from the others so I can treat her, how likely is it that she wont be able to go back into the group? These are my first goos and I am terrified of causing the group to fall out but I cannot see another way at the moment. Its breaking my heart seeing her ill.

Any suggestions, however bizarre, would be very gratefully received.

[moletteuk]

Oh dear, I really feel for you, it must be so hard being plunged in at the deepend like this and having to get meds into Cheeks before you even really know each other.

The common alternative to Septrin would be baytril, but Septrin is often preferred in degus under 6 months. The baytril does come in a good injectible option, this could be well worth considering with her getting worse and you having so much trouble. Another antibiotic is marbocyl. To be honest the Septrin is likely to taste better than the others as it is a little sweet, although Baytril does come in flavoured options. This page has dosages for baytril if you want to show your vet www.degutopia.co.uk/deguvetlist.htm

Another option could be to get the vet to work out a method of restraining Cheeks and squirting the meds straight into her mouth.

Keep trying different foods for disguise. Nuts would be a good choice as they smell so strong. Seeds are often well liked too, sesame, pumpkin, sunflower, linseed, maybe you could make a sort of nut and seed paste to mix it in. Millet is quite bitter tasting so perhaps that would be a reasonable disguise, you would probably need millet flakes or puffs or grind millet in a blender. Since you are getting desperate, it might be worth trying small bits of something sweet, like cranberry, or raisin (obviously they are normally strictly avoided due to sugar content).

I would try not to separate her from the group because it is likely to lower her morale and stress her out, which won't help her get better. In what way were you thinking it would help, easier to single her out and catch her or something?

[ilikedegus]

when absolutely desperate, we used to use a tiny piece of Ryvita with drops of the antibiotic on. That always went down well.

Certainly not good as a regular treat, though.

[yasmin]

My goo Lilac loves Ribena (blackberry, I think) flavoured Baytril. She drinks it right from the syringe.

For Lilac's Metacam (I think it is slightly honey-flavoured), I thaw frozen peas, split one in half and then put the drop of Metacam onto one half of the pea. Then I feed her at least 7 more peas (Metacam should be given with food). She loves it, though other degus that I have tried this with were not so receptive.

[garfieldette]

Aug 4, 2015 19:38:31 GMT moletteuk said:

I would try not to separate her from the group because it is likely to lower her morale and stress her out, which won't help her get better. In what way were you thinking it would help, easier to single her out and catch her or something?

Thanks for the suggestions.

I was thinking of separation so I could catch her more easily but as you say, it would probably make her more ill from the stress.

I have spoken with my vet today, she has sent me home with some marbocyl to try (as I have wasted most of the sceptrine trying to get it into her) and I have an appointment to take her on Friday evening to go with the injection route if my attempts fail.

Its very difficult when you live alone to catch a degu, restrain her and get a syringe in her mouth with just one pair of hands, especially when she doesn't want to co-operate!

Going to have to watch the treats going forward. I have to give them each a treat when giving cheeks a drug dosed one as they will mug her if I don't so the others are getting well overfed at the moment.

[garfieldette]

Aug 4, 2015 20:47:01 GMT ilikedegus said:

when absolutely desperate, we used to use a tiny piece of Ryvita with drops of the antibiotic on. That always went down well.

Certainly not good as a regular treat, though.

Oooh, ryvita, hadn't thought of that one. Will give it a try. Thanks

[garfieldette]

Aug 5, 2015 17:48:48 GMT yasmin said:

My goo Lilac loves Ribena (blackberry, I think) flavoured Baytril. She drinks it right from the syringe.

For Lilac's Metacam (I think it is slightly honey-flavoured), I thaw frozen peas, split one in half and then put the drop of Metacam onto one half of the pea. Then I feed her at least 7 more peas (Metacam should be given with food). She loves it, though other degus that I have tried this with were not so receptive.

Thanks for the suggestion, will raid the freezer for some frozen peas.

[thedeguwrangler]

If the food doesn't work, see if you can get a second person to hold the degu/administer the antibiotics. Degus, as you may have noticed, don't like being held still but you've just gotta grab them firmly enough and administer the anti-biotics as quickly as possible, then give them a treat afterwards. Use thick gloves like motorcycle gloves so you don't get badly biten. Sorry it's heartbreaking, but it's just something that has to be done and there'll be plenty of time for bonding afterwards.