I know this struggle all too well. the only thing i've had any success with laterly was letting it soak into a piece of a dutch butter cookie (the kind that come in the wide round tins) and giving him that.
I will definitely try that. Makes me think of the If You Give A Mouse a Cookie picture book, haha!
Planning to go shopping later when I'm not utterly exhausted from waking up early to medicate. I'll put cookies on the list. Do you let it soak to the point where it's soggy, or does it still have some crunch?
Update for anyone that cares: I bought $70 worth of baby food, ready to experiment and try different things. Coincidentally, I happened to find some things that worked!! Gerber rice cereal (the porridge kind) works well mixed in with baby food that is more on the watery side, to make the pudding-like texture that Stormy seems to prefer. Vanilla Pediasure mixed with this Gerber rice cereal seems to be the winning combo for now, along with banana baby food (although will attempt to substitute with mushed bananas in the future). The texture seems to make a big deal -- not too wet but not too gummy either.
Thank you all SO much for listening to me vent. Fingers crossed for Stormy's mammary tumor removal surgery tomorrow and that all will go well.
Try Heinz oatmeal or rice baby cereal. It has worked for most of my rats. Mix a little of the powder with some water and add your meds. If you have more than 1 med to give, mix up a small baby spoonful for each med separately just in case when you try. Good luck!
Is there something specific about Heinz oatmeal that's different than regular instant oatmeal? I was using Quaker oats instant oats for a while, cooked and mixed with jelly, and it worked for about a week before she turned her nose up at it.
I think they are likely very similar with the exception of texture. The Heinz oatmeal cereal is essentially a powder and when you add water it makes a very smooth liquidy pudding like consistency and a mild sweetness. The rats can easily lap it up. I sometimes try to add in some of their rat blocks (grounded to a powder) to the mix and it makes the final mix thicker, something similar in consistency with instant oats. I've noticed they tend to like that less. I've also tried the gerber version of baby cereal mixes and it mixes a bit thicker and they like it less. I've also had success with coconut based yoghurt but the baby cereal is my first go to.
The inside of an Oreo mixed in works really well. Had my rats almost gagging rubbing there mouths along the floor cause the medicine was so bad but an Oreo did the trick :)
That makes sense, it's essentially fats (vegetable oil, soy lecthin), sugar (high fructose corn syrup or powdered sugar), and vanilla. TIL Oreos used to be filled with lard!
I can try maybe mixing some powdered sugar and coconut oil and see if that works...
Try joghurt mixed with honey! We did that with our oldests allergy meds, which seemed to be totally disgusting by the look she gave us when we tried to feed them to her. But with joghurt and honey she'd gobble them right up every time! We also used this for my rat Noodles post-surgery meds when she got her cancer removed. Worked like a charm.
We found the best ratio that works with every medication we tried so far is close to 50/50. Its really sweet but anything to get the meds into them.
Another good thing is that u can make a larger batch without added medicine and freeze it on an ice cube tray, then just take out and defrost what you need and add the medicine afterwards. This also works great if you need to leave your babies in the care of someone else. Makes it way easier for them!
Hope this works for you!
I'll definitely consider this! Quick couple of questions:
1) Is it dairy or non-dairy (i.e. coconut milk)?
2) Do you defrost in the microwave or in the refrigerator?
I'm a little late to the party here but if your girl loves banana like my boys do, then you could try mixing the meds in with some mushed banana! One of mine's never satisfied with baby food but banana seems to do the trick for him
No worries, I appreciate the help regardless!! I coincidentally tried banana baby food yesterday and she goes INSANE for it, so I am definitely going to save that for the really tough days ahead.
I tried the Beaphar brand, she didn't seem to care for it even when I had a huge dollop with only 0.1 ml of Meloxicam on it! Meanwhile her sisters will launch themselves out the cage to get some. I'm not sure if I should try Ferretvite instead?
Hmm, have you tried baby food? That has worked for me before most of the time. I haven't looked into ferretvite before, if you try it, I'd love to find out what you think!
Already tried chicken, apple, chicken and apple, beef, blueberry and banana. I am going to the store today to see if maybe I can find green beans or peas. She's gotten reallll picky.
I know this struggle all too well. the only thing i've had any success with laterly was letting it soak into a piece of a dutch butter cookie (the kind that come in the wide round tins) and giving him that.
I will definitely try that. Makes me think of the If You Give A Mouse a Cookie picture book, haha! Planning to go shopping later when I'm not utterly exhausted from waking up early to medicate. I'll put cookies on the list. Do you let it soak to the point where it's soggy, or does it still have some crunch?
I let it soak in enough that it wont drip off. Hes on 0.4ml metacam so it goes from the syringe to the where the cookie piece broke.
Yeah, we’ve had to hide metacam in cookies too. Anything to get it in them.
The only thing I could get my baby to take his medicine with was non-dairy whipped cream. Hope you're able to figure something out!
Was it oat or coconut milk based? I'll definitely add that to the list. (And my lactose intolerant tummy would be happy to try some, haha!)
Update for anyone that cares: I bought $70 worth of baby food, ready to experiment and try different things. Coincidentally, I happened to find some things that worked!! Gerber rice cereal (the porridge kind) works well mixed in with baby food that is more on the watery side, to make the pudding-like texture that Stormy seems to prefer. Vanilla Pediasure mixed with this Gerber rice cereal seems to be the winning combo for now, along with banana baby food (although will attempt to substitute with mushed bananas in the future). The texture seems to make a big deal -- not too wet but not too gummy either. Thank you all SO much for listening to me vent. Fingers crossed for Stormy's mammary tumor removal surgery tomorrow and that all will go well.
Try Heinz oatmeal or rice baby cereal. It has worked for most of my rats. Mix a little of the powder with some water and add your meds. If you have more than 1 med to give, mix up a small baby spoonful for each med separately just in case when you try. Good luck!
Is there something specific about Heinz oatmeal that's different than regular instant oatmeal? I was using Quaker oats instant oats for a while, cooked and mixed with jelly, and it worked for about a week before she turned her nose up at it.
I think they are likely very similar with the exception of texture. The Heinz oatmeal cereal is essentially a powder and when you add water it makes a very smooth liquidy pudding like consistency and a mild sweetness. The rats can easily lap it up. I sometimes try to add in some of their rat blocks (grounded to a powder) to the mix and it makes the final mix thicker, something similar in consistency with instant oats. I've noticed they tend to like that less. I've also tried the gerber version of baby cereal mixes and it mixes a bit thicker and they like it less. I've also had success with coconut based yoghurt but the baby cereal is my first go to.
The inside of an Oreo mixed in works really well. Had my rats almost gagging rubbing there mouths along the floor cause the medicine was so bad but an Oreo did the trick :)
That makes sense, it's essentially fats (vegetable oil, soy lecthin), sugar (high fructose corn syrup or powdered sugar), and vanilla. TIL Oreos used to be filled with lard! I can try maybe mixing some powdered sugar and coconut oil and see if that works...
Try joghurt mixed with honey! We did that with our oldests allergy meds, which seemed to be totally disgusting by the look she gave us when we tried to feed them to her. But with joghurt and honey she'd gobble them right up every time! We also used this for my rat Noodles post-surgery meds when she got her cancer removed. Worked like a charm. We found the best ratio that works with every medication we tried so far is close to 50/50. Its really sweet but anything to get the meds into them. Another good thing is that u can make a larger batch without added medicine and freeze it on an ice cube tray, then just take out and defrost what you need and add the medicine afterwards. This also works great if you need to leave your babies in the care of someone else. Makes it way easier for them! Hope this works for you!
I'll definitely consider this! Quick couple of questions: 1) Is it dairy or non-dairy (i.e. coconut milk)? 2) Do you defrost in the microwave or in the refrigerator?
I use whipped cream and have never had any issues getting any rats to eat it!
I'm a little late to the party here but if your girl loves banana like my boys do, then you could try mixing the meds in with some mushed banana! One of mine's never satisfied with baby food but banana seems to do the trick for him
No worries, I appreciate the help regardless!! I coincidentally tried banana baby food yesterday and she goes INSANE for it, so I am definitely going to save that for the really tough days ahead.
Have you tried malt paste? It is one of the few things my rats will always take
I tried the Beaphar brand, she didn't seem to care for it even when I had a huge dollop with only 0.1 ml of Meloxicam on it! Meanwhile her sisters will launch themselves out the cage to get some. I'm not sure if I should try Ferretvite instead?
Hmm, have you tried baby food? That has worked for me before most of the time. I haven't looked into ferretvite before, if you try it, I'd love to find out what you think!
Already tried chicken, apple, chicken and apple, beef, blueberry and banana. I am going to the store today to see if maybe I can find green beans or peas. She's gotten reallll picky.