Just as with any pet, you will sometimes need to give
medicine to your pet rabbit. Unfortunately, you can't just
tell your bunny to take its medicine nicely, because you are
doing what is best for it. But happily, other pet rabbit
owners have done some of the trial and error for you and
have provided some good advice to help you make your rabbit
medicating a little more successful and less painful for
both you and your house bunny.


How to give Liquid Medicines to Pet Rabbits

If the medicine you need to give to your pet bunny is
liquid, you can either put it carefully into the side of the
rabbit's mouth with a needle-less syringe or try mixing it
with something the rabbit loves to eat.

Many rabbit owners have had good success in getting their
rabbits to take liquid medications by mixing them into small
quantities of banana, applesauce, or canned pumpkin. Choose
the one that you know your rabbit likes. If you are lucky,
the medicine becomes a treat in the rabbit's mind.

If the food method doesn't work, you will have to use a
syringe. This method is a bit more challenging, but with
some information it shouldn't be too hard. First, load the
medicine into the syringe and wipe off the outside of the
syringe to reduce the medical odor.

If your rabbit is very gentle and is not frightened, you may
be able to simply hold it securely and squirt the medicine
into its mouth as described below. Or you might hold the
rabbit just like you would hold a human baby, prop up its
head, and squirt in the medicine with the other hand. You
might want to first wrap it in a towel with just its head
sticking out, in case it decided to kick and squirm in the
middle of the process.

You have probably noticed that your rabbit has two pairs of
long teeth (incisors) in the front of its mouth. Well, there
is a gap between the incisors and the first pair of grinding
teeth (molars). If you can stick the end of the syringe into
that gap, you can slowly and gently squirt the medicine into
the rabbit's mouth. Be sure to squirt the medication in
slowly so the rabbit can swallow it all and there is no
chance the rabbit will choke on it or spit it out. Don't
squirt the medicine right down the rabbit's throat or you
might drown it.


How to give Pills to Pet Rabbits

If you need to give your rabbit its medicine in a pill, try
just offering the pill to the rabbit, it may eat the pill as
though it were a treat.

If that doesn't work, try giving the rabbit half a plain
raisin, sticking the pill into a second raisin, and then
giving it the final half a raisin afterward. But don't do
this if you must give it several pills, feeding a rabbit too
many raisins at once can cause problems of its own.

If all else fails, crush the pill and give it to the rabbit
in one of its "happy foods," or crush the pill to powered,
mix with a little applesauce and water, and give it by the
syringe method.


Last but not least, be sure to give your rabbit all of the
medication that the veterinarian prescribes, in the doses
and time ranges suggested. Always follow the full course of
medicine, even if the disease appears to be cured, unless
your veterinarian says differently. And be sure to give it
special attention at other times than medicine times, so it
won't begin to associate your attention with the discomfort
or bad taste of taking medicine.



Stuffed Plush Rabbits & Animals