He's quite young. Baytril is the usual antibiotic prescribed for hamsters. It tastes extremely nasty and bitter so they often won't take it from the syringe. Have you been managing to get him to take it? One option is to disguise it in food, but it needs to be something quite strongly flavoured to disguise the taste, and only a tiny pea sized amount to make sure they eat it all. It also needs to be something they can't resist! Another option is to draw up the baytril in the syringe to the right dose, and then draw up a tiny bit of runny honey afterwards - then they will sometimes grab the syringe and lick it and you can gradually push the syringe so he gets the meds with the honey.
Yes that's what I did with fruit. It was accepted really well by Bruce. I changed the fruit about so he wasn't getting bored with the same thing every time. I used Grapes, nectarine, plum, melon. He was a superstar and took the antibiotics in the fruit, it was also 2x daily for 7 days. Bruce had an abscess that came to a head just under his eye. The vet managed to express it fully and clean it up. He is now back to normal. Sending healing thoughts to your little one.Aw if he's only 7 months he should be fine
Some hamsters though just hate the syringe full stop, whatever it's got in it - that's when disguising it in food helps.
I'm hoping @Doodleham will come on and post on your thread, because she has just been through this! And found a number of things that helped get the meds down her hamster. I seem to remember a small cube of fruit was one of them (which is ingenious). Eg something like nectarine maybe. Cut a small cube of it - very small - pea sized again. Poke a little hole in the top of the cube with a skewer or something. Inject the meds inside the cube of fruit (hope I got that right Doodleham!).
I've used beefy dog food before, but it was a particular type for small dog breeds so just like corned beef in jelly really - very fine - not big chunks. Someone else found dropping the meds onto a small piece of prawn cracker worked - the hamster ate it.
If he'll accept the syringe though, runny honey is probably easiest.
It can take almost till the last (7th) day of treatment before you start to notice any real difference.
Did the vet say what it was? It could be a pouch infection or abscess - that would affect the eye as well. Or a tooth infection. Or even an eye infection. The main thing is he has the meds to help clear it up
Latte loves to eat fruit, but these days he can't open his mouth because of the swelling on his cheek. That's why I give antibiotics with a syringe. We started using it yesterday, but the swelling continues this morning. I'm very breastfeeding. I don't know what to do. The vet said it was an abscess. We took an X-ray and he said his jaw is intactAw if he's only 7 months he should be fine
Some hamsters though just hate the syringe full stop, whatever it's got in it - that's when disguising it in food helps.
I'm hoping @Doodleham will come on and post on your thread, because she has just been through this! And found a number of things that helped get the meds down her hamster. I seem to remember a small cube of fruit was one of them (which is ingenious). Eg something like nectarine maybe. Cut a small cube of it - very small - pea sized again. Poke a little hole in the top of the cube with a skewer or something. Inject the meds inside the cube of fruit (hope I got that right Doodleham!).
I've used beefy dog food before, but it was a particular type for small dog breeds so just like corned beef in jelly really - very fine - not big chunks. Someone else found dropping the meds onto a small piece of prawn cracker worked - the hamster ate it.
If he'll accept the syringe though, runny honey is probably easiest.
It can take almost till the last (7th) day of treatment before you start to notice any real difference.
Did the vet say what it was? It could be a pouch infection or abscess - that would affect the eye as well. Or a tooth infection. Or even an eye infection. The main thing is he has the meds to help clear it up
Latte is 7 months so ı’m afraid. When did your child recover? How many days did the treatment take? What drugs did you use?
Thank you for your good wishesI think your vet is expecting there to be a reduction in redness and swelling in seven days. If there is still signs of infection after seven days, get in touch with your vet. He may continue the course of Baytril for a second week or ten days and take it from there. I hope the Baytril fixes things
How is Latte coping with the syringe feeding? Does the take the meds? Sometimes they spit it out again if it tastes nasty! So it's often not until near the end of the course that real improvement is seen. The abscess might burst or it might go down again once the antibiotics are working. Sometimes it gets bigger and then goes down again anyway.
its hard to waiting because she is my like daughter. I wish she never sick. For now, we only give the medicine with a syringe. I feed bananas and drink water. He can't eat hard nuts because he can't open his mouth
