There are a few different times in your rats’ lives that you might have to give them medication. Like after surgery, to manage pain, or when they have a respiratory infection.
It’s no secret that most medicines taste really bad, and nobody loves taking them. They’re usually bitter or just taste very strange, and your rats will figure that out right away!
Liquid vs. Pill Medications
Most medications for rats come in liquid form, or as a powder that can be mixed with something soft. Rarely, your vet may give you a medication in pill form to crush up yourself using a pill crusher or mortar and pestle.
Each of these types of medicine can be mixed with something tastier to encourage your rats to take them. But first…
Try offering it straight
You never know – your rats might actually like it. Some medications are made with strong enough flavoring that your rats wont mind taking them as is. It’s not likely, but it’s worth a try before you throw out some other more complicated methods!
Mix it with something tasty
If they don’t like the taste, the easiest and most painless way to give your rats their meds is to mix them with something tasty. You may have to try a bunch of different things before you find something your rat is okay with – or you might have to rotate flavors over the course of their illness so they don’t get bored.
Sometimes it can be as simple as dropping the medication onto a piece of bread (the size of a crouton) to see if they’ll eat it that way. Some rats aren’t as picky as others! But with that said, many rats will just eat the bread around the medicine, and leave the gross part.
Foods to try mixing medication with
- Different flavors of baby food – chicken, beef, banana, strawberry, etc.
- Fruit juice/smoothies
- Apple sauce
- Malt paste – most rats go crazy over malt paste, but it can sometimes be hard to find in stock
- Mushed up popsicle
- Cottage cheese or yoghurt (note: check the medicine bottle in case it can’t be mixed with dairy – dairy will deactivate certain medications)
Tips for mix-ins
- Mixing their medication works best if your rats aren’t used to getting this food – making it a rarity and a treat!
- This is one situation where it’s okay to feed your rat something very sugary if you need to, to mask the taste and encourage them to eat it up.
- Just use the smallest amount of food you can that still masks the taste so that you know they ate all of the medicine in one go.
- You can place the medicine mixed with food on a little dish or plate, and take your rat out of their cage to enjoy it by themselves. Another way to feed medicine is from a teaspoon or even a 1/4 teaspoon, if you have a measuring spoon set in your kitchen.
If your vet has prescribed antibiotics, always feed your rat the full course, even if they’re feeling better. Stopping the medication too early can make the infection come back with a vengeance!
Use Your Finger
Some rats will still happily lick medications off your fingers, even if they don’t enjoy them on a plate or from a syringe. If you’re really struggling to get them to eat their medicine, try feeding it to them off the tip of your finger. Of course, this only works if your rat has bonded with you and trusts you.
Dab it behind their ears
In labs, scientists will sometimes smear the medication behind the rat’s ears, so that they have to groom it off and lick their paws. This works for any liquid medications.
You’ll have to separate your rat momentarily from the others so they don’t lick it off for them.
If your rat is well enough to groom themselves, this method can work well, even though it might feel a bit underhanded.
Use a Syringe
If it’s a liquid medication, some rats enjoy being hand-fed using a syringe (with no needle, of course!) This also makes it super easy to measure the medication and make sure they get just the right amount.
You can buy a small pack of 3ml syringes here. They’re good to keep on hand for situations like these, and can also be used to give rats water by hand if they refuse to drink by themselves.
The rattie straight jacket
Sometimes when rats aren’t feeling well, they’ll refuse food altogether. If your rat is not interested in food, or just not having the taste of food with medicine mixed in, you’ll have to give them the medicine directly into their mouths using a small syringe (with no needle).
Rats hate this (of course) and it’s not the safest method, because you don’t want to accidentally choke them. But sometimes it has to be done.
Try wrapping your rat up in a small towel, like a dish towel or hand towel, to keep them from squirming around too much. You can also use a kid’s size sock as a straight jacket for rats.
If you can, try to keep them calm. It takes some practice because they’ll be squirming around a lot. Having someone else to help you with this makes it much easier, but you can do it alone too.
Restrain them safely against your lap or chest to make them feel more secure. Place the syringe just inside their cheek (it helps to go in from the side, pushing their cheek back a little because their front teeth will be in the way.)
Try not to force the syringe too far back in their mouth. If they don’t want to swallow, you may have to rub their cheeks until they do. You can also try offering them something tastier immediately afterwards to wash the bad taste of medicine away.
Note: If your rat isn’t eating, they might not be drinking, either! You may have to hand-feed them drops of water from a syringe as well.
Conclusion
Giving rats medicine can be challenging, but sometimes it’s a necessity! I hope your rat can get back to their healthy, playful self as soon as possible!