Medication - oral and injections

It's very difficult to give hedgehogs oral antibiotics.
It took us several years before our vet was confident enough in what we do to let us have injectables but it certainly makes life easier.
You're not too far from us ron, you will have to come over to us & have a practice!

dont know if I could do it,

Yes you could - just think of the difference it would make to your hedgehogs.
Come over & have a look.

I find it OK giving things orally, have always hated the idea of injecting but if I could I would.

but I have a very, very, very bad phobia

Phobias can be overcome - says she who would run a mile rather than be in the same room as a house spider!!!!
It's worth a try though?

Giving medication orally, especially antibiotics, limits the number of drugs you can use as many cannot be given in this way. It's fine if Baytril is the antibiotic needed but often a different one is needed.
Baytril has to be given twice a day too which can be more stressful for the animal if it doesn't take it readily.
I appreciate that not many places are able to use injectables, but it certainly increases the treatments that can be given & therefore the success rate.
We often start off using Marbocyl (very similar to Baytril) but then have to move on to Synulox or similar which cannot be given orally.

I have been told you can give Synulox orally, I have been given a tablet, I was told a few weeks ago to dissolve one of the synulox tablets in 5ml of water. Weigh the hog and then times the weight by 0.001. This will then give you the amount in ml to be administered to the hog twice daily. For example a 250gm hog would get 0.25ml. Give the dose via syringe directly into the hogs mouth, once in the morning and once at night for 2 weeks. would this be better than batril.

Yes you can get synulox in tablet form & we haven't tried it on hedgehogs, again we use injectable, but it may be worth a try if Baytril doesn't work. It all depends what bacteria are involved in any infection present. Without identifying the bacteria involved no-one can say which antibiotic to use but we generally find Baytril (or Marbocyl) to be effective in a majority of cases which is why we use it first. Only then do we move on to Synulox if there is no improvement after 2-3 days. Synulox palatable drops would be better and easier than tablets. We use this for small catted birds which are not easy to inject. It is mixed with water & comes with a dropper to dispense. Ask your vet to get you some but I would persevere with Baytril twice a day for a few days first.

Great post.
I hope you manage to sort all this out Ron, it does not sound very nice- what you have to do, but it is all worth while in the end.
Good luck!

Bethany.

Many of these posts need their own thread, so I'm going to split them - that way we can find this great information easier.

As for injecting - could a vet teach me, or would I have to go on a course?

Trish wrote:Many of these posts need their own thread, so I'm going to split them - that way we can find this great information easier.

As for injecting - could a vet teach me, or would I have to go on a course?

Injecting can be taught by a vet, but it does rely on you having a good, understanding relationship with your vet. It took us a good many years to find a wildlife-minded vet who was willing to get involved.

Thought I would pop on here and say I have been given the required medication by my vet for my current patient, and today did my first injection!

I was a bit nervous, but this male needs anti-inflammatories and as he isn't eating I can't put it on his food, I just know he won't let my give it to him orally so my vet drew up the remaining 3 syringes yesterday for me to finish the 5 day course at home.

Wasn't as bad as I thought, I just hope his injured leg heals - needs to he isn't eating and is pretty uncomfortable.

I did manage to give one of my hogs injections, it isnt something I would like to do regular. My vet taught me to do it. I had 5 to give and because of my phobia it got harder as the days went on.