Antibiotics in feed -How do you disguise yours?

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DollyDolls

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My other horse has managed to cut the inside of his off hind with a dropped clench from the other hoof. His cannon bone swelled up to twice the size around the cut (which is small in comparison). Vet came out & did a very good job at sedating, horse is horribly needle shy. The wound is not too bad & just needs general care, he ought to be back to work next week.

The problem is he needs antibiotics, I had 2 options either via feed or inject. 2nd not an option for me to do as I'm already recovering from being kicked in the head & knocked out from the other one & I'd rather save the other 7 lives I have left.

I took option A, only my horse is super-suspicious of anything in his feed.
Mollasses added = "I'm not going within 10' of that feed, I know they're poisoning me"

I tried custard powder & thats not great. He turned his nose away from honey & will not eat garlic. So I'm a bit stuck. He loves his food, but wont eat antibiotics, I even tried some raspberry muffin just in case.

Any ideas?
 
Mix it up with some apple juice and honey and syringe it down his throat. Make sure you hold his head up until you are sure he's swallowed it though! I got spat on once when I let go too soon. Give him a nice treat straight after to take the taste away.
 
The syringe method isn't going to work, the quantity of antibiotic required (2 full sachets once day) means I'd have to do this 2 or 3 times & he hates being wormed like this even once every 3 months.

I'll try mint. I also thought of borrowing some really yummy coarse mix, as he's only of chaff & nuts.
 
Antib's mixed in a small amount of sugar beat and then mixed with lots (about a bucket) off fresh cut grass
have heard jam sandwhichs work well although cant say i have tried that one!!
 
I suppose I'm lucky that mine are all greedy but what I do is mix the antibiotics in with a small amount of their usual feed and give that first (make sure they run out of hay slightly overnight or take their hay away half an hour before their hard food). They have a big mouthful and make the "I've been poisoned" faces at you so you then mix the rest of their feed into the bowl - but they can't taste the nasty stuff because it's now so weak compared to what they had in the first mouthful.
 
My sympathy.

I have just finished giving a dose of oral a-b's, the apple sauce worked once, whole, undisguised apples (Failure, they are the devils work and to be avoided at all costs) syrup/mollasses once, yoghurt (borderline success) grated carrots (Failure!) Polos worked until I ran out and the fussy mare doesn't like the American version, strawberries worked very well and so did Weetabix. I could have syringed it (twitch required), but the horse already hates me for sticking needles in her every day so I opted for the more time consuming, but less stressful option.
 
I dont have that problem any more as she seems to prefer what i'm feeding her now and also she comes in over night whereas before she was out all the time. But cider vinegar is good which they have all the time anyway it is an appetie stimulant and a very strong taste so disguises pretty much anything and as above mint my horse wont eat anything if i add molasses whereas the other one wont eat her feed unless i add it so i guess some like sweetness others dont also heard of honey sandwiches and i've used apple juice with great success at worming time!
 
Well, the old chap who is now dead was a greedy laminitic so was always very restricted on what he was allowed. When he was on a course of antibiotics he was given them mixed in with a couple of handfuls of Build Up in a round scoop and hand fed them. Worked a treat!
 
My mother used peanut butter sandwiches with a shetland one but that was a small amount of antibiotics as only needed minature amounts.

Fortunately for me, my horses are so greedy, they would eat whatever was thrust in front of them.
 
Tried S/Beet this morning together with mint. He loves the mint & when I left, he'd eaten about 3/4 of it. The S/B was too wet & made the antibiotics disolve.

I did try the starve for a short while (about 1/2 hr), he'd got in a mood & had gone to bed! I got him up & then gave a small amount of feed with all the antibitocs in & then add in new to dilute.

Hopefully he'll have scoffed the lot by the afternoon.
 
I don't even bother trying to disguise anti-b's or bute any longer. I just mix them in a little water in a syringe and stuff it down their throats nowadays. Works a treat and I don't have to fuff about.
 
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