Tips for syringing medicine orally

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stimpy

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I am currently syringing medicine into two poorly horses that have a virus and have stopped eating. My current technique is to mix the powder (antibiotic/bute) into a paste with apple juice and apple sauce and syringe that in orally like a wormer but it's not easy. Does anyone have any top tips about other ways to make a paste that make them even vaguely palatable and/or less prone to being ejected?

I now need to do the same with electrolyte powder as they are not drinking very well either, and I am waiting for some electrolyte paste to be delivered. Has anyone found a good carrier for electrolytes?
 
stimpy said:
I am currently syringing medicine into two poorly horses that have a virus and have stopped eating. My current technique is to mix the powder (antibiotic/bute) into a paste with apple juice and apple sauce and syringe that in orally like a wormer but it's not easy. Does anyone have any top tips about other ways to make a paste that make them even vaguely palatable and/or less prone to being ejected?

I now need to do the same with electrolyte powder as they are not drinking very well either, and I am waiting for some electrolyte paste to be delivered. Has anyone found a good carrier for electrolytes?
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I sometimes have to give Kal bute in this way and I worry less about whether it's palatable (I'm syringing it into his mouth, not persuading him to eat it) and more about how liquid it is and can I get the syringe far enough into his mouth for him not to spit it out ;). I simply mix with warm water and a teensy bit of apple juice, make sure he has a headcollar on so that I can get hold of him (he's a crafty so-and-so), secure his face with my right hand over his nose, get the syringe as far into his mouth and up into his jaw as I can and then syringe the meds up quickly and hold his mouth shut until I am sure he has swallowed (not forcefully, but firmly enough that he gets the idea and swallows). Once the meds/wormer are safely down, he gets a yummy treat to take the taste way.

Can't help you with the electrolytes but I hope you find a workable solution and that your two horses are feeling better very soon :).

P
 
PolarExpress said:
I sometimes have to give Kal bute in this way and I worry less about whether it's palatable (I'm syringing it into his mouth, not persuading him to eat it)
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Fair point! Trouble is one of the horse is my 18 month old youngster who I trained for worming from an early age with a syringe full of apple sauce so up until now she has been very, very easy to worm (tries to suck the whole syringe in!) but this is going to undo all that training :( Still, needs must and all that.

PolarExpress said:
and more about how liquid it is and can I get the syringe far enough into his mouth for him not to spit it out ;). I simply mix with warm water and a teensy bit of apple juice, make sure he has a headcollar on so that I can get hold of him (he's a crafty so-and-so), secure his face with my right hand over his nose, get the syringe as far into his mouth and up into his jaw as I can and then syringe the meds up quickly and hold his mouth shut until I am sure he has swallowed (not forcefully, but firmly enough that he gets the idea and swallows). Once the meds/wormer are safely down, he gets a yummy treat to take the taste way.

Can't help you with the electrolytes but I hope you find a workable solution and that your two horses are feeling better very soon :).

P
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Thank you :)
 
Icing sugar and a small amount of water. My 13 year old had to have antibiotics when he was 18 months old, and giving them this way has made him very easy to worm, to the point that if I walk up to him with a syringe in my hand he opens his mouth. Do feel a bit guilty sometimes when I've just given him a yucky tasting wormer though....
 
Agree with worrying less about palatability, and more about getting it down quickly. It's far easier to get it straight down with their heads as high as possible, and I find it easiest to get a good handful of the bottom part of the headcollar noseband, then push the horses head up as high as poss. Once the meds are in, I keep the head up and rub the horses throat firmly until I see a swallow. Then I let the head go, and give them a treat.
My top tip is ---stand on the mounting block. That way, you can get the head high enough to avoid blowback, without running out of arm length.
 
I have just had to syringe down antibiotics for 10 days am & pm to my youngster, I mixed a little honey (warmed up to make it thin) then got hold of my horses headcollar and got the syringe in side of mouth as far as possible and shot the liquid to the back of his throat then got the palm of my hand under his chin & held his head up until he swallowed. I would go for a more liquid mix to shoot it to the back of the throat by the time you get to worming I expect the youngster will have forgotten about the antis.
 
Thanks all. I have just tried making it more liquid than paste and that was reasonably successful.

I also like the tips about honey and icing sugar, maybe I can encourage my two to become bakers once they are better ;)
 
Baby food is a good texture and I always keep some on hand. Or you can use water but thicken it with either some limestone flour (v cheap calcium supplement) or you can stir in some slippery elm to make it kind of gelatinous. I don't bother trying to make it tasty if it's sticky enough, I just make sure they get something nice afterwards.
 
I bought an Easywormer bit and it's great for getting wormers or any liquids straight over the throat. Even my cleverest boy who can hold a wormer in his mouth for ages, then promptly spit it out as soon as I let his head down can't evade this gadget. Highly recommend and relatively cheap at around £14.
 
Scatterbrain said:
I bought an Easywormer bit and it's great for getting wormers or any liquids straight over the throat. Even my cleverest boy who can hold a wormer in his mouth for ages, then promptly spit it out as soon as I let his head down can't evade this gadget. Highly recommend and relatively cheap at around £14.
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They are good - only prob is with high volumes or stuff that's too liquid horse can dribble it out the other side so do still aim to make it sticky...
 
janinecruz321 said:
Actually, what you're doing is right. Giving medicines by using a syringe is an effective but sometimes a hard way. You might want to consider giving products that you can mix with their food (because they won't notice it) rather than being obvious that you're giving them medicine.
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Sure. The trouble is these two have stopped eating so there is no chance of putting anything in any bucket feed, that's why I am syringing. I also haven't been able to give them a nice treat after the syringing as they won't take it although this morning one of them did take a small piece of banana afterwards so I take that as a sign of progress :) They are actually both very cooperative and it's relatively easy to do, even with the youngster, I was just trying to make it the least horrible for them.
 
Thanks all. I am happy to say that both of mine are feeling MUCH better, their appetite is back and they are both finished with the antibiotics so life is good :D
 
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