On  Tue, 10 Aug 2004 Desiree Speelman <[log in to unmask]> said:
>Hello all, I am reaching out to anyone who has had experience with
>gastric ulcers in their precious furbaby.
 
Yes, and THANK GOD she's made a full recovery... right back to her
hyperactive, piggy old self. :-)  But I know what you mean on the
medication thing.  This girl throws a thrashing, spitting fit anytime I
try to administer ANYTHING by syringe, whether it tastes nasty or not...
 
So, my advice would be to try a few different recipes for soft food,
until you find one she likes.  Is there a specific treat she really
likes?  Ferretone, Ferretvite or something else that could be mixed in?
That was the only thing that ended up working for my girl.  I made up a
soup recipe for her that she really liked, and hid her medication in it
twice a day.  She was on metronidazole (Flagyl), which is apparently the
most horrible tasting stuff in the world, but she ate it right up without
even noticing.
 
Here's my approximate recipe: 1 can tuna, 1 equal size can of chicken,
1/2 cup ground kibble, 4-6 scoops Nupro powder, 1 egg (with shell), a
few 'glugs' of olive oil, about 1/2 as much cod liver oil (or ferretone),
and enough water to blend it to a runny pudding consistency.  I'd pour it
into an ice cube tray, and thaw out 3 cubes a day for her.  I'd mix the
day's antibiotics directly into the food, and divide it into two feedings
per day.  My biggest problem was keeping my dominant girl away from it
during her evening play-time feeding.  She'd push right into the bowl,
and start eating all the medicated soup!
 
I think the tuna and cod liver oil helped give it a strong enough flavor
to disguise the medication... And they liked it so much, I now keep it in
the freezer as a treat for all of them.  When us humans have chicken for
dinner, I also save the chicken fat drippings to mix in for extra
calories and flavor.
 
However, when I put her on Carafate, it couldn't be hidden in the food,
and every 'camoflague' technique I tried stopped working after a couple
doses, so here's the eventual easiest-if-not-perfect technique I came up
with: scruffing her and dangling her in mid-air, while I administered the
carafate slowly via *eyedropper* between her cheek and rear teeth.  She
still didn't like it, but it was MUCH easier than the syringe had been,
probably because it was a slow drip instead of a forceful squirt.  If
your kid is on Biaxin/amoxi instead of Flagyl, this may work for the
antibiotics too, since I hear Biaxin isn't nearly as nasty as Flagyl.
 
Best of luck! :-)
 
-Teresa
[Posted in FML issue 4602]