Recently I've had to give a round to Albon to several of my beardies for coccidia treatments. I realized just how difficult it is to pry open beardies mouths and force the meds in. And not to mention how stressful it is on them as well. Then I remembered that Hollywood eagerly drinks just about anything that is in a syringe (without the needle).



It all started out a few weeks back when Hollywood stopped eating for a few days. I got worried and tried the baths and tried dripping water on his nose. I just couldn't get water into him without having to force his mouth open. One day I was drinking a glass of apple juice and it donned on me to add a little of this sweet juice to the water that I drip on his nose. It worked like a charm! Now he will drink just about anything that is put in a syringe and dripped on his nose.







Since this approach worked with one of my beardies, I started to " syringe train" my other beardies as well. About twice a week I give my beardies a little apple juice (grape works well too) diluted down. I use the frozen kind and make it per the instruction on the can. Then I dilute it down further (about 50% prepared juice to 50% water). This gives the water just enough of a sweet taste to make the beardies lap it up. And once the beardies know what is coming, you can dilute the juice down even further (30% juice to 70% water). Most of my adults will eagerly drink several cc's before stopping. And if I stop before they are done, they let me know! Lizzy will head bob at me if I don't give him at least 2 cc's. If I stop at 1 cc I'll have a very upset beardie on my hands. LOL YIKES!



I don't know if I can add a little apple juice to the Albon, but I'm going to ask the vet the next time I'm in his office. I know for a fact that some liquid can be added to Baytril. That stuff smells and tastes nasty! But if I can add a little juice to the Albon it would make things a whole lot easier now that my dragons are "syringe trained."



I've struggled with getting meds and fluids into my beardies for years. I'm surprised that I didn't think of this before. Also, frozen apple juice and grape juice have a calcium to phosphorus ratio of 1:1 for all of you that are interested in that little tid bit of info.



Veronica
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Beautiful Dragons

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