It is simple in theory to give a tortoise medication on food, but not always so easy in practice. If the tortoise is small, it is much easier because the dosage is smaller. Just a little dab swallowed and that is usually enough.
If the tortoise is large, it needs a much higher dosage. Let's say you put just the right amount on it's food and it eats two or three bites and then stops eating. What now? Let's say it refuses to eat alltogether. Then what? It is bad if the animal does not get the WHOLE dosage. If the tortoise gets too small of a dosage of medication, it will have major drawbacks. It may not kill the parasites, and will also allow the parasites to develope an immunity to the medication, which is now actually being observed with Panacur and other medications fairly frequently. The same thing happens when people fail to finish their antibiotic regimen. That's why we're seeing the "super germs" now.
If you use a syringe and tube right into the stomach, you give the tortoise the EXACT amount of medication it needs for it's size and you are sure it is getting ALL of it and you avoid the parasites developing immunity. The stress on the animal is short-lived and they invariably act like nothing happened a few minutes after you put them back on the ground.
