Tips and tricks for neatly administering minocycline?

[Alibhai_s_Alibar]

Wizard tested positive for Lyme, and we began treatment with Oxytet injections. We’ve completed the injections and now he’s getting minocycline every 12 hours.

I’d appreciate hearing tips, tricks, and methods for administering minocycline as efficiently as possible with as little waste/mess as possible.

Currently, I’m opening the capsules into a sandwich bag. Then, I fill a dosing syringe with applesauce and mix in the minocycline powder. There is a little powder left over on the walls of the bag, and although it’s not a large amount, I’d like to try to get as much of the antibiotic into my horse as possible.

Would a little plastic container/canister work better than a baggie?

Thank you for any suggestions. I’m hoping that there’s some clever method that I’ve entirely missed.

[2miniB]

I take a cup, add water, add the medication powder, then add psyllium and/or marshmallow root powder, mix and syringe feed. I’ll take a little more water to rinse the cup and then syringe that too.

Depending on how many capsules, you could try hiding them in treats. Inside grapes, baby carrots, banana, etc. Right now, I’m using a grape-size ball of Chaffhaye to hide my mare’s pergolide in. So far so good.

[Lady_Eboshi]

Mix it with olive oil. Not only do they actually seem to like the stuff, but the oil and your medicine stick like crazy to all the mucous membranes of the mouth and they HAVE to swallow it ALL! Nobody’s managed to spit anything out yet by that method, and we have some camel-type spitters!

[Frizzle]

Nicker Bait Pill Camos! :yes: http://www.nickerbait.com/#!pill-camo--it-works/cny7

[Larbear]

@2miniB;7872715

I take a cup, add water, add the medication powder, then add psyllium and/or marshmallow root powder, mix and syringe feed. I’ll take a little more water to rinse the cup and then syringe that too.

I would avoid giving medications with things like marshmallow root powder, it works as a mucilage. It coats the stomach and can affect absorption of other medications.

Minocycline has pretty good water solubility. When I had to give my horse this, I used peppermint flavouring (Uckele sells this as well as Horse Tech) and mixed it with some water and then added the minocycline. This was all done in a 60 mL syringe You could dissolve up your minocycline in the minimal amount of water directly in the syringe and then add the applesauce to flavour it.

[newhorsemommy]

I second the Nicker Bait pill camos. You can get a good-sized pill inside them, even a Bute tablet if you break it in half.

If the pill is very small, stuff it inside a fig newton

[Simkie]

I agree with the suggestion to mix directly in the syringe…take the separate container out of the equation completely.

[MuddyHalter]

I had compounded minocycline that smelled sweet, so I mixed it in with my horse’s feed. He ate it without any problem, and subsequently tested negative for Lyme.

[Alibhai_s_Alibar]

Thank you so much for the ideas. I was afraid to experiment and waste too many pills!

[Huntin_Pony]

I used minocycline for two of my ponies. Both ate the pills with their grain. No camouflage or special processing required - just counted them out and put them in their buckets. (I did sweep the floor under the bucket beforehand and check for dropped pills, but only ever found one or two total for the entire time.)

[merrygoround]

BO here just added minocycline to grain with a big dollop of lo sugar applesauce and it was all gone.

[Paks]

I just added minocycline to the pills. My normally picky horse scarfed them right down.