Chinchillas may be rodents but they still know that medicine tastes bad. Many owners have learned that giving medicine to a chinchilla can be very difficult. They usually don't enjoy being restrained and don't take medication willingly. The techniques for giving liquid and tablet medication are described below.

Liquid Medication

Draw up the prescribed amount of medication in a syringe or eyedropper.

Hold the head and neck of the chinchilla with one hand.

Use the other hand to place the tip of the syringe or eyedropper just behind the front teeth.

The chinchilla will usually open his/her mouth to try to remove the syringe or eyedropper.

While the chinchilla is chewing at the syringe or eyedropper, slowly administer the medication.

Tablet Medication

Tablets are very difficult to give to chinchillas. It would be easier to first crush the tablet using a pill crusher, which you can get at a local pharmacy.

Crush the medication using a pill crusher or other method.

Once the medication is in powder form, mix the medicine with a small amount of flavored Sustacal or Ensure.

About 1/4 teaspoon (1 ml) of flavored diet supplement should be enough.

After mixing the powdered medication with the supplement, follow the instructions for administering liquid form medication.