How to Medicate Your Chinchilla

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.