Oral medication and a VERY angry iguana. Advice please!!

[zoolfoos]

I have a 4 yr. old female iguana. Unfortunatley due to an infection she has been put on some medication, including a topical ointment, panalog, and an oral medicine, baytril. I have to force feed the baytril daily with a syringe. She is usually very well mannered and even does well with strangers. The first time I gave her the medication she didn't know what it was and everything went well. On the second day, I had a little more trouble, but resistance was minimal. On the third day, she was so terrified that I was coming to give her the medication that she wouldn't even let me take her out to hold her, like I usually do. She tried to bite me, but as I pulled away she got my sleeve instead. When she was smaller I would have let her bite me to show her that it wouldn't scare me away, but she's a bit bigger now, and she has strong jaws. On the one occasion that she did bite me since her younger years, the laceration went all the way to the bone of my finger. A trip to the clinic was in order.

I believe that what she is doing is mostly scare tactics because typically biting is an iguana's last defense and if she wanted to just hurt me she could have hit me in the face with her tail (which was closer to me at the time). Although, she has shown that she is willing to bite. Also she did something that I can only describe as slightly opening her mouth and partially sticking her tounge out. When an iguana does this the tounge looks slightly engorged and arched up. From what I have heard this means that the iguana is VERY VERY angry. I have only heard of this behavior being observed in male iguanas. Females tend to be more reserved, but it is obvious that she is very irritated.

The problem is that I need to administer this medicine daily. It is very important. Also if she learns that this stops me from giving her the medicine she will try it again tomorrow, and she is beginning to associate all of our meetings with the medicine. PLEASE!! Give me some advice with how to deal with this situation I have never seen her this angry, even as a youngster. I have always heard that you should just stop and leave the Iguana alone for a while in a situation like this... but it is imperitive that she gets her medication. I have waited several hours and she is still persisting. Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!!

[Purplebunny]

Pets personalities sometime change when they are sick, the best thing you can do is show her that you care... I hope your iguana gets better soon!

[zoolfoos]

Thanks! Yes, I will do the best that I can and hopefully tomorrow will be better. The good news is that she still trusts me enough to let me hand feed her, but as soon as she finished the leaf of collard greens I gave her she was trying to bite again.

I attempted again to approach her. Take all of the problems mentioned in my first post and add hissing. She is still quite angry.

I am considering putting some Dakin's solution in a spray bottle so I can clean her wounds from afar. If you've never heard of this before it may sound a little odd. I certainly did for me, but it was suggested by my vet. Dakin's solution: 1 ouce bleach diluted in 1 quart water. It doesn't sting and it works great.

[Sassy]

Does she have a favorite food that you may be able to give her little pieces of with drops of the meds on each piece? Maybe a piece of fruit

[zoolfoos]

Not a bad idea, one concern that I have is that I may not end up giving her exactly the right amount. I has to be exactly 1/2ml every day. The only other concern is that she may taste the medicine on the fruit (I'm not sure if baytril has a flavor) and spit it out. Although, I may give it a try. Thanks!

[zoolfoos]

I did try putting some medicine on a piece of collard greens. Unfortunatley due to the consistency of the fluid, most of it rolled right off. Next time I will just squirt some in her mouth while she's eating. I'm also using this technique to get her out of the cage, and to apply the topical ointment. I'll have to make up with the demon iguana later. Health concerns come first.

Thanks for all your advice and support!!

[degu mad]

i hope you ig gets better x

[degu mad]

i hope you ig gets better x

[zoolfoos]

As you can all see it has been a while since the original post. Dino (the iguana) is doing much better and has come, basically, to a full recovery. Although she is being kept on the oral antibiotics for a short while to ensure that no problems continue to occur.

As for the angry part... eventually I decided that I had had enough. I just grabbed her and put her in the bathtub. She quickly calmed down, and we are on good terms again. Her color has improved. Her food intake has improved, and, she is all around better. Thank you all for your support and advice.

[Amethystbelle]

Glad to hear shes feeling a whole lot better

[XTRAWLD]

Ha - you stuck her in the tub - that's awesome! I should think of that next time I have to give an animal medication! I was going to suggest using a glove to protect yourself, but seems like you solved everything!

[Grlphantom]

smart trick with the tub! That was how I taught my hamster not to bite people. With him I took a chance and just got in the tub with him (fully clothed!) He seemed to understand that I wasn't going to hurt him and after doing that once I never again had a problem with biting! It's interesting to see that translate to iguanas.
I'm glad to know he's doing well!

[XTRAWLD]

So if an animal bites, and you want to use this tub method, how do you do it? Do you run the bath and then dunk them in? Hold them, let them swim? I ask because I have degus that aren't don't bite constantly, but nip once in a while.

[Grlphantom]

my degu nips, too. i think it is just part of their nature, I trry not to mind as long as he doesn't draw blood. But when I did it with my hamster there was no water in the tub. It just keeps them from getting out, but in a large, confined enough area so that they can realize that you are not going to hurt them.
I never tried this with my degu though as I got him at about 2 yrs old and I am trying to take things very slow, as he was sick when I got him. But with my hamster it worked almost instantly. Give it a try - with no water in the tub! I'm pretty sure it's not a good idea to get them wet.

[XTRAWLD]

I used to give my hamster baths...like hold him and run warm water on him with some shampoo (the pet variety) just because he got so stinky sometimes. Just put them in a tub with no water huh, I think my degus would be so scared. Sorry, I'll stop hijacking!