Giving Tylan

For weeks I have tried in vain to get my girls to take Tylan, but it tastes so bad. I tried every way to "hide" the taste so they would take it. For two weeks, I tried various food and liquid mixtures to hide the Tylan, but my girls are no dummies. I could put the Tylan in foods and they would eat it, but no where near the dosage, because the food just wasn't strong enough to mask the taste. I finally found something that I can put the needed dosage of Tylan in that they will eat. I am so excited I wanted to write to share it.

My miracle mixture is peanut butter and jelly. I guess it's not so much a miracle mixture, but it works like a charm. The jelly makes the peanut butter not so hard for them to swallow and adds a flavor that, along with the peanut butter, masks the Tylan.

I really don't mix exactly, but let me give you my estimate of how I mix it. I put about 1/2 tsp. Peter Pan creamy peanut butter, 1/2 tsp Smuckers Strictly Fruit blackberry jelly and 1/64 tsp. Tylan. Be sure to add enough jelly, so they don't choke on the peanut butter. It thins the thick peanut butter out. Mix well. They love it - no questions asked.

You can't put too much less peanut butter or jelly because the Tylan taste starts to come through. Yes, I taste test before I give it to them. Also, one stipulation is the rat can't be stuffed already, because they won't eat it because it does still taste kind of bad. As long as I hold back on the grapes, cantaloupe and other treats before giving them the Tylan mixture, there is no problem.

E.D. Trimm from Covington, GA adds this footnote: One might consider a natural peanut butter rather than Peter Pan. Most of the brand name peanut butters are anywhere from 40-60% hydrogenated oil -- in layman's terms, that's the same as Crisco. But most major stores have their own store brand of natural peanut butter (contains nothing but peanuts, peanut oil and a bit of salt). It tastes much better too -- at least we humans think so! Also, the above article mentions using 1/64 tsp. Restoration Hardware has the most delightful set of measuring spoons to help out with that measurement! This set is for a pinch, a dash, and a smidgen. That would be 1/8, 1/16, and 1/32 of a teaspoon each. So half of the last would do. They also have tiny measuring cups for teaspoons of liquid like antibiotics, etc.