Question
I have an 11 year old rabbit that seems to be in discomfort from arthritis and age related issues. He lives with a younger rabbit, and to keep the old rabbit in the area that is appropriate for a geriatric bladder a we use an 8 inch (20 cm) board as a fence.
Our vet agreed that he may be in some pain, and suggested a dosage of 25mg per 2 kilograms up to twice a day. This is similar to the recommendations found else where 5-10 mg per pound of dog’s weight for 12 hours. I am NOT suggesting this correct dosage for your pet, talk your vet first.
He also offered a method which included dissolving an aspirin in water, and providing that as his only water source. Because we are medicating a single bunny in a two bunny group, that was not an option for us.
So we immediately set out to figure out how to get less than a baby aspirin into one bunny in a two bunny family group. FYI - Google does not show any viable results for purchasing aspirin in solution.
Answer
This is the solution we used, we had previously trained the older rabbit to go into a carrier at meal time, while the younger rabbit eats in another location (separate diets required for everything other than hay and lettuce).
After identifying a pill that could be split safely we purchased some fresh pineapple. Cut the pineapple into bit size bits, put an extra slice in one, and poke the piece of baby aspirin (1/3 of an 81mg baby aspirin in our case) inside the pineapple.
We have been doing this once daily in the morning, and he has been eating it fine. Within hours of his first dose looked like he felt much better. He had an increased appetite, his ears are up and perky almost constantly, lucky he still not able to get over the 8 inch fence :)
We choose pineapple because it has been identified as possibly beneficial for digestive issues (which he also has), is easy to work with and is readily available.
Pineapple should be feed in moderation as the sugar can harmful to the good bacteria in the rabbits gut.
Two weeks later The daily aspirin continues to seem like a good idea. We have re-evaluated using pineapple as the delivery vehicle. No objections to using it for initial or occasional aspirin dosing, but for daily dosing we have changed to blue berries. We purchase fresh and freeze them in a ziplock bag, defrost a few days worth at a time. Poke a hole with a fork and insert aspirin piece. Holds up well, rabbit likes it, smaller bit size so less additional sugar is added to the diet.
Answered By - James Jenkins