Rabbit-safe simethicone brands

Simethicone is a great over-the-counter (OTC) medication from the pharmacy to have at home in case of an acute stasis incident from gas. For other items that a rabbit owner should have in their personal rabbit first aid kit, please see the WabbitWiki article here.

Infant liquid simethicone (usually a 20mg/ml suspension) is the best type of simethicone to use for dosing convenience, but if one cannot be located, you may use adult tablets and softgels and dose appropriately based on concentration. Rabbits are usually given 1-2cc of infant liquid simethicone every hour for the first three hours of an acute gas incident, which would be 20-40 mg of simethicone per dose.

Simethicone has no known drug interactions and is not absorbed through the intestinal lining. It acts only on a mechanical principle: it changes the surface tension of the frothy gas bubbles in the gut, joining them into larger, easier-to-pass bubbles. While this treatment alone will not return function to the intestinal tract, it appears to have no ill effects.

The following are a few brands around the world that are safe to use with rabbits. This is not a comprehensive list – if you find an infant simethicone brand in your pharmacy not listed, check that they are alcohol-free and that if they use flavorings, that they are rabbit-safe and do not contain xylitol.

United States

Major Infant’s Dye-Free Gas Relief Drops

Inactive Ingredients: carboxymethylcellulose sodium, citric acid, maltitol, microcrystalline cellulose, flavor, purified water, sodium benzoate, sodium citrate, xanthan gum

FDA Factsheet

Mylicon Infants Drops Anti Gas Relief Original Formula

Inactive Ingredients: carboxymethylcellulose sodium, citric acid, microcrystalline cellulose, natural flavors, polysorbate 60, potassium sorbate, purified water, sodium benzoate, sorbitan monostearate, sorbitol, xanthan gum

FDA Factsheet

Equate Infants Dye-Free Gas Relief Drops

Inactive Ingredients: carboxymethylcellulose sodium, citric acid, flavor, microcrystalline cellulose, polysorbate 60, potassium sorbate, purified water, sodium benzoate, sorbitan monostearate, sorbitol, xanthan gum.

FDA Factsheet

Little Remedies Gas Relief Drops

Inactive Ingredients: carmellose sodium (and) microcrystalline cellulose, citric acid, natural strawberry flavor, propylene glycol, purified water, sodium benzoate, sucralose, xanthan gum

FDA Factsheet

CVS Health Infants’ Gas Relief Drops

Inactive Ingredients: carboxymethylcellulose sodium, citric acid, flavors, microcrystalline cellulose, potassium sorbate, purified water, sodium benzoate, sorbitol, xanthan gum

FDA Factsheet

Up and Up Infants’ Gas Relief Drops

Inactive Ingredients: anhydrous citric acid, flavor, hypromellose, maltitol solution, purified water, simethicone emulsion, sodium benzoate, sodium citrate, xanthan gum

FDA Factsheet

Canada

Ovol Drops

Inactive Ingredients: carboxymethylcellulose sodium, citric acid, maltitol, microcrystalline cellulose, flavor, purified water, sodium benzoate, sodium citrate, xanthan gum

Other countries

Infacol

Inactive Ingredients: saccharin sodium, hypromellose, orange flavour, methyl hydroxybenzoate (E218), propyl hydroxybenzoate (E216) and purified water.