Use of food wafers for multiple daily oral treatments in young rats.

Many laboratory studies require oral administration of drugs. Dietary administration in food or water is useful, but is not always the best method. Orogastric gavage can be stressful. Here, we describe in detail a relatively stress-free technique that can be applied to multiple daily administrations using a palatable food item. This method was successfully used to administer water or methylphenidate 3 times daily to young pair-housed adolescent rats.