Alduin is gone, Klaus is alone

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lilspaz68 said:
Poor Al. He's just on bay/doxy right? Do u have any metacam or infant ibu u can give him?
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I have infant ibu, the grape stuff I ran out to get him when he had a resp. distress almost a year ago. He's definitely lost weight since then, but he's still more towards the 500g mark. I'm gonna guess dose would be .18 or .19cc?
 
lilspaz68 said:
I am using 20 Mg/kg, and getting 0.25 cc
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Ah I dug up the older thread and was going off that. We're talking about the oral suspension 200mg/5ml, right?

What can I do for him if it's the beginning of a PT? Is he just going to get worse?

Edit: Looked it up in the search bar. Found the rat guide and everything. Definitely sounds like Alduin... loss of appetite, weak hind legs, wide stance, he head bumps sometimes, bruxes hard for no reason sometimes, holds food oddly...

I guess the chances that this is all from respiratory distress is pretty slim, huh? He's been breathing hard for a while but he sounds like a shoe-in compared to the rat guide and the other threads I read through...

Today's Weight:
Al is still at 473g
Klaus reached for my hand when I put Al back in because he was feeling like he was being left out, so I scooped him up and weighed him too. 625g.
 
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Alduin's weight dropped again. He was 473g for a few days in a row then:

Jan 18: 476g
Jan 19: 478g
Jan 20: (neglected to weigh him)
Jan 21: 466g.

I've been offering "salads" of mostly veggies, some fruit and some cheese every other day; any time I make eggs he has some, I offer him extra puffs, mix his meds with baby cereal, offer extra baby cereal...

Today specifically he had yogurt and bananas this morning and I made an extra hard boiled egg when I was scrambling to get lunch for work together so that's dinner tonight. Yesterday was a veggie plate in the morning and extra baby cereal for night.

Is there anything specific I can offer him to keep his weight from dropping? He seemed to be doing so well for a few days there, and since starting infant ibuprofen he seems to be eating more in general.

These are from the 19th, they were out having breakfast on the couch with me and Al excavated a little cave for himself in the blanket and munched on his scrambled eggs:
20150117_133710.jpg


And for the first time ever, they're both in focus. I swear I didn't pose them!
20150117_134352.jpg
 
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See if you can find healthy foods higher in fat to increase his caloric intake. For example, my rats LOVE avocado and unsalted nuts, especially cashews. Nice warm oatmeal would probably be a hit too. I use the instant packages, but dump them out over a sieve and shake out the extra sugar before mixing them up.
 
Joanne said:
See if you can find healthy foods higher in fat to increase his caloric intake. For example, my rats LOVE avocado and unsalted nuts, especially cashews. Nice warm oatmeal would probably be a hit too. I use the instant packages, but dump them out over a sieve and shake out the extra sugar before mixing them up.
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Oou the oatmeal I can do tonight! I don't have avocado or nuts. I looked up some articles on high fat, healthy foods and so far all I've given him is eggs out of what's listed in a few of them and avocado/nuts are on every list!

I'm going to the grocery store tomorrow to pick up some avocado and some nuts. Other things I found repeatedly listed in the articles were fatty fish and cheese. We've actually been eating a lot more salmon since cutting grocery store meat out of our diet - is it safe to give freely or in controlled amounts? And as far as cheese goes I've seen cottage cheese mentioned in threads a few times. I'm gonna grab some of that too.

Thank you Joanne!
 
I think you need to make sure he is eating his regular rat food so he gets all his nutrients, so maybe just give the extras a bit at a time. Ie, two or three nuts, not a bucket; a few pieces of avocado, not the whole fruit, etc. ;)
 
Joanne said:
I think you need to make sure he is eating his regular rat food so he gets all his nutrients, so maybe just give the extras a bit at a time. Ie, two or three nuts, not a bucket; a few pieces of avocado, not the whole fruit, etc. ;)
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Oh he definitely does, I watch him nibbling on dry food often. I usually give the "extras" after meds morning and night and sometimes if I'm eating something I'll share a piece. It's all snack size and I keep Klaus out of his way so he can eat what he will before losing interest. Klaus is a fast eater and seems to capitalize on Alduin's waining appetite.

On that note he's been more aloof the past 48 hours... for the first few days on infant ibu he brightened up, ate more and gained a little weight. Then he dropped 10g and is back to confusion and losing interest in food.

He hasn't been head bumping, stretching his legs out or holding food weird all week though... Just now he got some banana out of my breakfast and held it sitting with his two front hands. It was a small piece but he didn't eat all of it. I've also noticed he isn't grooming as intensely as he was before. For a few weeks he would groom his face and chest and arms pretty often, now I haven't seen him do it in four or five days.

Edit: Called the vet and scheduled a recheck. She's only in Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday but I work all day Tues. and Wednes. so it's Thursday at 5pm.
 
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Al is still eating, but how much he eats fluctuates by day. Yesterday after night meds he finished half a spoon of cottage cheese quickly so I offered avocado and a cashew after and he ate most of that as well. This morning, however, I barely got him to eat a piece of egg. He refused his meds as well and I had to force them, except for the infant ibu. I think he could always eat that.

Weights:
January 21: 465g
January 22: 463g
January 23: 468g
January 24: **446g (any explanation?)
January 25, AM: **455g
January 25, PM: 455g
January 26, AM: 450g
January 26, PM: 445g

Clearly his weight fluctuates as well, but is mostly going down ward. That drop is concerning, so I've started weighing him twice a day to keep better track of when the drops happen. I always make sure he eats something of what I offer him. I've actually missed buses to work just to see him start nibbling on food, so I can go to work knowing he ate.

My scale seems pretty solid and it's always on the same surface with him in the same tupperware container, so I do think most of it is him losing weight and me trying to help him gain it back, and some of it is that it's a food scale and the container doesn't fit entirely on it :S
 
*sigh*

what is this, now? Al let me feel around and it's on the surface. Looks like a scab to me but I haven't seen him bleed or anything since he had lice.

20150129_155004.jpg


20150129_155027.jpg
 
dspch911 said:
Not sure, perhaps an abscess popped or a cyst?
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I would have felt that, or smelled it, wouldn't have I? I put my face around that area to kiss him and pet in that area every day, I never felt anything until now. I was giving a gentle scritch and felt a lump and went "what the hell?" and this is what I found.
 
Ah, OK... I would've thought that it would have been noticeable. At first I was scared it was a tick or a growth of some kind!
 

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