Boys' RI-update 06/05

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T

twitch

Well-Known Member
Joined
Apr 16, 2008
Messages
1,485
Location
Dartmouth, NS
babydoll is my little berk girlie who is nearly 1 yr old. she has been having problems with abcesses on her abdomen by one of her nipples. she just kept getting them back after we had them cleared up. recently they were not going as far down as they used to either. so last week i took her into the vet to get looked at. the vet was certain that the true culprit was a mamorary tumor. she suspected that the tumor caused the abcesses. so today is surgery day. she will be going under the knife this afternoon and we should be hearing back from the vet as soon as she's out. we'll be picking her up tonight. the vet is optimistic that this should be a simple removal from what she felt of it. :thumbup:

on to the boys!

first magic. he made it up to halifax and to SQ with Godmother (thank you very much for the transportation!). unfortunately the trip stressed him out and he is suffering from a myco flare. SQ has been in contact with me and says he is responding well the antibiotics and believes he should be fine for his neuter on the 28th. he weighs 745g! and i'm told he's being a sweetheart. he hasn't even gotten home yet, i haven't even SEEN him yet and he's already got me growing grey over him. :panic: :lol: i would like to take this opportunity to express my heartfelt gratitude to SQ, Godmother and theratlady for all their help even though they are very busy themselves. i know i have said it often but i have no other way to express how deeply grateful i am of your help. you all have very large hearts made of pure gold! thank you.

next Bribery and Stewart. i took them with me to the vet when i dropped off babydoll for her operation. they have both been very sleepy and breathing a bit harder then they should be. the vet listened to their lungs and agreed that they needed antibiotics. she prescribed zithromax 2x/day for 14 days and 1x/day for another 14 days after that. they will be getting their first dose after supper tonight. i expect to have to wrestle it into Bribery while he hollers bloody murder (he's my whimp rat) and Stewie to suck it up and take it. between the two boys i have my most difficult to give medicines to and my easiest. go figure eh? :roll:


on top of that, i had to take my car into the garage today as well. stupid noises...

anyway, that's been my morning...

on the bright side, Rosie has gained 2 more ounces and is sitting at about 12 ounces! she still looks like a sick sick rat. her waist is pinched in at the sides but 12 ounces is a respectable weight finally! :thumbup: :bunnydance: :happydance: from the time of my first post about her to now she has gone from 8 ounces to 12, that 4 whole ounces! i know it doesn't sound like much but for little rosie that is quite the accomplishment! :heart: :thumbup:

i will update with how everyone is doing here.
 
You've had quite a morning. Good hear that Babydoll is getting that abscess finally fixed up. Those things can sure be stubborn.
Zithro should nip your boys' RI in the bud.
And fantastic new for Rosie!! :joy:

Hope your car doesn't have too much wrong with it. Having a car in the shop can be just as costly as vet bills. :doh:
 
Hope Babydoll (love that name) is ok and in your arms soon. My gang just loves Zithro. They all fight to get it. lol That's good news for Rosie. Hope she gets fat in her old age.
 
well turned out it was the wheel bearing that had disintergrated.... cost me $185 to get it fixed but i'm told that's cheap. for some cars its $300 for just the part. i still hated having to pay it though. i hate having to put money into the car but i need it so i do... the shocks will need some attention before the year is out too... *sigh* stoopid car...

we are waiting on babydoll to come home. turns out the vet tech lives on the road right behind me, so she's going to bring babydoll home on her way home. she made it through the surgery fine, had a little bit of a time waking up but was expected as she is a rat and they normally take longer then dogs and cats to come out of it. we have the nursery cage all fixed up for her for tonight. she'll be going into the larger regular hospital cage tomorrow when she's feeling a bit better. and when her stitches heal up she'll go back in with everyone else and cause havoc like normal. turns out the operation was a bit more difficult then they expected and was very messy and gross. i'll be getting more details when she comes home. so between the office call for the boys and the surgery the vet cost me $284 and some change. which i about what i expected. it is actually a little lower then my old vet would have charged so i'm happy enough.

as for the boys. neither one took kindly to the medication. and its even cherry flavored! the medicine cost me $22.81 so that's not too bad there. and i was right about Bribery, he whined and complained and twisted and struggled then sooked and pouted like crazy afterwards. i smoothed it over with some of my stir-fry i had for supper. he loves the way i cook the meat in it. stewart took it better then bribery in that at least he didn't twist and whine about it. but he did struggle a bit and let me know what he thought about it all by giving the syringe a good bite afterwards. he would not hurt a fly but a syringe is certainly not a fly and he does not like them at all. he's cuddled up with smeag and bribery in the hanging flower pot now giving everyone a bath.
 
i just got a call. babydoll is regressing. she WAS waking up fine and the vet tech said she was being very sweet and is quite the doll. she just called me to say that she is now unresponsive. her breathes are very shallow and her heartbeat is slowing. it to the point now that she can count them. she was very apoligitic and confused. she contacted dr magowen and neither of them understand it. they have not experienced such a regression before. during the operation there was nothing out of the ordinary. she was waking up slow but at a speed expected for a rodent. and she was waking up.

my son wanted to wait up for babydoll to come home. all day i kept reassuring him that she wasn't going to die and that she needed to operation to make her feel better and move better. my son is five and a dramaking. so i had to stuanch off some minor drama attacks and reassure him over and over that she would be fine. i had to send him to bed but told him babydoll will home and waiting to see her big brother when he gets up. i told him that he could help me make babydoll a special breakfast in the morning too. now i'm not sure she'll even be alive by the time she gets home and the nurse said she was on her way as soon as she got off the phone, let alone if she will be alive in the morning. i want everything to be ok. i want her to stop scaring me and pop her head up and give me a good grooming before running off to play "hunt the rat/make-mom-pull-out-her-furniture-while-i-sit-across-the-room-and-laugh" game. i want to be able to get my son up in the morning and not tell him that we babydoll has died. he understands death now. he knows that they don't come back and he hurts and misses them. he hasn't quite grasped the other side of death that i am trying to teach him yet so he has no comfort to lean on yet.

my poor babydoll. what will ink do without her partner in crime. i was supposed to go up to 12 when magic came home. i was making fun of it. laughing about how i can never seem to go down in numbers. i didn't want it to be this way.
 
Glad to hear that things are under control, despite the expense.

I love the way you describe your ratties! You paint such a vivid picture that I can imagine them as if they were here.

Magic is a sweet boy, so easy-going despite the stress. Clark plunked him into a travel cage with the other two boys, whom he didn't know. There was only one hint of confrontation during the whole trip.

So glad to hear that Rosie continues to gain weight. As I recall, 8 oz is about 350g. That is amazing progress.
 
according to my scales 8oz i about 210-220g. the 12oz is closer to the 350g range. i find it easier to read the ounces then the grams on my scale so i go by that. my landlord has a digital postage scale that he is going to give to me as soon as he finds it though so i will be able to keep a more accurate weight then.

i wish i didn't have to update after that last post you read. things are not going well now. babydoll may not make it.
 
Oh, I am so sorry that Babydoll has taken such a turn for the worse. I was still writing my post and not realizing that you had already re-posted.

She may have gone into shock? I am hoping that she will make it home alive. Just being home with you will make her more comfortable no matter what happens next. It is so hard to think of your little son maybe having to grieve for her.
 
Oh no!! I hope babydoll takes a turn for the better. They must have her on oxygen and keeping her warm. Does she have her favourite foods with her? I find if they eat they get more energy and stronger.
 
she didn't make it home alive. i will write her eulogy later, i just can't right now. she was doing so well...i just...*sigh*
 
I am so sorry twitch. You really tried to make your little girl's life better. It sounds like the surgery was more intensive than you originally thought and that can happen. Take care of yourself and your little drama king. :cry: (((hugs)))
 

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