Good thoughts - Update: My Nicky is gone :*(

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Debbie

Well-Known Member
Joined
Aug 22, 2008
Messages
771
Location
Portland, Oregon
One of my dear WSU lab boys could really use all the good thoughts he can get right now. :sad3:

Nick and Ben came from Washington State University. They were part of experiments where they were injected with drugs that was suppose to make them "smarter". :sad3: Several of the ratties from this group have either died, or developed heart issues. My boys were no exception. From the time we first got them in 9/08, they were diagnosed with heart issues. We of course, put them on heart meds, lasix and antibiotics.

Both have crashed and rallied several times now. We've had them on and off of nebulizer treatments too. I've almost lost Nick 3 times now, over the last 9 months. But this time is the worst. These boys are probably around 1 1/2....so still rather young. :sad3:

Nick started to decline last week. We upped his meds and started up the neb treatments, but he continued to decline. He's barely eating (babyfood/ensure mostly) and his beautiful PEW face is covered in porophyrn :sad3: he sounds like a washing machine and is not looking well AT ALL.

We took Nick to our vet yesterday and she confirmed he's in a really bad state. But she also agreed that we aren't quite ready to give up on him yet. He has rallied before...so we decided to give him another chance to rally again. We added Cefa to help with infection and upped his neb treatments to twice a day.

Nick has only perked up slightly. Enough to fight me when I clean his face, and to eat a bit more babyfood.

We are going to give him a few more days to rally. But if he doesn't improve, we'll have to set him free. :cry3: Please send him good thoughts, ok? We are hitting him with everything we got now. :sad3: :sad3:

Ben and Nick (on right)
WSUboys4.jpg
 
You guys are just the best! :hugs:

I just saw him drinking from the water bottle...so that's a good sign. He also ate a bit more babyfood/mush. Come on Nicky!
 
Well, Nicky has made it through another day. He did eat a bit more of his mush mix, and even a piece of avocado last night. This morning, he ate a bit more, and even nibbled a couple bites off a cookie. My rats love their honey flavored animal cookies....so I figure the day he snatches one of those and eats it with gusto, I'll know he's going to be fine. This morning though, I still had to coax him to take it, and he set it down after a couple of bites. :sad3:

He's not out of the woods yet.....not by a long stretch. But he does keep showing me glimmers of promise. He's starting to move about the cage a bit more. And this morning, he decided to give himself a good groom while in the nebulizer chamber.

I am really keeping my fingers crossed he eats tonight. I know he's not getting enough to eat. I generally judge their quality of life by when they stop eating. So he keeps trying...he just needs to do more than lick up babyfood. :sad3:
 
Oh, I hope that he keeps recovering to have some more good time with you. Poor sweetie deserves as much of life as possible! :tumkiss: and banana mash to him. :heart:
 
Such a sweet little baby. They're gorgeous! :hugs: :hugs: :hugs:

I'll pray for your little Nick! :nod:
Treat him carefully, not like this, 'kay? ---> :stickpoke:

:p I'm sure you'll do your absolute best.

I know he'll make it, I just know it! :heart: :heart: :heart:
 
Sorry for the blow by blow guys. I hope ya'll won't mind? I think it helps me emotionally, to talk about it, as I have no one else that understands how emotionally draining this stuff can be. :sad3:

I'm home from work, and Nick is still with us :joy: I did the cookie test and although he didn't take it without a little coaxing.....he ATE it. ALL of it!! :joy: I'm just about to start his neb treatment, then we'll see if I can get him to eat some dinner.

He still sounds horrible....but when I see him eat, it gives me hope.
 
Nick and Ben are such handsome ratty men! I'll be keeping Nick in my thoughts. Thank you for keeping us posted on his progresses. Hooray for him eating cookies!

Anita
 
He also lunged for his coolwhip (laced with his meds) tonight as well. He hasn't shown such spirit in several days. Baby steps for sure. He's certainly not out of the woods...but I am a bit more hopeful than yesterday.

:bunnydance:
 
Well, we had another set back last night :cry3: . Something is going wrong with Nick's eyes. They both look dry and ulcerated :sad3: :sad3: Where as Ben's are shiney, bright and pink.....Nicks have turned dark, are cloudy and have no light. He still acts about the same, but I've never seen anything like this.

I've checked and although I do think he's probably a bit dehydrated, from the extra lasix and not eating well, it's not that bad. I'd give him fluids if he wouldn't panic (he wouldn't even let me syringe his meds the other day and fought me like nobody's business).

I called and talked with our vet. She can't figure it out either. He's not scratching at them. We've used the same meds in the nebulizer that we have for years and in all the rates I've nebbed, this has never happened. There's nothing in any of those meds that would burn their eyes. And if so, Ben would have problems too.

So I am putting triple antibiotic opthamalic ointment in his eyes now. But I'm really starting to wonder how much more I should put him through. He ate a cookie and took his meds this morning. But then turned his nose up at avocado. :sad3: :sad3:

I have a feeling this thread is going to go back and forth. :sad3: I just don't want to give up on him...but I don't want to put him through too much either. I have no doubt he's blind now. Of course, neither had the greatest eyesite anyway, being PEWs but I can tell by the way he holds his head, he can't see at all. Oh my Nicky. :cry3:
 
Poor Nick, just keep those eyes moist and he should be okay. If he's still lunging for food then I would say keep fighting. You might want to reduce the lasix a little maybe?
 
Could it be his third membrane is up? Many times when rats are sick, their third membrane won't come down but it eventually does when they are feeling better.
When the membrane is up, the eyes look very dull and cloudy.
 
jorats said:
Could it be his third membrane is up? Many times when rats are sick, their third membrane won't come down but it eventually does when they are feeling better.
When the membrane is up, the eyes look very dull and cloudy.

Thanks Jo, I'll try and get a closer look when I get home. I honestly never thought of that. :doh: At first, I thought he had a hair or something in his eye. So I massaged his eye lid a bit, hoping it might move out of the way, and didn't. Wouldn't I see his extra eyelid move out of the way? Oh I do hope that's what it is...because I'm all paranoid it's the lasix or something.

I really do wish I could back him off the lasix...but at this point, I think if I back off anything, I'll lose him. :sad3: I am going to drop him to just one neb treatment a day and see if he still does ok. He's starting to get antsie in it (which also scares me that he's getting worse).

I really want to try and get some fluids in him...but he's in that "don't hold me" mode they get when they have trouble breathing....and I'm afraid he'll fight too much. ugh....I'm whining.

Thanks again for the good thoughts and advice guys. Although, I seem to deal with elderlies declining, a wee bit better....when a younger rattie is ill like this...it just breaks me down. :sad3:
 
Oh I bet that's what it is... when you saw what you thought was a hair might have been the membrane only part way up, it looks like a thin hair when it's part ways up. When you massaged it, it must have went all the way up to protect the eye from the pressure of the massage. It's not that big a deal when the membrane is up, but I have found it to indicate a sick rattie.
 
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