Great.

[la_marée_haute]

Well for reasons beyond my control, and which are not by any fault of my own, my mum has decided that she can't "do" the whole medicine thing for my rats anymore.

You see we've gone through quite a few different meds to cure their URIs, to no avail as of yet.

This last one that I WANTED to try was too expensive and "complicated" (apparently you have to mix it up yourself etc etc), and it was the last straw for my mum. She says that we're sticking to Baytril and that is that.

But Baytril isn't working. Doxy and Baytril TOGETHER wasn't working. (They were/are on Baytril just until the new medication WAS going to come before my mum decided to give up on my rats.)

It's all an enormous shock for me. Before I got my rats me and my mum were EXTREMELY clear on the vet care thing. She said she would never let an animal suffer, and I believed her.

I just do not know what to do. I'm sitting here bawling my eyes out. They're sick. And, surprisingly, and shockingly ALL OF A SUDDEN I can't help them.

Will they be OK on Baytril all their lives? Or Baytril and Doxy?? Even though they don't improve because of them?? That's all my mother agrees to do. (Mainly because the money, and also actually because she is just sick of ringing up the vet constantly about new meds. She just wants to pick up something. In and out. Without any more conversations which IIIII SHOULD be doing, but cannot. ARGH. Sigh...) Even THOUGH I'm pretty positive they are not at the point where they need the meds all their lives... I believe we need to try new meds. It just sucks that those have to be "too expensive" (which I didn't think would be an issue at all before I got my rats, because of the clear agreement with my mum/parents).

I feel irresponsible or... something. I feel horrible. But it's nothing I can really control without making my own living. I just didn't think this would happen.

I REALLY hope that this will pass and my mum will change her mind (on her own... because whatever I say does nothing. she KNOWS how serious it all is, she just doesn't want to deal). I hope I can reply to this thread in a few days with "She changed her mind! They're gettin new meds!" but that's so incredibly doubtfull.

Hopeless. I feel helpless and hopeless.

 

[shadowpaws]

Same thing happened to me. I tried to get a rat to accompany my Nubs, and the poor thing ended up getting sick. My mom didn't want to bring it to the vet, so I hopped on Goosemoose and looked for help. I ended up finding Shelagh, aka, lilspaz, and she took the little one home (with the help of Meghan, the driving fiend :heart: )to give him the proper care he needed.

When my mom saw how determined I was so make sure he was alright, she agreed to be more understanding if Nubs needed to go to the vet. We're tight on money as well, but I'm looking for a Job to secure my rats future. Maybe if you got a job, if you don't have one already, and showed your mom that your determined she'll soften up.

 

[la_marée_haute]

Same thing happened to me. I tried to get a rat to accompany my Nubs, and the poor thing ended up getting sick. My mom didn't want to bring it to the vet, so I hopped on Goosemoose and looked for help. I ended up finding Shelagh, aka, lilspaz, and she took the little one home (with the help of Meghan, the driving fiend :heart: )to give him the proper care he needed.

When my mom saw how determined I was so make sure he was alright, she agreed to be more understanding if Nubs needed to go to the vet. We're tight on money as well, but I'm looking for a Job to secure my rats future. Maybe if you got a job, if you don't have one already, and showed your mom that your determined she'll soften up.

Thanks for your understanding, shadowpaws. I know she cares, but she is just frustrated with having to do so much. I told her that rats are a lot of work, but I guess saying that wasn't going to prepare... either of us. Lol.

I'm trying to be understanding, but at the same time I am so darn angry. I dunno, I could be overreacting. It was just a shock. I was expecting to get the new meds yesterday, and for everything to start getting better and then BAM. "No. Sorry. I can't. I've changed my mind." etc.

As for the job thing, well for personal reasons I am unable to do that, but thank you anyway. :wink:

Anyway, to anyone reading, I guess my main question would be could persisting with Baytril (or Baytril AND Doxy) help at all? They were on both for 3 weeks, and before that they were on Baytril for a week, and now they've been an Baytril for about another week or two... but no improvement. My mum is not exactly willing to pay for better (dearer) meds at the moment (amoung other things like ringing the vet on my behalf etc), -even though a lot of it will be coming from my personal vet fund-, and I'm hoping that maybe something, even if it's not the best of the best, is better than nothing. I'm probably wrong though. That comes with my incredible bad luck.

My first post probably was a bit dramatic. Please excuse me. But I guess you can all see how it is a tad (lol, understatedly :shock: ) frustrating. I'm at a bit of a loss.

Not only all of this either, but they have MITES at the moment. Which we're treating. (We have been using the cheap sprays to no avail, and to lots of sneezing, but tomorrow I start Revolution with my last smidgen of money). That's another issue all together, though, evidently.

Thank you.

 

[mamarat]

Once they've been treated for mites, you might see an improvement in their health. I would keep with the baytril combo for another while yet. Wait and see what happens after the mite treatment. Good luck.

 

[jorats]

Mamarat is right... having mites can really weaken an immune system.
If you can't get the new meds, then yes please do stick with the baytril. But if they haven't improved, the best you can hope for is that it doesn't progress.
I really pray that your mom will come around and realize these little guys need more.
I can sure understand shutting down and giving up. I remember once a several years ago, this happened to me. My sister took charge and brought my rat to the vet. I just couldn't do it anymore. I had shut down. But seeing my sister helping him and helping me, it revitalized my spirit. (love ya Nic!!)
I really do hope your mom will "wake up"... and see that these babies deserve the very very best.

 

[la_marée_haute]

Thank you both SO much for the support. You won't believe how harshly my anxiety was treating me today regarding this thread. I thought I'd get jumped on. (Which of course would realistically NEVER had happened here... but anxiety makes your thoughts extremely irrational and silly).

Thank you, again. I shall stick it out with the Baytril and hope that things get better with the mum situation.

OH and speaking of, today my mother wasn't able to pick up Revolution for me due to time restraints. She's trying again tomorrow.

I really hope I get to treat them properly soon. I completely detest this spray crap. Lol.

 

[jorats]

The Revolution is so much easier than the spray, in fact, I don't think the spray works too good.

 

[lilspaz68]

You can use the spray carefully if your mom never gets the Revolution. Spray a cloth with it (away from your rats) then wipe it backwards through their fur. I did this the first time I got lice and only the one treatment until I got the Revolution. Saturday night is when I saw them, and my old guys were horribly itchy.

 

[la_marée_haute]

n update:

My mum gave in today. We took them to the vets.

Regarding the...

Mites: They're still itching. But not because of mites! Because of dead skin cells. She looked under the microscope. So the mites WERE there, I'm guessing (what else could of been the little red dots?), but now are gone, thus the skin cells. Anything I could do to help them stop itching, now, or will it pass in time??

URIs: They're chronic. On Baytril for life. The sneezing/noises won't ever stop, apparently.

 

[la_marée_haute]

Can anyone help? Regarding the itching because of dry skin cells? Maybe some olive oil soaked bread?? Another oat meal small animal shampoo bathing? Anything else?

I don't want them to start itching their fur off! So far their skin isn't very inflamed. But just incase it gets worse, I want to know what I can do to sooth.

Thank you.

(Btw, it's MY birthday on the 11th and the ratties get a new cage! Yaaay! I'm very excited. Haha. It's sort of like a Martin's/Ferret Nation all in one. From eBay. But if I'm unable to get that one, I'll find another one. I'm just getting the money *$300 AUS* and nope... nothing else for myself. Lol.)

 

[lilspaz68]

Mite skin scrapings often give False Negative results so my bet is your rats still have them. We tell people to not bother with skin scrapings because of this reason. Mites don't just go away on their own.

If you want to try the olive oil, just give them a bit on a crust of bread once a week, but I would still look into treating for ecto-parasites. Normally dry skin doesn't make them itchy like that, and you would be able to see it clearly, the white skin flaking off.

 

[jorats]

I agree... I'd still do a mite treatment.

 

[LA]

When my girls had mites they did a skin scraping, they didn't find anything. They also told me that the scratches were not mite like, they were elongated. But my vet treated them anyways which was good because the scabs went away very quickly. The elongated scabs were from them scratching.