Happi Wolf
Well-Known Member
Hi everyone! :wave:
Wow, it's been a long time since I posted on this forum. I believe the last time I was active was in 2009. I have two new rescues right now; Opal is a burmese and Madeline is a siamese. I was looking for a female to bond to my 1 year old girl who lost her cagemate a few months ago. They are 4 months old. I got them for $5 from a lady I found on craigslist. They are both super sweet and I'm so glad I stumbled across them.
I wish the story stopped there, but that is just the beginning.
The lady said her apartment was being fumigated and she needed them gone that day. She had a lot of rats and they were outside in cages which she claimed was temporary. She told me Opal was being picked on and had chewed up ears. I saw a picture and it seemed to be the case. I agreed to take her because I have a soft spot for special needs animals. Then she mentioned Opal is very bonded to Madeline and I could have her for free :sad-p: So I had to take her as well of course.
I noticed pretty much immediately when I got home that Opal's ears are not from being chewed on. They have crusty mounds on the outer edge but not rips or tears. I looked online and it seemed to be caused by a certain kind of mite. With her ears as bad as they were and painful I decided I would take her to an exotic vet instead of trying to treat it on my own.
Here is a picture of her poor ears:
Fast forward to today, the girls were seen by a vet. Little did I know that Madeline is in the worst shape. She is thin (quite a bit more than Opal). During examination she pooped on the vet who became concerned due to how runny it was and went to look at it under a microscope. She came back and said Madeline has "the most Giardia I've ever seen." :sad3: That explains her poor condition. She also has a bit of the crustiness starting on one of her ears. Poor Opal doesn't just have mites apparently. The vet believes the state of her ears are a combination of mites, flystrike and infection. She likely has giardia as well.
To be honest, I didn't even know rats could get giardia! You never hear about it. So after $230 I now have a pharmacy of medications for them. Here is what has been prescribed:
*Revolution - for the mites
*Flagyl - for the giardia
*Clavamox - for skin infection
*Benebac - probiotic for the giardia and flagyl treatment
*Silvadene - for Opal's very sore ears
I'm going to send the previous owner a text and tell her the condition they are in. I really hate confrontations but I feel it needs to be done. Other people have taken her rats and they are probably completely oblivious to the fact their new ratties likely have giardia and mites. It's pretty sad because apparently this lady used to breed and show rats. I wonder what changed? Now they are in such poor condition.
Wow, it's been a long time since I posted on this forum. I believe the last time I was active was in 2009. I have two new rescues right now; Opal is a burmese and Madeline is a siamese. I was looking for a female to bond to my 1 year old girl who lost her cagemate a few months ago. They are 4 months old. I got them for $5 from a lady I found on craigslist. They are both super sweet and I'm so glad I stumbled across them.
I wish the story stopped there, but that is just the beginning.
The lady said her apartment was being fumigated and she needed them gone that day. She had a lot of rats and they were outside in cages which she claimed was temporary. She told me Opal was being picked on and had chewed up ears. I saw a picture and it seemed to be the case. I agreed to take her because I have a soft spot for special needs animals. Then she mentioned Opal is very bonded to Madeline and I could have her for free :sad-p: So I had to take her as well of course.
I noticed pretty much immediately when I got home that Opal's ears are not from being chewed on. They have crusty mounds on the outer edge but not rips or tears. I looked online and it seemed to be caused by a certain kind of mite. With her ears as bad as they were and painful I decided I would take her to an exotic vet instead of trying to treat it on my own.
Here is a picture of her poor ears:
Fast forward to today, the girls were seen by a vet. Little did I know that Madeline is in the worst shape. She is thin (quite a bit more than Opal). During examination she pooped on the vet who became concerned due to how runny it was and went to look at it under a microscope. She came back and said Madeline has "the most Giardia I've ever seen." :sad3: That explains her poor condition. She also has a bit of the crustiness starting on one of her ears. Poor Opal doesn't just have mites apparently. The vet believes the state of her ears are a combination of mites, flystrike and infection. She likely has giardia as well.
To be honest, I didn't even know rats could get giardia! You never hear about it. So after $230 I now have a pharmacy of medications for them. Here is what has been prescribed:
*Revolution - for the mites
*Flagyl - for the giardia
*Clavamox - for skin infection
*Benebac - probiotic for the giardia and flagyl treatment
*Silvadene - for Opal's very sore ears
I'm going to send the previous owner a text and tell her the condition they are in. I really hate confrontations but I feel it needs to be done. Other people have taken her rats and they are probably completely oblivious to the fact their new ratties likely have giardia and mites. It's pretty sad because apparently this lady used to breed and show rats. I wonder what changed? Now they are in such poor condition.