Lilspaz Rescue and Hospice - CLOSED and under QT 03/12

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Sigh...called the clinic today to make sure everything was good to go for Wed. They told me that we have to reschedule for next Tuesday the 23rd :( Dr Munn won't be back in time, should be back on 18th but wanted to make sure there was time to contact the Lab, etc before the blood draw. I guess this is a good thing, but more waiting again :undecided:
 
Leave it to the Rat Shack airhead to completely miss what has to be one of the most critical threads.

I would have had heart failure in your position, Shelagh!!! Fortunately, StaceyM's hysterical, and fully logical, statement is right on the ball.

It takes a level head and an intact sense of inner calm to successfully work your way through such a nightmare, and Shelagh is one of those fully capable of pulling it off (with the glorious support of her friends and confidants!)

Thank God you were able to pull the majority of your babies through! Epidemics are a nasty thing and it would have been tragic if it had claimed more little lives than it did.

I am so happy to read that they are pulling through. :love6: :bunnydance: :rose: :hugs:
 
It just occurred to me that maybe the local OSPCA's and or Animal Shelters need to know about this as well. I'm not sure what type of reaction we would get. I was going to go into ours but I am not sure whether I should go in now or wait until Shelagh gets info on what it is.
 
lilspaz68 said:
Sigh...called the clinic today to make sure everything was good to go for Wed. They told me that we have to reschedule for next Tuesday the 23rd :( Dr Munn won't be back in time, should be back on 18th but wanted to make sure there was time to contact the Lab, etc before the blood draw. I guess this is a good thing, but more waiting again :undecided:
Click to expand...

Hmmmm.... i too have an appointment that day. Just wondering if we should be keeping that three hour window for safety reasons? The new boys and I are scheduled for 3:30pm that day. Let me know your thoughts...

dl
:heart:
 
skinnyhippiechick said:
lilspaz68 said:
Sigh...called the clinic today to make sure everything was good to go for Wed. They told me that we have to reschedule for next Tuesday the 23rd :( Dr Munn won't be back in time, should be back on 18th but wanted to make sure there was time to contact the Lab, etc before the blood draw. I guess this is a good thing, but more waiting again :undecided:
Click to expand...

Hmmmm.... i too have an appointment that day. Just wondering if we should be keeping that three hour window for safety reasons? The new boys and I are scheduled for 3:30pm that day. Let me know your thoughts...

dl
:heart:
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All my rats will be non-contagious at that point. They shed the virus 2 weeks after exposure and if I use the median of Feb 20th of the last infection (although it takes a week from exposure for the symptoms to show on average)...it will have been almost a month. Your babies will be safe.
 
I spoke to my clinic yesterday (one of the tech's who had gotten the info from Dr. Munn). Supposedly Sendai is here :shock: ...that they have had flareups every few years and that they have had quite a few positive test results with a few different clinics (Dr. Munn's and Amherst as well). I told the tech that Chelle had had blood drawn and samples sent to RADIL over a week ago, so the plan now is to wait and see what her results are. If they are positive for Sendai (she had 2 separate rats done), then there's no point testing mine. If there's no positives, then I shall probably do the testing myself on the more comprehensive basis.

I still think its good to know that it is here, but the fact that other vets aren't aware of this, scares me. Hopefully we can educate them on this now along with ratowners.
 
Randomrat said:
That's scary. You'd think we'd have heard about this before from someone. :/
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I would assume that it mostly hit rat owners with just a few rats, or people who don't "do vet" or vets who were unaware and treated it like regular pneumonia. Hitting my large colony, gave me a pattern (albeit a scary one) that made it less likely to be written off as "both rats died" or just another unsuspected death. That some people were aware enough to get testing is great but they never reported the results, warned anyone, or even knew to post it on the RMCA Viral Tracking. :( Which is why I am putting it all out there, to educate.
 
lilspaz68 said:
I spoke to my clinic yesterday (one of the tech's who had gotten the info from Dr. Munn). Supposedly Sendai is here :shock: ...that they have had flareups every few years and that they have had quite a few positive test results with a few different clinics (Dr. Munn's and Amherst as well). I told the tech that Chelle had had blood drawn and samples sent to RADIL over a week ago, so the plan now is to wait and see what her results are. If they are positive for Sendai (she had 2 separate rats done), then there's no point testing mine. If there's no positives, then I shall probably do the testing myself on the more comprehensive basis.

I still think its good to know that it is here, but the fact that other vets aren't aware of this, scares me. Hopefully we can educate them on this now along with ratowners.
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I talked to my vet about Sendai last week when I took Monty in and she also said it's been around for quite some time and also that there are a lot of rats that are carriers although they are asymptomatic. I don't know if she meant carriers for life or just for a few months though or if there had been testing for antibodies done.
 
asymptomatic carrier means that the rat will be Infected, just not show the symptoms to warn you somethijng is wrong. These rats also shed the virus at 2 weeks as well...there is no long term carrier state...THANK GOD!

Why haven't our vets let us know??? Why don't more people know? Why does it take over 100 rats to be affected before we finally hear about it. :redhot:
 
Would it be possible to have this info added to the RMCA tracking guide?
according to it there have been no confirmed cases anywhere in Canada.

I agree ... Why aren't vets reporting this and letting their patients know.
Sounds like those of us in Canada need to start assuming that all of the deadly rat diseases are in our areas, just unreported or unrecognized.
 
all the more reason there should be a vaccine for it. its a self-limiting infection. its wide spread and can be carried on rodents that show no symptoms. and it can be absolutely devastating. we were all very lucky this time, shelagh's quick call for her family her not there was an immense amount of luck and angels on shoulders involved. a vaccine SHOULD be available.


though... given how wide spread this has been and how much we haven't heard and how "light" in comparison this virus bout was, i wonder if our rats aren't already developing an immunity to it after a fashion...

still there should be a vaccine and i really don't understand why there isn't
 
You guys aren't even taking into account the fact that we are the MINORITY of rat owners... The ones who take their rats to vets, the ones who even have an inkling what Sendai is. The vast majority of rat owners (whether actively owning like we do or passively such in the case of herp keepers who feed rodents) just aren't like us. We avoid pet stores, most don't. Admit before we "knew better" most of us got our rats from pet stores, where we are now thinking the disease is originating in, or the mills at least. They can't report what they don't know about. They probably pass it off as rats dying. That alone should keep anyone from assuming just because cases aren't reported doesn't mean the disease isn't out there. That goes for more than Sendai.
 
Cait said:
You guys aren't even taking into account the fact that we are the MINORITY of rat owners... The ones who take their rats to vets, the ones who even have an inkling what Sendai is. The vast majority of rat owners (whether actively owning like we do or passively such in the case of herp keepers who feed rodents) just aren't like us. We avoid pet stores, most don't. Admit before we "knew better" most of us got our rats from pet stores, where we are now thinking the disease is originating in, or the mills at least. They can't report what they don't know about. They probably pass it off as rats dying. That alone should keep anyone from assuming just because cases aren't reported doesn't mean the disease isn't out there. That goes for more than Sendai.
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Agreed. Coupled with public perceptions of rodents and their viability as reptile food, it will be a long time until that changes. It wasn't too long ago that people actually started talking about puppy mills (although many people have still not gotten the message and buy their dogs from pet stores) and the authorities started to do something about it. Just take a walk down the small animals section at any pet store and look at how many products (cages, food, toys, bedding) are being marketed for them that are not safe or suitable for them. The only reason these aisles continue to be stocked with these products is that may owners simply don't know, care, or are willing to spend the money on suitable products.

I think it's sad that we have to depend on a site like the RMCA (which is rarely updated from what I can see) to help track outbreaks and not the provincial veterinary associations or the exotic vet association(s). At my old vet's office there would always be tons of pamphlets and posters about rabies, lime disease, FIV, and many other cat and dog afflictions (granted many of these were probably supplied by the drug companies) but never anything pertaining to exotics.
 
Bella of ratguide is part of the viral tracking site...it is updated but people need to know about it and report CONFIRMED viruses. There is even more of a minority who will pay hundreds of dollars to test on a suspicion. :(
 
twitch said:
still there should be a vaccine and i really don't understand why there isn't
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The research community did make a formalin killed sendai vaccine, but they could not get it stable and it had to be given over and over. So they just keep the rats in quarantine.

Vaccines are not always so easy to make.
The scientist can not even make a vaccine for the common cold.

B

PS. Yes, the webmaster adds each report into the viral tracking database when they come in.
 

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