Good news first:
-It's been 10 days since we saw the lump, and it hasn't gotten bigger or changed much. In fact, it may have gotten smaller. Hasn't popped or anything like that, but it honestly looks like a zit- without a bright white head, so I'm not very worried. It is on top of her skin, so I seriously doubt it is a tumor or anything serious.
-No more mites or scabs/itching since the treatment of invermectin on all of them, next dose in 4 days and then we are done.
(The vet actually told me that it may be the PT pressure on her skull giving her discomfort, thus causing itching, but I guess not. Her fur is still a bit crappy in that area, but it looks, eh, all right over all)
- No new PT symptoms, not really at all. She is different than when she was, obviously, but overall I think she is doing OK considering she's aging, has a respiratory infection, and we found out about the PT on Nov. 5th.
- Cataract in one eye still there, but the eye is looking fine overall, and her second eye is just fine- I shine a light on it and it doesn't seem that anything is forming in it(in the health eye).
-Although she doesn't go crazy for it anymore, she still most likely eats the most out of all 3.
Bad News:
- She just isn't my little girl anymore.
She has slowed down a bit, doesn't come running out as much. she still does, but doesn't go as crazy as before, for example it's harder to catch her outside of the cage. Her fur isn't as soft and is thinner on the back of her neck.
- I think the respiratory infection isn't clearing up very well. It's been 10 days on baytril and doxycycline, 0.2ml of baytril twice a day, 0.1ml of doxy twice a day. No more porphyrin around her nose, but today I heard a whistle.
- She is refusing her bromo extremely. She likes the baytril and the pred, she takes those, she doesn't like the doxy but it is a small amount so I get that in her. The bromo is 0.5ml, and it is IMPOSSIBLE to get it in her. Firstly, almost all of it gets out. Secondly, if it doesn't, she will hold it in her mouth and spit it out- or she will run her whole face across me or the cage the second I put her down, rubbing it off. I've tried:
a) yogurt
b) almond milk
c) extremely sweet and yummy french vanilla coffee creamer, super expensive christmas edition
d) smushed banana(ate some of this, but not all)
e) a small amount of gassed-out coke(I was getting extremely desperate)
f) peach, mango, and banana baby food
I still have sweet potato baby food to try, and then I will try a fruit smoothie mixed with it. If i use too large of an amount, she won't eat it all herself. If i use a too small amount, she will be able to taste the bromo and reject it. i think she can just "tell" and refuses to eat it. I tried to dip a puff that she likes in the med-laced baby food. She ate hte half without the meds....
I will try giving her these foods in the cage a bunch of times without the medss, so that when I do put them in, maybe she won't notice much.
I'm even scared that when I force feed these meds into her, I make her breathe the fluid in and hurt her lungs....