Stuck in a rut- Update: Guess whose back home!!!!

Fins us on Amazon
Advertise with us
Shop with us on Ebay
The Rat Shack Forum

Help Support The Rat Shack Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Aida

Aida

Well-Known Member
Joined
Nov 26, 2011
Messages
2,323
Location
Florida
So my new baby rat is sick. She's been a little sneezy and 'hiccupy' since I got here, but I decided to wait and see how it went. Today, she has red discharge around her nose and her snout looks a little swollen. Other than that, she's active, eating, drinking, etc. I just noticed it and I gave her a small dose of baytril, as that is the only thing I have on hand(that, and doxycyciline). She still isn't through with the 14-day guarantee she came with from pets mart, and that means that if she gets sick they can:
A) Take her and refund her for me
B) Take her and give me a different rat
C) Take her, I'm guessing treat her, and call me once she's healthy to come pick her up

So I can do one of those(obviously C), or I can take her to the vet myself. I'm completely out of money to take her to the vet myself, so my mom would have to pay for her. And me and my mom haven't been so great in our relationship lately, and she would be extremely pissed.
I know what we all think of PetsMart, but the one I got her from actually takes good care of their animals. Should I go with option C? Because other than that, all I can do is split Matilda's left over baytril/doxy. between Matilda and her. :sad3: :sad3: :sad3: :sad3: :sad3:
 
If the Petsmart you bought her at has a Bansfield, then the store should be able to let you return her, and call you after she's been treated. But if what she is having are new home sneezes/hiccups, then a) they'd eventually go away on their own, and b) turning her over to Banfield and then back to you would be stressful and not helpful.

How many days has she been home with you now? New homes sneezes can last a bit.
 
temblabamomo said:
If the Petsmart you bought her at has a Bansfield, then the store should be able to let you return her, and call you after she's been treated. But if what she is having are new home sneezes/hiccups, then a) they'd eventually go away on their own, and b) turning her over to Banfield and then back to you would be stressful and not helpful.

How many days has she been home with you now? New homes sneezes can last a bit.
Click to expand...
She's been with me from the 13th of december, so almost 10 days. In 4 days, the guarantee will end.

It's not getting better, though. Well, maybe it has a tiny bit. But today I saw red discharge, and I never saw that before! :cry4: ((trying not to panic- don't panic!!!))
She wiped it off I guess, because I can't see it anymore.
 
I guess she wiped it, because it her nose was clean, but there's like two more tiny drops now. It was clearly a very dark red color, around her snout. And her snout even looked a bit swollen. (not neck, though.... I think)

Also, it looks as though her mouth is slightly open. Is this normal? She isn't gasping for air or anything.
I think her teeth are fine- I just shoved a syringe in there to give her baytril, and they looked OK. I'll try opening her mouth completly to get a good look. How do you guys do this? She's a young girl, and new. So she's all squirmy and stuff, but not that scared. Should I just have my friend hold her, and I'll shove my fingers in and pry it open?
 
I personally would take her to a vet that I was comfortable with and is rat knowledgeable. Taking her back to the store is also risky because she would be in the same airspace as other rats so you would have to do another full quarantine before you could bring her back home.
 
If you feel she isn't well enough to be left and you can't afford to see your vet, I would think the only option would be to return her to the store for treatment. If your anything like me, you wouldn't be able to return her for good but there is nothing wrong with bringing her back to see a vet. Good luck.
 
smilezandhugs- I know, but I spent all my personal money on my past two rats, and I didn't have enough time to save up. Of course, if anything was horridly wrong, my mom will take them and pay. But a stupid ,visit at my vet's is expensive as heck, and she'll just get ticked off at me and argue with her husband. If there was an option of getting her treated for free, I'd choose that. I just don't know how risque it is.

Maple- Yeah, there is no way I'm leaving her at the store!
 
Oh god. Now Matilda has a tiny bit of red discharge on her. It almost looks like it came out of where her whiskers grow. Looks like it's Petsmart vet for new rattie, and my normal vet for Matilda.

Could someone help me out and direct me as to what I should do? Both rats are active, eating, drinking, and normal stools. The new rat has some sneezing and sniffles that I put off as new home sneeze, and Matilda is being treated(I stretched it longer) for an upper respiratory infection. She gets doxy. and baytril twice a day. She only had sneezing and sniffles, witch went away, but then came back. This morning I noticed that the new rat has some red discharge so I gave her a dose of baytril, and another one an hour or so ago. Now, I noticed that so does Matilda. I'm terrified that it's some type of deadly virus. I just ran out of doxy., and I can't get to the vet as tomorrow is christmas eve, the day after is christmas, and the day after that it's sunday. I may be able to get the new rat to the petsmart, but Matilda is going to have to wait. Should I feed any of those special foods you guys give them when your rats get sick?(I think I read about ensure, and... uh) I really don't know what to do. It doesn't look horrible now- the discharge is very little, and both rats aren't like in the bad stage of disease. What should I do to keep it at bay until I can get to the vet?
 
Don't worry yourself too much. I wouldn't panic if it's just a bit of porphyrin.
Is the new girl making any respy noises or is it just sneezing?
 
Don't panic. You'll stress your girls even more as they can feel your energy. Often times you see porphyrin when they wake up like we get "sleep" in our eyes. If both are acting normal just keep an eye on them. Ensure and baby cereal can be given but only if they're not eating their proper food. Good luck with your sweeties.
 
Can you get a pic of the discharge? Also I would advise you not give baytril to the girl that it wasn't prescribed for unless you are 100% sure she needs it and sure that you have enough for both rats.
 
Rachel/mamarat- Thanks guys, I think I was just freaking out. They are acting fine except for that, and I only saw a tad bit. They are both still eating normal, but I have ensure in my fridge just in case. The new one is sneezing, and I think I heard a tiny bit of noise, but it sounded like her sniffing. I'll hear it once, then I won't for a while, so it's hard to hear it very well.

smilez_n_hugs- I'll try, when I see it again. I only gave it to her twice yesterday because I panicked. I guess I won't today, and just wait and see what happens.


Should I bring the new one back to petsmart? Just to make sure?
 
I think I'll just wait it out and see. If it gets worse and I can't talk my mom into taking both to our vet, I'll have the people at petsmart heal her. Better than nothing, I guess. Though I am a little worried about how she will be treated there. o.e
 
Well, I decided to take the new rat back to Petsmart. Yesterday they told me I cannot return her and get her back without a receipt, witch is BS, because I had the contract with all the info on it. :gaah:
Anyways, instead of arguing, I told them I'll look for it and come back tomorow. So I went back today(didn't find it), and wanted to speak to the manager. But some different associate was there this time, and there was no reciept issue with her. So I left her(the rat) there, and now I'm worried that I made a terrible mistake. What if they don't treat her and just tell me she died, and offer to give me some other rat?! :sad3:
The contract said that they can treat her with a vet., and call me to repurchase her once she is healed.
The process goes like this;
I bring back the rat, they refund it, and I repurchase it. So we did that, and they refunded and I repurchased her today(I have the reciept this time, lol), so no one got any money, in the end.
(They give me 13$ back, and I give them those 13$ since I want her back) Does this mean that, by law, they have to treat/give her back to me? Or does it mean that they can give me any old rat? God, I'm worried now. I miss her already. :cry4:

The associate said that it depends on how long it takes for the meds to work, etc. before I get her back. I do believe it was an upper respiratory, but it wasn't very bad(sneezy and slightly wheezy/sniffly), so I hope that's soon.


What do you guys think? Did I completely @^$&!! up?
 
I personally would not put my rats care in a petstores hands. If they have new ones coming in ti could be worse if she catches something else.
 
hopefloats said:
I personally would not put my rats care in a petstores hands. If they have new ones coming in ti could be worse if she catches something else.
Click to expand...
Well, she's kept in her own cage, from what I saw.
 
It's still the same airspace though. I don't think they'll let you take her back now though. My first two were sick from the petstore, I opted to pay to treat myself as I had those same worries. I have heard of other people that did so and got their rats back though.
 
Dazzle87 said:
It's still the same airspace though. I don't think they'll let you take her back now though. My first two were sick from the petstore, I opted to pay to treat myself as I had those same worries. I have heard of other people that did so and got their rats back though.
Click to expand...
Why wouldn't they? :sad3:
I spoke in private messages with someone on here who did this and it worked out fine, so that kind of made me feel better...


Also, I've payed for her already. And my contract says I can get her back after treatment. Wouldn't they be breaking the law?

Edited to add the second question
 

Latest posts

Back
Top