![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Jan. 3rd, 2006 03:43 pmVincent's been back to the vet and not alone. The diuretic he was given over the NY holiday seemed to help a little and he was a bit brighter but my hopes of a quiet evening vanished when Jeremiah went into a full-blown panic attack. J is an elderly rat and has fairly advanced mycoplasmosis, i.e. his chest is congested and he couldn't breathe very well at all!
Visiting![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
chaosmanor in Royal Perth Hospital helped here because I've seen nurses treat congestion by patting along the back to dislodge the mass. So I did that and basically tried to keep him calm because there's not a damn thing else one can do. He either got through it or he didn't and an emergency vet would've suggested only one thing. This took about 2 hours, with Jeremiah plastered to me eeking, "Help!" and the rest of the rodent population listening in with mild interest.
He snapped back to normal not long after midnight, drank the Baytril-laced soy formula I'd been trying to get into him and decided he'd go home now. Rats are lucky in that when the bad stuff stops, it's over and they forget it.
This morning Jeremiah, Vincent and two of the younger rats who had shown signs of congestion went to the vet, who prescribed Vin heart pills and more diuretic, together with a teeny scalpel so I can cut up the pills. Everybody else got Baytril, with yours truly managing to fast talk the vet into extra supplies. They're not going to make me produce the patients again when I run out.
I'm pretty tired, having sat up with Jeremiah and then got up early to make the vet run. Very glad to have a friend offer to take us in a car. Smuggling four rats who don't get on via the train might not work too well. The vet bill was fairly hefty as well, considering the size of the patients, over $100 but what can you do? I promised them I'd take care of them.
Visiting
chaosmanor in Royal Perth Hospital helped here because I've seen nurses treat congestion by patting along the back to dislodge the mass. So I did that and basically tried to keep him calm because there's not a damn thing else one can do. He either got through it or he didn't and an emergency vet would've suggested only one thing. This took about 2 hours, with Jeremiah plastered to me eeking, "Help!" and the rest of the rodent population listening in with mild interest.He snapped back to normal not long after midnight, drank the Baytril-laced soy formula I'd been trying to get into him and decided he'd go home now. Rats are lucky in that when the bad stuff stops, it's over and they forget it.
This morning Jeremiah, Vincent and two of the younger rats who had shown signs of congestion went to the vet, who prescribed Vin heart pills and more diuretic, together with a teeny scalpel so I can cut up the pills. Everybody else got Baytril, with yours truly managing to fast talk the vet into extra supplies. They're not going to make me produce the patients again when I run out.
I'm pretty tired, having sat up with Jeremiah and then got up early to make the vet run. Very glad to have a friend offer to take us in a car. Smuggling four rats who don't get on via the train might not work too well. The vet bill was fairly hefty as well, considering the size of the patients, over $100 but what can you do? I promised them I'd take care of them.
