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Personal energy not the greatest right now. I think part of the reason is the humidity and wearing a mask in said humidity. Also I'm having to use a wheeled trolley to haul home the groceries and while my doctor might be thrilled about my extra exercise, me not so much. I am going to have to invest in a new e-bike Real Soon Now. With a very low percentage of stolen bikes recovered, I'm honestly not holding out much hope. It's like 2.4 per cent, probably ones that are stolen for joyrides and then dumped.
One of my rats is quite ill and that's hugely frustrating because of the difficulty getting him to eat and/or take his medication. He's on a third antibiotic to see if it will help and it's very bitter; all rats hate it and once they know it's there, they will not take that dose! I've had to put it down by force, which takes an amazing amount of effort considering that one of us weighs less than 500 grams. Personal injury is also a factor. This rat, a black eyed white rat named Ragnar, is not a people rat at the best of times. This is not one of those times.
I sought advice from the Perth Rat Rescue forum on FB and today brought home whatever of their suggestions I could find. I knew some already but infant soy formula, my go to, proved insufficient to mask evil drug. He'll eat the chocolate custard because of course, but that has dairy and cannot be combined with the antibiotics. It does help to get him to eat, though. I have the go ahead from the vet to try anything that will go down! So we have various baby food, baby custard with coconut (dairy free) and said chocolate custard, which is not a baby food because they had none specially for babies. What is this? Do they expect the poor kids to just eat healthy? I was also meant to get an avocado, which I forgot - rats love it - but that is next. Also wet cat food.
One reason I'm glad we don't remember being babies is being able to forget toilet training, but I think the food would be a close second. Some of those combos make me want to gag.
Ragnar is under good vet care, I know that, but it is so expensive. If I go to the doctor, I will pay around $80 but get approx half that back under Medicare. With vet treatment, there's no such kickback and that's before they even prescribe anything. But he'll get what he needs. Thank gods I've got a ride for some of the visits and can now use Uber rather than taxis. That smartphone has proved useful. Uber costs about $10 less than a taxi for the same distance.
It's getting on for evening so I will soon prep some of the baby porridge for Ragnar (apple and cinnamon) with a bit of the chocolate custard added for flavour. Rats see no problem with this. Wish me luck. I'll be responding to messages once I have my brain back. At the moment I'm concentrating on solving the problem of Ragnar's lack of appetite.
One of my rats is quite ill and that's hugely frustrating because of the difficulty getting him to eat and/or take his medication. He's on a third antibiotic to see if it will help and it's very bitter; all rats hate it and once they know it's there, they will not take that dose! I've had to put it down by force, which takes an amazing amount of effort considering that one of us weighs less than 500 grams. Personal injury is also a factor. This rat, a black eyed white rat named Ragnar, is not a people rat at the best of times. This is not one of those times.
I sought advice from the Perth Rat Rescue forum on FB and today brought home whatever of their suggestions I could find. I knew some already but infant soy formula, my go to, proved insufficient to mask evil drug. He'll eat the chocolate custard because of course, but that has dairy and cannot be combined with the antibiotics. It does help to get him to eat, though. I have the go ahead from the vet to try anything that will go down! So we have various baby food, baby custard with coconut (dairy free) and said chocolate custard, which is not a baby food because they had none specially for babies. What is this? Do they expect the poor kids to just eat healthy? I was also meant to get an avocado, which I forgot - rats love it - but that is next. Also wet cat food.
One reason I'm glad we don't remember being babies is being able to forget toilet training, but I think the food would be a close second. Some of those combos make me want to gag.
Ragnar is under good vet care, I know that, but it is so expensive. If I go to the doctor, I will pay around $80 but get approx half that back under Medicare. With vet treatment, there's no such kickback and that's before they even prescribe anything. But he'll get what he needs. Thank gods I've got a ride for some of the visits and can now use Uber rather than taxis. That smartphone has proved useful. Uber costs about $10 less than a taxi for the same distance.
It's getting on for evening so I will soon prep some of the baby porridge for Ragnar (apple and cinnamon) with a bit of the chocolate custard added for flavour. Rats see no problem with this. Wish me luck. I'll be responding to messages once I have my brain back. At the moment I'm concentrating on solving the problem of Ragnar's lack of appetite.