RatCreature (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
ratcreature) wrote2006-03-30 09:45 pm
ratcreature) wrote2006-03-30 09:45 pm
Entry tags:
rat health...
Sigh. My rat Dustin is on antibiotics again. He isn't feeling bad or anything, but a while ago he started to make these soft cheeping/squeaking noises sometimes when he breathed, and occasionally he gets this weird hiccup-like thing. Frankly at first it didn't really register as a symptom of anything, because he'd just make these sounds, and then not, and he himself doesn't seem bothered, that is he doesn't change his behavior at all when he starts to make either of these noises, and also eats, sleeps and plays normally. (Obviously if he had trouble breathing or had no appetite or energy I would have brought him to the vet right away.)
But gradually both have become rather frequent, that is he'd have these several times a day this week. So I brought him to see the vet today, who prescribed the antibiotic. The vet also tried whether Dustin would tolerate getting salt water dribbled into his nose (the problem seems to be mostly his upper airways, which I guess is better than if he had trouble with his lungs), but he didn't like that at all, and not even the vet managed it, so I wouldn't have a chance, and that was scrapped. Well, at least Dustin didn't try to bite anyone, just struggled, and squeaked unhappily. Also he seems to be sulking right now.
So the next ten days I'll have the fun to get my rat to take his antibiotics. The symptoms ought to be better by day five, if not I'll have to bring him again, so that something else can be tried. I rather worry about his respiratory problems, because he's still quite young (eight months) and the rats I had previously only had such infection issues when they were older. I mean, perhaps I ought to have brought him to the vet even earlier, but despite a vague "better safe than sorry" approach I have to vet visits, I would have also felt kind of weird to have my rat examined for the first unusual sound right away, when he doesn't seem ill. That's possibly issues from my own avoidance of doctor visits, which I shouldn't let influence the health care for my pets, but well, it's not like he appreciates doctors either.
The inevitable guilt and worry that comes along with keeping a pet, I guess, at least if it's one with a somewhat delicate constitution. And really, you wouldn't think that of rats if you don't have some, but I'm firmly convinced by now that either they solely survive vermin conditions in the wild because they procreate quickly, and a lot--what with their issues of being easily affected by drafts, prone to allergies, infections, and what have you, though there may be hardy exceptions--or that having lab ancestors for two hundred generations or so must have thoroughly ruined their robustness.
But gradually both have become rather frequent, that is he'd have these several times a day this week. So I brought him to see the vet today, who prescribed the antibiotic. The vet also tried whether Dustin would tolerate getting salt water dribbled into his nose (the problem seems to be mostly his upper airways, which I guess is better than if he had trouble with his lungs), but he didn't like that at all, and not even the vet managed it, so I wouldn't have a chance, and that was scrapped. Well, at least Dustin didn't try to bite anyone, just struggled, and squeaked unhappily. Also he seems to be sulking right now.
So the next ten days I'll have the fun to get my rat to take his antibiotics. The symptoms ought to be better by day five, if not I'll have to bring him again, so that something else can be tried. I rather worry about his respiratory problems, because he's still quite young (eight months) and the rats I had previously only had such infection issues when they were older. I mean, perhaps I ought to have brought him to the vet even earlier, but despite a vague "better safe than sorry" approach I have to vet visits, I would have also felt kind of weird to have my rat examined for the first unusual sound right away, when he doesn't seem ill. That's possibly issues from my own avoidance of doctor visits, which I shouldn't let influence the health care for my pets, but well, it's not like he appreciates doctors either.
The inevitable guilt and worry that comes along with keeping a pet, I guess, at least if it's one with a somewhat delicate constitution. And really, you wouldn't think that of rats if you don't have some, but I'm firmly convinced by now that either they solely survive vermin conditions in the wild because they procreate quickly, and a lot--what with their issues of being easily affected by drafts, prone to allergies, infections, and what have you, though there may be hardy exceptions--or that having lab ancestors for two hundred generations or so must have thoroughly ruined their robustness.