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My elderly rat Emil (now two and a half) who had a remarkably robust health until now, has started to develop the usual awful breathing problems of older rats. He's now on the second antibiotic, after the first did nothing, and we've been playing out a daily drama with me trying to get the disgusting stuff into him.
The first antibiotic was at least only a small amount (0.2ml) but with the second I have to give 1ml. Supposedly this one is designed to be given orally to pets and tastes okay, but it smells disgusting. I have never given this before, and I got a drop on my t-shirt that Emil spit out in his struggling, and the mere smell is horrible. Sort of like a fake not-vanilla, only chalkier. It's really hard to describe. As this is a rat who notices fruit starting to go off way before me, it's not wonder he's resisting. Yesterday the vet got it into him, but that was with two people, i.e. the assistant immobilized Emil, and the vet squeezed the antibiotic into his mouth. Living alone I don't have that advantage, and Emil is also much less intimidated with me. On the bright side he didn't pee on me like he did with the vet's assistant either, so in that sense less terror is good.
Still, I got a reasonable amount of the stuff into his mouth and held him upright a bit afterwards so he had to swallow instead of being able to spit it out or wipe it off, and I hope it'll be enough, and that it works.
The first antibiotic was at least only a small amount (0.2ml) but with the second I have to give 1ml. Supposedly this one is designed to be given orally to pets and tastes okay, but it smells disgusting. I have never given this before, and I got a drop on my t-shirt that Emil spit out in his struggling, and the mere smell is horrible. Sort of like a fake not-vanilla, only chalkier. It's really hard to describe. As this is a rat who notices fruit starting to go off way before me, it's not wonder he's resisting. Yesterday the vet got it into him, but that was with two people, i.e. the assistant immobilized Emil, and the vet squeezed the antibiotic into his mouth. Living alone I don't have that advantage, and Emil is also much less intimidated with me. On the bright side he didn't pee on me like he did with the vet's assistant either, so in that sense less terror is good.
Still, I got a reasonable amount of the stuff into his mouth and held him upright a bit afterwards so he had to swallow instead of being able to spit it out or wipe it off, and I hope it'll be enough, and that it works.