RatCreature (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
ratcreature) wrote2008-12-15 07:55 am
ratcreature) wrote2008-12-15 07:55 am
Entry tags:
more rat worries
All day yesterday my rat Krümel, the one with the broken foot, made horrible noises, because he somehow couldn't breathe right. It was some kind of gasping/choking noise, though he did get enough air to not suffocate at least even though he gasped through his mouth. He had incidents like that before the whole foot debacle (I think I mentioned those here too) and I had brought him to the vet for that back then, who couldn't find anything in his lungs and the antibiotics didn't do much, but those episodes never lasted this long, and then mostly stopped, so I could never show one to the vet.
Yesterday his trouble was constant which was hard to listen for (also he didn't even eat, I suppose because he couldn't manage that and still breathe), and unfortunately I missed the morning emergency hour my vet has on Sundays. Obviously I then decided to bring him to the vet this morning, however, when I woke up a while ago, the noises had just stopped. At first I had thought he died because I couldn't hear gasping from the cage anymore, but thankfully he hasn't. And don't get me wrong, I'm glad that he doesn't make this horrible noise right now, and can maybe eat and drink and recover, but if I bring him to the vet right now, the symptom isn't there just like before. I thought that at least this time I could show them, rather than futilely trying to describe it. I always feel like the weird pet owners version of Munchhausen-by-proxy when I describe horrible symptoms that suddenly have disappeared as soon as I bring my rat to the vet.
Of course he still needs a vet, but I needed to bring him anyway this week to have his foot checked at the four weeks mark. So now I'm not sure whether I still should rush to the vet right away this morning, even though the problem doesn't show right now, or whether I should let him be for now, and see whether he'll eat something at least now that there seems to be a respite on the breathing front. I mean, I know he still made that horrible sound around five (my sleep wasn't very restful, because I kept listening for him), but nothing currently (though obviously it could start again any moment).
Yesterday his trouble was constant which was hard to listen for (also he didn't even eat, I suppose because he couldn't manage that and still breathe), and unfortunately I missed the morning emergency hour my vet has on Sundays. Obviously I then decided to bring him to the vet this morning, however, when I woke up a while ago, the noises had just stopped. At first I had thought he died because I couldn't hear gasping from the cage anymore, but thankfully he hasn't. And don't get me wrong, I'm glad that he doesn't make this horrible noise right now, and can maybe eat and drink and recover, but if I bring him to the vet right now, the symptom isn't there just like before. I thought that at least this time I could show them, rather than futilely trying to describe it. I always feel like the weird pet owners version of Munchhausen-by-proxy when I describe horrible symptoms that suddenly have disappeared as soon as I bring my rat to the vet.
Of course he still needs a vet, but I needed to bring him anyway this week to have his foot checked at the four weeks mark. So now I'm not sure whether I still should rush to the vet right away this morning, even though the problem doesn't show right now, or whether I should let him be for now, and see whether he'll eat something at least now that there seems to be a respite on the breathing front. I mean, I know he still made that horrible sound around five (my sleep wasn't very restful, because I kept listening for him), but nothing currently (though obviously it could start again any moment).