RatCreature (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
ratcreature) wrote2013-01-22 01:31 pm
ratcreature) wrote2013-01-22 01:31 pm
Entry tags:
rat health update
The vet was pleased with how Rusty's and Kieran's bumblefoot sores are healing, so I'm now down to putting salve on once a day instead of twice. Rusty's lungs sounded good too, so I can stop giving the decongestant, even though I still hear him make quiet sounds every now and then. So the myco pneumonia seems pushed back for now.
The vet wasn't too worried about Rusty's weight loss, even though he was 550g when they weighed him compared to the 610g a few weeks ago. She said it might just be due to the antibiotics and other meds, and I should just monitor it and watch that he can eat undisturbed (Kieran the glutton sometimes snatches Rusty's food), and bring him back in four weeks for another check. To me it seemed there was something of a bias, that because he weighed a bit too much earlier and thus isn't underweight now, the change wasn't taken as seriously, but otoh I suppose there's not that much you can do about it anyway. (You could perhaps search for tumors or whatever inside, I guess, but you need to anesthetize rats for x-rays to get them to hold still, and that's rather OTT with its own risks unless you are seriously concerned about something.)
She couldn't find any parasites when she took a sample from Oskar's skin with some sticky tape, but did notice just like I did that his skin is very dry and flaky, and of course all the spots where he scratched. She gave him a shot to help with the itching, and blunted the nails on his back feet, to see whether this symptomatic approach would break the cycle of itching leading to scratch wounds that then itch worse, but I'm to bring him back next week for a follow up. If it isn't better then she's going to do a blood test for metabolic illnesses. I actually never had a blood test done on a rat. I wonder how they even get enough of a sample. I mean, their veins must be quite small, no?
Or maybe the winter air is just getting to Oskar, like it happens to some humans with sensitive skin. I did have to trudge through snow coming down to get to the vet too. And then ended up over fifty euro poorer. Sigh.
The vet wasn't too worried about Rusty's weight loss, even though he was 550g when they weighed him compared to the 610g a few weeks ago. She said it might just be due to the antibiotics and other meds, and I should just monitor it and watch that he can eat undisturbed (Kieran the glutton sometimes snatches Rusty's food), and bring him back in four weeks for another check. To me it seemed there was something of a bias, that because he weighed a bit too much earlier and thus isn't underweight now, the change wasn't taken as seriously, but otoh I suppose there's not that much you can do about it anyway. (You could perhaps search for tumors or whatever inside, I guess, but you need to anesthetize rats for x-rays to get them to hold still, and that's rather OTT with its own risks unless you are seriously concerned about something.)
She couldn't find any parasites when she took a sample from Oskar's skin with some sticky tape, but did notice just like I did that his skin is very dry and flaky, and of course all the spots where he scratched. She gave him a shot to help with the itching, and blunted the nails on his back feet, to see whether this symptomatic approach would break the cycle of itching leading to scratch wounds that then itch worse, but I'm to bring him back next week for a follow up. If it isn't better then she's going to do a blood test for metabolic illnesses. I actually never had a blood test done on a rat. I wonder how they even get enough of a sample. I mean, their veins must be quite small, no?
Or maybe the winter air is just getting to Oskar, like it happens to some humans with sensitive skin. I did have to trudge through snow coming down to get to the vet too. And then ended up over fifty euro poorer. Sigh.