Ratablog

Vet updates

I took Misto and Leather in today for rechecks (and is it a bad sign if you don't need to identify yourself when you phone the vet?). Misto is backsliding a little from how he sounded before I went away, so we are putting him back on the azithromycin. We didn't do any more x-rays today, but if he doesn't sound better after another two weeks, we might try another chest tap...since we can't tell if his improvement last time was the Zithromax, the chest tap, or the combination. I'm most concerned that he's lost about 90 grams over the last month or so. I have been seeing him eat, but I guess it isn't as much, so I'll be bumping him up to higher calorie, higher protein food.

Leather's broken leg is, in the words of Dr. F, "healing the way it wants to heal"...stuck out at a funny angle. She has a scab that had us worried (it felt like the bone was protruding), but it is just a callus. One thing she has not been doing is keeping still...I have caught her literally climbing the walls. The vet has given us the ok to cautiously let her back with Oliver (as long as he isn't rough with her, and doesn't seem to be wanting to groom off her scab). Only trouble with that is knocking Oliver's accomodation back to the one-level old rat cage, but I think he'd rather be with his girl that climb ramps...he seems really depressed by himself. I'll keep a close eye on them for awhile to be sure, though.

Kanga will be going in on Saturday to check on her eye. She is still on the drops, and the swelling varies from almost nothing to a moderate bulge. We are also going to get the doctor's opinion on removing the lump on her chest. It first appeared when her eye was really bad, so we held off while waiting to see if she was going to need the eye removal surgery. For the most part the lump stayed the size of a grape, but in the last two weeks it's been growing again.

As I mentioned before, Ohana's lump has started growing faster, and she's also losing weight...except for the @#$% lump (actually I think I feel two separate tumors), she's getting bony. She's still pretty active and has a great appetite, though.

Poor guys. I have been doling out lots of chocolate and carrot cake.

Lest anyone think it's all stress here: Roo, Zoe, Neiko, Arthur, Rabskuttle, Jim, Jack, and George are all in great shape, although I think they resent the fact that they get much smaller pieces of cake.

Thanks again for the good wishes. We really appreciate it!

Posted by Abita at August 10, 2005 05:10 PM