Well, brought the ratties in for the visit. Of course, ALL went for the visit, but only Uno, Nova, and Nixon got an exam (though Morrison got TONS of loving).
We started with Nixon - her poor skin! She has been on SMZ and Ivomec for 5-6 weeks and she is STILL scabby and missing fur. Skin scrapings showed HALF (yes, HALF) a mite, so we are continuing with the Ivomec. She thinks that perhaps because her immune system is so suppressed (she is an overall sickly older rat, almost 2 yo), she has secondary infections raging. we are trying doxy for right now, and if it doesnt respond, we are going to treat with an antifungal. her chart reads: "nova is a very sweet little rat!" HOWEVER, nixon does have a small mammary tumor growing (only slightly larger than a pea) -- at this point she needs to be overall healthier before i want ot put her under though!
uno was next -- she had intermittent bouts of labored breathing and gasping attacks, and also had a bite on her face near her eye (well, lack of an eye - near her socket) -- the bite/wound had closed up and she just had a slight discharge left. She was put on doxy too, to help deal with any infection from the wound, as well as her respiratory bouts. We also put her back on aminophylline, to bronchodilate. She is not on "heavy duty" meds yet because we dont want to use them all,and you cant use baytril with aminophylline anyway! uno's discharge orders read "uno has a great personality! it was a pleasure to meet her!"
nova, the problem child, was next. after a VERY throrough exam, the chance still exists that she is in the beginning stages of a pituitary tumor, but if so, its early (no head tilt yet). because she lifts her front paw up, she checked to see if there was any pain, and lo and behold, she did find some in the shoulder. of course, definitive diagnosis would involve xrays, so for now we will just treat this and recheck, since we dont want to put her under like this. her respiratory bouts were also worrisome, since she has very labored breathing. we are putting her on doxy too (no baytril since she is also on aminophylline as well), as well as meloxicam, a non-steroidal antiinflammatory. we are going to monitor to see if the respiratory problems get worse, or her lameness, and if so, we are changing meds. her discharge orders "nova was a great little patient today!"
overall, i am happy. the girls were well behaved, a bunch of techs and drs came to see them, dr mateleska cuddled with them, and then we pulled out the MONSTER....morrison.
morrison currently weighs in at OVER 650 g!!!! that is just about a pound and a half!!!! but even she said, hes NOT fat! he was very cuddly, until the docs tried to get the girls from the cage -- he kept grabbing their hands and pushing them out!!!! but EVERYONE loved him!
so this is the treatment so far for them - i will recheck with her in a few days to see how everyone is doing, and then if not, we change meds.
but the BEST part was, when i was talking to the doc, we were discussing my rats and the rescue - and she goes, oh, you are THAT kim? i said yes -- turns out, she is recommending my rescue (the website!) to her coworkers and i think her clients!!! how great is that??? i am going to be sending out some brochures to her to hand out, i think
