Poor Hermes - RIP My Love

[lilspaz68]

Hermes is one of Zeus's 3 surviving sons with me. They are all 25 months old now and aging fast. They all have respiratory issues like their dear old dad. The other 2 have crackly lungs but nothing too heart wrenching whereas Hermes (the sweet one who lives with Tyr) is really really worrying me. His lungs have gotten so much worse, but there's no crackling, just no sounds. There is a lot of weight loss, cool extremities, and he rocks while he breathes. He has recently begun panicking. He panics when I put him back in his cage no matter how he's feeling. Yesterday he was soo rough I gave him an injection of dexamethasone but it did very very little., I then decided to try out the new oxygen concentrator and he panicked sooo badly inside the carrier (even without the oxy but I put it on anyways...(its very quiet) but he went ballistic, and I had to let him out. I tried him in my lap with the tube blowing at his nose, but he was not happy by then and only stayed still for awhile. I did notice that even with the small amount of oxygen he got that his breathing improved a lot once he became calm again. I m thinking of getting a big bottle of pop, and cutting the bottle in half so I can use it as a large mask instead while I hold him in my lap.

Today I have decided I am going to test for CHF just in case...and he just got his first dose of lasix.

 

[mamarat]

Poor baby.

 

[RKEM]

:cry: Poor little guy

 

[Dahlas]

poor guy

 

[EDK]

I know rats can live longer depending on the lifestyle, but sometimes they just age a little earlier then others I feel so bad for him, and you're doing all you can, but should the worse happen, at least you know you did everything you could. But i really really hope he's able to pull through.

 

[hopefloats]

I hope it helps him!

 

[M0onkist]

Poor baby... thinking of him. Sweet boy too!

 

[Godmother]

Poor sweet man. I hope that the lasix gives him some relief.

 

[Joanne]

How sad - I hate when they panic and can't breathe. I hope he gets some relief soon.

 

[lilspaz68]

I will have him out after Momma and her girls run off some steam, but he seemed more alert already. I'll let you know since that is when I really see it.

 

[lilspaz68]

The lasix warmed up his feet a little, but didn't improve his breathing much. I stopped it and he worsened so he's back on it as of this morning and I rigged up the oxygen Concentrator I got from Daniel. Thank you Daniel!

It's large and very heavy but very quiet unlike a nebulizer. Hermes utterly panicked when I tried to put him in the modified cat carrier...much less use the oxy concentrator, so I knew I had to figure out something for my claustrophobic boy. Also the tubing had a soapy smell to it that bothered even me, much less a rat. So I used the new tubing that was more for a nasal canula and modified it with a bottle of water cut in half as a mask.

So I gave him some Rescue Remedy orally, and rubbed a little into the outside of his ears, left him for half an hour and then tried with the mask.

At first he kept removing his nose,but it must've given him some relief as he's now lying there with his nose just in the mask. :joy:

The oxygen concentrator

The jury-rigged mask :giggle: (you can see his nose inside it)

I will let you know how it works later on. :dance:

 

[EDK]

Yippee i hope that works, but so sorry for your old man, hang in there!

 

[mamarat]

I hope it helps your boy, fingers crossed.

 

[lilspaz68]

I don't think he was getting enough oxygen with the mask... so I remembered ratmando had sent an old crittertrail cage with June and May for their transport cage. I taped over the bars and stuck the tubing inside at the top. At first he was very stressed but then quickly calmed and lay down. Now he is grooming.

 

[lilspaz68]

He's settled and is lying on my T-shirt in there.

 

[mamarat]

That looks like the perfect little incubator for him. Where do you get the oxygen concentrator? That would be great for ratties at the "end" especially on a weekend. (no vet on weekends here)

 

[lilspaz68]

That looks like the perfect little incubator for him. Where do you get the oxygen concentrator? That would be great for ratties at the "end" especially on a weekend. (no vet on weekends here)

Dan2333 contacted me after his older boy died and he rehomed his last boy. He had bought this but had no use for it anymore. He is letting me buy it in payments, and at a heavily reduced cost. Leticia a rat friend in the US had just gotten one and it worked well, she told me to look into them and dan2333 had just offered it to me and the rats

You fill a little water reservoir with distilled water, set the flow rate (1-2 for rats) and off you go I'll ask her if I can post her video of her setup

 

[lilspaz68]

I found mine on ebay.ca

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/w-Remote-Control ... 2a2012d0b8

 

[mamarat]

Thanks Shelagh.

 

[lilspaz68]

Still relaxed...