Sick Ratties & Guilt .

[SeriouslyAwkward]

I'm a first time rat owner ,and I got my two girls about roughly 6 months ago ( Charlotte & Emily ) . I fell in love with them at first sight and they have been my world ever since . I work 6 days out of a week and tend to get busy at times . I still made sure to spend time with them everyday until one night a few weeks ago I noticed one making what I now know is a wheezing sound . I mistook it as bruxing at first and didn't think anything of it until the next day when I researched the sound . That is when I found out one of my girls had what I was fairly certain was a URI . I didn't have the money at the time to take her in immediately as I do live on my own and was in the middle of paying off debt which I have done at this point . So I did what I could to make sure she was comfortable , made sure she had some veggies, as well I started adding vitamins to her water . Now my other girl is sneezing to , she isn't wheezing however . But I do notice has been leaning her head to the side slightly and seems to get disorientated a bit . The other day when I handling her she decided to make a sudden leap of faith to the floor and she didn't quite land as gracefully as she hoped . She seemed fine afterwards so I'm not sure if that is a result from that or she may have a ear infection . I finally have the funds to take them to the vet, but my god the guilt of not being able to provide for them immediately is killing me . It 's 3:30am here and I've been losing my mind. Everytime I hear Charlotte make any sort of wheezing sound my heart just breaks and I can't help but to cry. I should have made sure to have the finances saved up for them immediately.. it was definitely a learning curve and I'll never make the same mistake again . I want to give them the best life they can have . I guess I just need some advice.

Sorry for the long post!

 

[SQ]

They both need to see a good rat vet immediately and start antibiotics.
The girl with the head tilt will likely need either clorpalm or both baytril + clavamox. She will also likely need an anti-inflamatory to prevent further permanent damange to her inner ear - probably metacam or pred.

There are several different antibiotics or combos of antibiotics your other girl may be given.

Once they are well, you might consider having them spayed to help prevent mammary tumours.
A good book to get is The Rat Health Care book which can be ordered from the book section at www.ratfanlub.org It costs less then $10 and is a valuable resource.

Hope both your girls are soon feeling better

 

[lilspaz68]

The learning curve with rats can be steep at times...they can get sick very quickly and now you know that.

It sounds like you have a URI and a inner ear infection to deal with, so probably the same medication for both.

Good luck!

 

[jorats]

Many of us have been there. Now it's lessoned learned and always keep a stash saved for the vet fund. That will help in the long run.
For now, get those sweeties treated asap. And you'll feel better too.

 

[SeriouslyAwkward]

Thank you very much , I really appreciate all the advice . I have the girls booked for an appointment on Friday at 3pm at a very caring vet .

 

[SQ]

Call back and get them in sooner, if at all possible.
Rats can't wait like dogs and cats.
When they become ill they need to see a vet immediately

 

[SeriouslyAwkward]

This is unfortunately the earliest I can get them in

 

[TheRatQueen]

I would call around to another vet then, if at all possible. Esp. for an ear infection, you don't want to wait that long.

 

[SeriouslyAwkward]

The only issue is I don't get my pay until Thursday

 

[SQ]

.... and imo other vets are at best a waste of time, at worst, harmful as they do not know enough.

Edit: I ment, imo other vets in the area, (when it comes to treating rats,) are at best a waste of time, and at worst harmful as they do not know enough about treating rats.

 

[TheRatQueen]

Obviously SQ she would be calling to look for another rat vet...just not 'another' vet who wouldn't know anything.

And sorry, SeriouslyAwkward, I didn't know that was the reason it was scheduled so late in the week.

 

[SQ]

TheRatQueen, I am familiar with the vets available in the Fredericton and surrounding area of the prov of NB, if they will see rats, if they know much about rats, and the consequences experienced by many rats they have treated. That is why I wrote that contacting other vets (in the area) is imo, a waste of time.

SeriouslyAwkward, you might consider borrowing some money so you can get them in earlier to see the vet.
Let me know if they get bad and I will lend you meds to last until you get them into the vet on Friday.

 

[TheRatQueen]

Well I am obviously not from the area, so how am I supposed to know. You might want to not be so snippy to people who are trying to help or offer suggestions.

 

[EDK]

Let's all be neutral and just focus on giving this gal some help.

I understand the circumstances of not having the finances to help out a pet. Some just think that way in advance before getting a pet for the first time. Years of watching my family in financial strain just kinda trained me up to prepare for worse case scenarios (not exactly nice to predict the future in worst ways for my pets, but I figured my rats are gonna get sick and i want to be ready). But that's just me, but I wonder at times, even if I didn't have the finances, I figured the vet and I could work out a deal here where I pay it off monthly, or they could perscribe me to one of those volunteer vet clinets who see animals or do treatments for free, just depends on finding them and showing up first. Point is I think there can always be options to helping your pet, whether through paying the bill monthly, ask for donations, seek out vets willing to help for free, or ....well worst case scenario for any pet owner but best for the animal, surrender the animal to a client so they can be taken care of. That is last resort for me, and always kept it in my mind at the end of the day should it ever come a time I cannot take care of my animals; as i think all us pet owners agree if we were forced to for the sake of our animals, we do what we have to do to make sure they live a long healthy life.

But I'm getting ahead of myself, my point was just do what you can and what you think is right. It sounds like it's gonna work out for your girls though if you already made an appointment. And maybe in the future you can work out a financial plan with your vet? So your animals will be looked after? Its worth a shot and a nice way to make friends with your vet

 

[SeriouslyAwkward]

Thank you everyone for the help . I'm taking everything to heart .
SQ ; I'll keep an eye on them and contact you if they worsen before Friday, thank you for the generous offer .
TheRatQueen ; Thank you for your suggestion , knowing somebody who cares even without knowing me helps a lot emotionally.
EDK ; Solid , Solid advice . I'm starting a savings just for my girls , and I'm working on getting a credit card as well for emergencies.

This was a scary learning experience and I never intend to make this error again .

 

[SeriouslyAwkward]

Update : I have the girls booked for an appointment for tomorrow at 3pm ! I'll let everyone know how they make out

 

[TheRatQueen]

:joy: woo hoo :joy:

 

[EDK]

Awsome news hope it all goes ok and no worries glad to help in any way possible

 

[SeriouslyAwkward]

Thank you for the support everyone !
It wouldn't be possible is SQ hadn't offered to drive me to a better vet !
I seriously just love this forum and all the people on it , I didn't know such amazing people existed

 

[SeriouslyAwkward]

The girls vet visit went very well and I have all their medications now
Looks like they are going to be just fine!