I accidentally hijacked the Katie thread a while back and talked a bit about my ailing Camel. He had pneumonia, it was severe, we almost lost him overnight. At an emergency vet trip the next morning he received a subdermal injection of fluids and was put on a nebulizer for a bit, and we continued batryl, (we already had some on hand) and also gatoraid, ensure, and so on... actually, the gatoraid through a syringe probably kept him alive long enough to make it to the vet... it was rough.
After the vet, he still would not eat, force feeding him was rough, he wouldn't even take his meds without serious force, and while he got better for a day, he instantly was back to looking like walking death. He wouldn't even lick his face clean from the batryl that would spill out of his mouth when we tried to give him his meds. We began to put some other antibiotics in his gatoraid, but he was just getting worse. It was nearly impossible to force feed him anything, even ensure. We began to consider what to do, we had him in a separate cage... we just wanted to make him feel comfortable, and we thought we were going to have to eventually put him to sleep rather than to let him suffer. His breathing was so labored and he was a walking skeleton. He is a hairless, and his skin began to flake off, turn splotchy, it was not good...
I stopped posting about Camel right after I said he was doing better, after the vet day, and never posted and update. Well... right before we basically lost hope, we saw him eat... and drink... and eat and eat, and eat and drink and that f'ing ******* came back to life. It was like he woke up after a week and a half of lying at death's door and said "enough of this being force fed, enough with this ****, I've had it, I will not die like this". He bounced back so fast that within a short time he was our old sneaky-hording food under the couch-nipping my shirt-begging every rat in the area for a lick down-corn eating champion-get behind the couch and the TV-run away when it's time to go back-crazy humping anything that moves-humped backed Camel.
I have never seen anything like that before. He has NO lung damage, he is back with his friends, back to see how freaking huge little Feets is getting, back humpinh Tiny, begging Stone for lick downs, and his skin is all bright pink, one color, and boinging around the room like nothing ever happened.
Just thought I would share. I had made peace with him, and I was ready to do what I thought I might have to do... and so with that in mind, I am very happy to say Camel has just been reborn in my mind.
I am a man, and it sounds cheesy, but these little guys get under your skin... you start to project your humanity onto them, and so a little part of you feels like it's not a rat that is sick, but it's my little homie, can't let em down.
Perhaps Camel would have been better named... Papillon.
To all those that gave advice and good wishes... I appreciate.
After the vet, he still would not eat, force feeding him was rough, he wouldn't even take his meds without serious force, and while he got better for a day, he instantly was back to looking like walking death. He wouldn't even lick his face clean from the batryl that would spill out of his mouth when we tried to give him his meds. We began to put some other antibiotics in his gatoraid, but he was just getting worse. It was nearly impossible to force feed him anything, even ensure. We began to consider what to do, we had him in a separate cage... we just wanted to make him feel comfortable, and we thought we were going to have to eventually put him to sleep rather than to let him suffer. His breathing was so labored and he was a walking skeleton. He is a hairless, and his skin began to flake off, turn splotchy, it was not good...
I stopped posting about Camel right after I said he was doing better, after the vet day, and never posted and update. Well... right before we basically lost hope, we saw him eat... and drink... and eat and eat, and eat and drink and that f'ing ******* came back to life. It was like he woke up after a week and a half of lying at death's door and said "enough of this being force fed, enough with this ****, I've had it, I will not die like this". He bounced back so fast that within a short time he was our old sneaky-hording food under the couch-nipping my shirt-begging every rat in the area for a lick down-corn eating champion-get behind the couch and the TV-run away when it's time to go back-crazy humping anything that moves-humped backed Camel.
I have never seen anything like that before. He has NO lung damage, he is back with his friends, back to see how freaking huge little Feets is getting, back humpinh Tiny, begging Stone for lick downs, and his skin is all bright pink, one color, and boinging around the room like nothing ever happened.
Just thought I would share. I had made peace with him, and I was ready to do what I thought I might have to do... and so with that in mind, I am very happy to say Camel has just been reborn in my mind.
I am a man, and it sounds cheesy, but these little guys get under your skin... you start to project your humanity onto them, and so a little part of you feels like it's not a rat that is sick, but it's my little homie, can't let em down.
Perhaps Camel would have been better named... Papillon.
To all those that gave advice and good wishes... I appreciate.
