First visit to the Vet !

First Visit to the Vet. 

Finally we're going to the vet. See! Kida is so thin now, penis-shape. She's currently 205g =(

I'll try my best to fatten her up again ! 

Visit with the vet took 30+mins. He took down ALOT of notes and asked ALOT of questions. It is really nice of him to want to try to find the root of the problem but I must admit that some of his suggestions must be taken with a pinch of salt.

Firstly, I'm not saying he is wrong, in fact, he is the only few Vets in Singapore that sees rats, so from that I can tell that he's already very experienced, and I really really appreciate him trying so hard to find the root of her respiratory infection. But its just hard for me to think those possibilities he stated was the cause and I don't blame him because it is very hard to access the whole situation when it's only the first time he saw Kida.

He said that she is probably not eating because maybe the new lab blocks are toxic. Kida started being sick 2 months ago, and I only had the new lab blocks 1 month + ago. I bought Mazuri because my old Prolab lab blocks wasn't doing so well for my girls. I brought Mazuri from a rat breeder who is also feeding her rats this, and in fact, many other people purchase from her as well, and my other two rats are fine. So.. I'm dont think it's my Mazuri lab blocks. In fact, Mazuri is rated one of the better quality lab blocks ( AND NOT CHEAP OKAY ! )  So maybe is the Pro-lab then? But I have a friend who is also feeding his girls Pro-lab and his rats are fine. Then Vet said that every individual is different, so, just in case, I emailed and see if I could purchase Harlan Teklad already, since its the best so far. Hope everything goes well. Better to be safe than sorry.

Next he said give filtered water. I've always been giving them tap, so okay, I'll change that !

Then he said No veggies. Because might contain pesticides and thus, toxic. Well I washed them, but he said it might not be enough. Thing is I've always been giving them veggies from time to time since they're young, and fruits and veggies are important for the immune system no? So this one, sorry, I'll still feed her Broccoli but I'll take extra care with the washing and I'll boil it first (does that help?). Broccoli is good for her lungs!

Maybe their bedding. This one most likely not, I've been using the same brand since the beginning of time, and it's also supposedly the best for rats. Recommended ! Kaytee as bedding and Carefresh as litter box. Maybe I should just use cloth?

Then he suspect Klover (my 7-month old) was the carrier of the disease and said that I should have quarantine Klover for a month before mixing them together. But Klover has already been with them 4 months before Kida started falling sick.

 He said to call him back in 3 days for an update which is sweet of him. And thanks for the medicine Doctor!

Yes consultation was freaking $71 ! Oh gosh Jamie, please give me discount next time! And medicine is only $21, can I just go get the meds next time without the consultation with the doctor? 

Anyways, these are the medicine that Kida is currently on right now. Prednisolone for appetite and inflammation he say. 2 drops per day.

AND THIS ! Baytril and Meloxicam, I knew I was going to get Baytril! Luckily I only need to give 0.1ml each, 10 mins apart. Kida was okay with Baytril which I can understand why but that MELOXICAM, YUCK, smells and looks like glue. My poor baby, I quickly gave her some banana after that. Wish me luck for feeding her that again for dinner.

Looking better.

Yesterday (before visiting Vet), I said she looked better from her eyes after giving her the natural remedy I saw online and this is what I meant.
Left picture she clearly looks.. wrong.. Zombie-like. Blank.
Right picture, better. normal, cute eyes. She's actually looking at the piece of bedding and accessing if it was treat. And because she can't really see (Red eyes), she was staring intently and sniffing, it was funny.

Kida's Update & Exam Survival Kit

Appointment with Vet.

Made a call to Toa Payoh Vet today and made an appointment with Dr Sing. I *think* I made an appointment. When I called, it took someone super long to pick up and at one point I think the call got redirected and a man who sounded very distracted picked up. My guess is it's the Vet himself, but he sounded so distracted, like he was with a patient. Anyways, I asked if I could make an appointment with Dr Sing tomorrow, and he asked me what time, which was pretty weird because aren't the receptionist suppose to tell me an available slot? So I asked if there was any available slot and he said 10am, which I said okay and he said okay, then...I said bye and hung up. IS IT SUPPOSE TO GO LIKE THIS? He didn't take down any details. 

But whatever, I called him. He knew. Worst case scenario, I'll just go in as a walk-in customer then. I'm crossing my fingers and hoping it goes well! 

                                           Kida's update.

Brought Broccoli today because I read somewhere that it helps with the lungs. For breakfast Kida ate Beehoon because well.. I bought Beehoon for breakfast and she loves carbo. She finished the whole bowl, something I wasn't expecting because I gave her quite alot. For lunch I boiled Broccoli, mashed them and mixed it with powdered/pounded lab blocks, she didn't eat much of that, maybe because she was already full from breakfast. For dinner (above), spaghetti noodles, boiled Broccoli and I added a litttle (middle of picture) bit of fish from my Fillet-O-Fish. 

            

She is eating right now as I blog. Evidence of her eating noodles and her Broccoli. From her eyes, she really doesn't look that sick anymore. She is still grunting a lot though. She eats really slowly now and doesn't want to eat anything hard. Still have not seen her drink from the bottle yet but I've been watering down all her food. Oh, I also gave her honey this morning. 

Look at the roundness of her belly! In the midst of fattening Kida, I would give some of the food to Korra and Klover too and they've gotten SOOO fat. I got to stop. Heard that overweight rats gets respiratory disease too. Argh. No more carbo for them, just lab blocks and veggies I guess. Hope I'm doing things right.

A* Exam Survival Kit.

Few days ago, decorated a shoe box for AikHwee. Now I've filled it with snacks! But I just found out he doesn't like Twisties. What.. Who doesn't like Twisties... I guess he's just very neutral about it. But I'm just going to leave it in there because I've gotten him so many sweet snacks, it's good to have some salty ones right? Next time I'll get potato chips instead. *Note to self*

He has been really sweet these few weeks. The ring. Bringing me to TeoHeng. Offering to squeeze some time out to go to the vet with me [that didn't happen] and mentioning that he might be able to go to TPY vet with me tomorrow. I really hope he does, although I can tell he really dont wish to be there and he don't understand why I can't go alone. I wish Jamie was here! She'll definitely go with me. I hope everything work out in the end. The Vet visit is making me anxious. I'm really scared that I will be place in a position (again) where I am responsible for my pet's life.

Good thing it just rained, so I dont have to worry about the haze worsening Kida's respiratory problem.

"Sorry we dont see rats"

                          "SORRY WE DON'T SEE RATS"

                   

Kida has been pretty sick lately and she lost ALOT of weight. All her fats seems to vanish and I could see her actual skeleton frame. From being the fattest Alpha of the group, she has became the smallest.At her sickest point, she would just sleep or mop around the "basement" of the cage. Mostly sleep. 

So I decided to separate her from the other two and keep her in her carrier because I wasn't sure if she was eating or drinking. Placed her carrier right beside the cage so they could still see/smell each other but at the same time, it lets me control watch Kida's water/food intake. I feed her food 3 times a day and put her back with the other two after dinner. Because she wasn't eating on her own, I pound the pellets down and mix it with soft gooey food like half boiled egg white, baby food (banana and apple flavour) and rice. I thought she would like baby food the most but she actually like the other two. For drinks, she love soya milk and honey. She did drink a little water when I place it in the bowl but I did not see her drinking from the bottle at all. I usually place the "tasty" water for her to drink after each meal, then replace it with plain water after she is done with it.  

Decided to bring her to the vet today because after reading articles online, I figured she has respiratory infection. AND IT SUCKS because there isn't any cure because all rats are born with it. But it seems like a common problem and what the Vet would usually do is to give them antibiotics , Baytril I think, I've seen that name so many times online. With/or Doxycycline[I think].  

BUT! Called 5 vet clinics today and all of them say they don't see rats. I am getting so frustrated! At that point I am so pissed at the vets and myself. I even asked the rat breeder I brought Klover from and she suggest this clinic, I called and the receptionist SNICKERED [yes you, Animal Infirmary] as if it's a joke when I ask if they see rats. Lucky this isn't like some SERIOUS SERIOUS emergency or she'll be dead by now. So anyways, found a vet clinic that has a high possibility but the Doctor only works till 12pm. So I probably have to make an appointment with him another day. Hopefully this Sunday, and hopefully he sees my Kida. 

On a happier note, Kida seems much better today, not sure if it's the natural remedy I found online that I've been giving her for the past 3 days. Found it from A RAT FORUM. She actually looks better, I don't know if its just psychological on my part, but she doesn't look that sickly  [zombie-like] from her eyes. She just looks slightly tired. AND! She didn't just go one corner and sleep when I put her back today. She went all around the "basement" slowly, even hopped at one point, and climbed climbed climbed slowly all the way up into the hammock and chilled there. Hope she continues getting better.