I took Poppy to the vet Thursday evening after work. She had me stumped because she became ill so very quickly, with very little symptoms. She didn't have raspy wheezy breathing, no lumps or bumps. But her fur was puffed, she was making a slight whimper/clicking noise, and she was very lethargic and seemed to be in pain. The vet checked her out for awhile, he really listened to her chest for longer than normal. Unfortunately, Poppy has pneumonia...
My vet said sometimes you can't always hear wheezing or raspy breathing that sometimes a healthy rat will just suddenly fall very ill. He said she was in very poor shape. They had to give her IV fluids, She also got a Baytril injection, an injection of dexamethasone and a two week prescription of antibiotic Ciprofloxacin. He wants to see her for a recheck in two weeks- but warned me she's very poorly and to be prepared just in case...
She made it through last night but was still poorly this morning. She wouldn't take any of the Pedialyte in the oral syringe, but kept dribbling it out- so we just had to do plain water. I stopped after work today and picked up Coconut Water (It has more electrolytes than Gatorade!) & some more baby food to give her in the oral syringe, because she's still not drinking or eating on her own.
I also finally figured out a method with the oral syringe that works. I have to feed her very slowly so she won't dribble anything out down her chin. If I feed her slowly, she will lick and swallow what's in her mouth. I was able to get 3 syringes of coconut water and 1 full syringe of baby food into her. I'd been doing that every few hours but before that she was dribbling most of it down her chin. I'm really hoping and praying that with the antibiotic's, and the little bit of liquid/food I'm getting into her will help give her a little strength to help her fight this...
(If you're wondering why pet rats? Please read my article I wrote a few months ago, here.)
