Sunday, January 29, 2017
Tuesday, January 17, 2017
Gimlet (now Rugen): Update
Sunday, January 15, 2017
Party time
Thursday, January 12, 2017
Wednesday, January 11, 2017
Tootie's fridge
Rice- don't like
Weird nasty hippie organic juice- like
Pear- don't like
Emeraid- like
Beechnut corn & sweet potato- like now
Apple sauce- used to like
Gerber vanilla custard pudding with bananas- like now
Baby food and juice dated to be used within one day of suggested use after opening date (she's a rat, after all). That Gerber stuff is nuts. Whey protein and everything. I feel like I should be eating it.
Tuesday, January 10, 2017
Tootie's teeth
This is what Tootie's teeth looked like when she came in:
How she survived, I have no idea. I would blame her previous owners, but given the time between when they went to jail and when she was brought to the shelter could have been long enough for them to overgrow, knowing how fast her teeth grow.
I can't really keep track of when she's had her teeth trimmed, since the shelter vets tended to clip 1 or 2 at a time. But they grow really fast.
I'm going to try and keep a closer eye on them and get her in before they get too long and she gets mad. She will seriously wave her head around and hit things with her teeth if they get too long (especially if I'm trying to feed her, like she's saying, "How am I supposed to eat?! Look at these things!").
This is how they're supposed to be; she's been eating great all day!
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| Dec 15, 2016 |
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| Dec 15, 2016 |
I can't really keep track of when she's had her teeth trimmed, since the shelter vets tended to clip 1 or 2 at a time. But they grow really fast.
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| Dec 30, 2016 |
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| Jan 02, 2017 |
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| Jan 05, 2017 |
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| Jan 07, 2017 |
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| Jan 10, 2017 |
Supporting Tootie
Tootie did great at the vet today. Her energy is up, her feisty level is high, and she was thrilled to get some oxygen while they trimmed her teeth.
Her lungs, however, sound worse. Her breathing is more labored (not visibly, but from listening closely with the stethoscope) and her left lung that was working pretty good a couple weeks ago is now sounding muffled. Her right lung has been pretty much useless the whole time.
She has not responded to any treatment, so all we can do now is offer her supportive care. She has lost weight, but not as much as in between her first two visits. We're trying to get as much food as possible into her and make sure she has more good days than bad days. Hopefully she'll be with us for at least a few more weeks; she hasn't given any indication that she's giving up, despite everything. Dr. Em even said, "For a rat with so much going wrong medically, you sure can't tell by the way she acts."
Donations ear-marked for her care can be donated to the shelter's Little Critter Medical Fund. She sees Dr. Emanuele at Avian & Exotic, since rat care is not WCAC's specialty, and it's the best care we could hope for her. It's not cheap, though, and her tab has run up past $200. Since we've been allowed to keep her as a hospice foster through the shelter, we are certainly planning to pay for her ongoing care. Any little bit helps, though, and the shelter can be reached at 919-212-7387 or animalcontrol@wakegov.com or in person at 820 Beacon Lake Drive in Raleigh.
Her lungs, however, sound worse. Her breathing is more labored (not visibly, but from listening closely with the stethoscope) and her left lung that was working pretty good a couple weeks ago is now sounding muffled. Her right lung has been pretty much useless the whole time.
She has not responded to any treatment, so all we can do now is offer her supportive care. She has lost weight, but not as much as in between her first two visits. We're trying to get as much food as possible into her and make sure she has more good days than bad days. Hopefully she'll be with us for at least a few more weeks; she hasn't given any indication that she's giving up, despite everything. Dr. Em even said, "For a rat with so much going wrong medically, you sure can't tell by the way she acts."
Donations ear-marked for her care can be donated to the shelter's Little Critter Medical Fund. She sees Dr. Emanuele at Avian & Exotic, since rat care is not WCAC's specialty, and it's the best care we could hope for her. It's not cheap, though, and her tab has run up past $200. Since we've been allowed to keep her as a hospice foster through the shelter, we are certainly planning to pay for her ongoing care. Any little bit helps, though, and the shelter can be reached at 919-212-7387 or animalcontrol@wakegov.com or in person at 820 Beacon Lake Drive in Raleigh.
Friday, January 6, 2017
Tina update
It's been a while since we've posted about Tina.
We've had her since October, and she's all grown up. Her ringworm is gone, her URI is gone (she still sneezes every now and then). She's perfectly content with her blindness and acts like a normal cat (who sometimes loses her toy if it doesn't make any noise).
She's a beautiful, sweet, playful girl who loves to ambush and purrs all the time. She still takes her meds like a champ. She plays with Madeline as much as Madeline will let her.
The SPCA pulled her once her case was resolved. They treated her ringworm and got her on meds for her eyes. Now they say she's ready for spay and adoption... once her eyes get checked again. I've been waiting for word from them since December 14; I checked in December 20 and was told to wait, and checked in again on Tuesday and was told the same thing. It feels like poor Tina has been forgotten. We love having her here, but she is ready for her own home. She's a big, healthy and happy girl who needs her forever family.
No, she can't stay here (unless she's somehow deemed unadoptable). It's rude to ask that of a foster family.
We've had her since October, and she's all grown up. Her ringworm is gone, her URI is gone (she still sneezes every now and then). She's perfectly content with her blindness and acts like a normal cat (who sometimes loses her toy if it doesn't make any noise).
She's a beautiful, sweet, playful girl who loves to ambush and purrs all the time. She still takes her meds like a champ. She plays with Madeline as much as Madeline will let her.
The SPCA pulled her once her case was resolved. They treated her ringworm and got her on meds for her eyes. Now they say she's ready for spay and adoption... once her eyes get checked again. I've been waiting for word from them since December 14; I checked in December 20 and was told to wait, and checked in again on Tuesday and was told the same thing. It feels like poor Tina has been forgotten. We love having her here, but she is ready for her own home. She's a big, healthy and happy girl who needs her forever family.
No, she can't stay here (unless she's somehow deemed unadoptable). It's rude to ask that of a foster family.
Tootie
This is Tootie:
This is Tootie's old house:
Take out the house, the toy, the two bowls, and that's what she was used to living with. One square foot of nothing.
Tootie came to the shelter when her parents went to jail for beating each other up. She came in with two cats, who went back to the rescue that they were adopted from. No one came for Tootie.
Her teeth were all messed up and overgrown, and she seemed sick.
But she was nice. So the shelter team trimmed her teeth so she could eat again. But they weren't sure what was wrong with her. The shelter director has a soft spot for rats, so we took her to the experts.
They took radiographs. And it didn't look good. Both lungs should be black (full of air), but only one lung is working. Could be pneumonia.
So she went home with the director (who gave her that awesome bed) over Christmas break and got her antibiotics.
She didn't get any better.
We took her in again, and discussed her prognosis. She's lost a lot of weight, and her teeth are growing fast because she won't eat anything hard. The vet was not optimistic, but said we could try steroids. Chances of improvement were slim, but it was one more thing to try. We decided it was probably best to go ahead and euthanize, since she was having trouble breathing, hadn't responded to treatment, hyperventilated after medication, was severely stressed out, and probably wouldn't recover.
But then the euthanasia techs were busy at work, and Tootie sat with us up front while we waited. And she did this:
And I asked the director for her opinion, because I was having second thoughts about having her put down.
So here we are.
We started her steroids and new antibiotics on the first and there's been no improvement so far. She fights the meds so hard that she hyperventilates and sounds like she's going to collapse right after. Which I actually take as a good sign, even though I'm sure we're going to stress her to death. I make her a little milkshake with emeraid and coconut milk every morning and every evening; most days she licks the bowl clean. Sometimes she likes applesauce, usually she likes egg yolk and almost without fail she likes yogurt-covered papaya treats. She won't chew on things, she won't eat rat food, she won't eat grapes anymore or cocoa bunnies. If her heart doesn't give out, she'll starve to death if she doesn't start eating better. We're not going to syringe feed her because of the stress being restrained causes.
But as long as she's grooming, as long as she's using the bathroom, as long as she's eating a little bit and asking for attention, we'll do our best for her. We've been allowed to keep her in hospice foster care through the shelter for however long she has left.
Time to go make a milkshake.
This is Tootie's old house:
Tootie came to the shelter when her parents went to jail for beating each other up. She came in with two cats, who went back to the rescue that they were adopted from. No one came for Tootie.
Her teeth were all messed up and overgrown, and she seemed sick.
But she was nice. So the shelter team trimmed her teeth so she could eat again. But they weren't sure what was wrong with her. The shelter director has a soft spot for rats, so we took her to the experts.
They took radiographs. And it didn't look good. Both lungs should be black (full of air), but only one lung is working. Could be pneumonia.
So she went home with the director (who gave her that awesome bed) over Christmas break and got her antibiotics.
She didn't get any better.
We took her in again, and discussed her prognosis. She's lost a lot of weight, and her teeth are growing fast because she won't eat anything hard. The vet was not optimistic, but said we could try steroids. Chances of improvement were slim, but it was one more thing to try. We decided it was probably best to go ahead and euthanize, since she was having trouble breathing, hadn't responded to treatment, hyperventilated after medication, was severely stressed out, and probably wouldn't recover.
But then the euthanasia techs were busy at work, and Tootie sat with us up front while we waited. And she did this:
And I asked the director for her opinion, because I was having second thoughts about having her put down.
So here we are.
We started her steroids and new antibiotics on the first and there's been no improvement so far. She fights the meds so hard that she hyperventilates and sounds like she's going to collapse right after. Which I actually take as a good sign, even though I'm sure we're going to stress her to death. I make her a little milkshake with emeraid and coconut milk every morning and every evening; most days she licks the bowl clean. Sometimes she likes applesauce, usually she likes egg yolk and almost without fail she likes yogurt-covered papaya treats. She won't chew on things, she won't eat rat food, she won't eat grapes anymore or cocoa bunnies. If her heart doesn't give out, she'll starve to death if she doesn't start eating better. We're not going to syringe feed her because of the stress being restrained causes.
But as long as she's grooming, as long as she's using the bathroom, as long as she's eating a little bit and asking for attention, we'll do our best for her. We've been allowed to keep her in hospice foster care through the shelter for however long she has left.
Time to go make a milkshake.
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