womzilla | Pet health: Unexpected adventures

I got home from gaming last night at around 2:30 AM. (A little later than usual, but the gaming was held in Bohemia, Long Island, about 20 miles further east than its usual venues in Seaford, Wantagh, or East Meadow.) I was dead tired as I made the rounds of tucking in the pets for the night, and thus totally unprepared to find Aimee Semple sitting on a shelf in her cage wheezing horribly and unceasingly. I woke

nellorat and we decided that I should immediately take Aimee to the animal hospital in Manhattan. Traffic was, refreshingly, very light and I made it there in about half an hour, and was seen immediately. Of course, by the laws of how these things work, Aimee was sounding much better by the time we reached the hospital. According to the doctor, she did not have any signs of pneumonia or other lung involvement; the problem seems to be purely upper-respiratory. The doctor I saw was not an exotics specialist, but she felt that it was safe to take Aimee home and bring her to our regular vet today.

I gave Aimee some chocolate and some zithromax--the former is a broncodilator, and the latter a powerful antibiotic--when I got home, and took her in this morning. Our local doctor confirmed the original diagnosis, and said we should put Aimee on zithro for five days, tops.

So, a rat adventure which didn't end horribly; it wasn't even all that expensive, since the emergency vet didn't charge us for the five-minute exam and we already have zithro on hand for Pluto, who is still fighting off a more serious infection. I would very much like to have gotten more than five hours' sleep overnight, but these are the sacrifices one makes as a parent.

Rat footnote: In Bohemia, I got to visit Eleanor Rattsevelt, now re-named "Shadow", sister of two of our dear rat boys. (

benderelle, this is the rat you originally name "Gerbil".)She is doing very well indeed. She's still small--smaller than either of her brothers--but obviously healthy, and very active and bright-eyed and energetic. Her human companion loves her very much.

Courageous update: The one-pill-a-day prednisone regimen seems to be working well; kitty has shown no signs of depressed appetite or mouth pain since we stabilized her at this dose a week ago. And we can keep her at this level indefinitely. She's enjoying being able to wander (supervised) outside, though even when the porch door is open, she's just as likely to sun herself inside as out.