Pica’s Abscess
Poor Pica. On Saturday I noticed a lump on his jaw line. The past couple days before that he was acting a little sluggish and not eating as much. So I thought I would take him to the vet anyways, but when I saw the lump I knew he had to get into the vet ASAP. I watched him try to pick up food to eat it, and he was having a hard time picking up and holding onto the food.
The vet checked him out and said it’s an abscess. Fortunately it wasn’t some kind of tumor. So she opened the abscess up and drained it out and cleaned up the area really well. He has to take Baytril once a day and have the area flushed out with Chlorhexadine then packed w/ Silvadene cream once or twice a day. He’s doing really well with the flushing and taking his antibiotics. He’s never been sick or had to take medicine before, so I’m very happy with how well he’s taking it. I was a little worried when I brought him home from the vet last night and he wasn’t wanting to eat much or move around. But I think he was probably just in a little pain. Today he’s moving around the cage, eating well, and drinking from the water bottle.
I expect a full recovery very soon. I hope we don’t have to go through this again, as it’s pretty gross! (Which is why I didn’t take any pictures…)
Updates and a New Camera
Sorry for no updates in so long!! Everything’s going pretty well here. Kimble is still doing great, however, he doesn’t really like the other 3 boys. So he’s still living on his own. I’ve tried introducing them in water, with vanilla extract, on neutral territory, ect… every time it ends in a bloody fight. So for now Kimble just lives alone. He still seems happy though. I just give him extra blankets and things to cuddle with to keep warm. Maybe someday after many introductions he’ll feel comfortable with the other boys.
I also got a new camera yesterday. It’s a Canon Powershot SD880IS, and it takes awesome pictures! It has a macro mode to take close ups. Here’s one of Pica in his hammock earlier today.
Kimble is Home
I brought Kimble home last night. He’s acting like a totally different rat! At the office he was so shy and constantly hiding. But as soon as I took him into the room with the other ratties he immediately perked up. He was running around his cage, sniffing the air, taking treats from my hand, and generally looking happier. I think he could smell the other rats in the room and knew he would be getting some new friends soon. Poor little guy was just so lonely in quarantine. We stuck it out because you never know what could happen, but I’m very relieved to have him home.
More adorable pics of him during playtime:
He’s such a sweet photogenic boy, but still extremely shy. I’m guessing he’ll be a little more confident once he has a friend to live with. In the next few days I’ll start introing Pica to him.
Another Kimble Picture
I made it over to the office to check on Kimble a little bit ago. He’s a messy little guy. I cleaned up his cage as much as possible, but I think it will need a full clean tomorrow. I tried to hold him for a few minutes, but he’s still trying to live up to his name, he loves to explore! But he did sit still long enough for this picture:
His skin is looking better already.
Hi Kimble!
I came across this little guy on the GooseMoose adoption forum. Thanks BlueFrog! She told me he got his name, Kimble, from the character in The Fugitive because he decided to run away and hide for 2 days. Crazy rattie. Then the night before I was going to be picking him up (Friday) his cagemates decided to throw him a going away party and beat him up pretty good. So that’s why he looks scratched up. But other than the scratches he seems very sweet and healthy. He’s definitely shy, and probably freaked out from all the action, so I’ve been giving him his space since he came home Saturday night. He’s in quarantine at my office right now. Unfortunately, I had to stay home from work today because I came down with a stomach flu yesterday. But I know several people at work will be checking on him for me and I’m going to try to go over there this evening to make sure he’s doing okay.
Here he is!
His ears are so big, and he has really cute curly whiskers! I’ll take more pictures for everyone soon.
Pica is so sweet
When I got home from work today, I went in the office to check on the rats. When I walked into the room all 3 were in the hammock, but the little guys, Hex and Hue, jumped up to greet me at the cage door. Pica, being the lazy guy he is, stayed put where he was comfy. I had my new phone with a video camera built-in in my pocket. The video quality is really bad, but here’s Pica getting some head scratches.
The Boys’ New Kitty Friend
This is Tyler, Pixel and Pica’s new feline friend. You can check out his blog here: Tyler’s Blog. Thanks for being friends with my ratties Tyler!