A couple weeks back Taylor noticed Daisy Cheese Little wasn't doing real well. She was at the bottom of her cage, was shaking and very cold. I called my good friend, Dr. Odom, to ask his opinion, he said rat medicine is pretty simple, they either get antibiotics or a shot that has a little more finality to it.
We looked in the Yellow pages for the nearest vet (we were living in a very small town called Gorham, NH) and called, they were a little reluctant to see a rat but Jen talked them into it. Turns out they were really good and treated us like we had a dog or any other pet, with all of us huddled in the room with the doc and a nurse, they did a full evaluation, which included taking her temperature... ouch!
Diagnosis... probably a respiratory infection and she is very dehydrated (she was about half her normal size).The doc said they can give her fluids (yeah, who new rat IVs existed), an antibiotic shot, and a 10-day dose of oral antibiotics. Then she looks at me (the Dad) with that "are you going to spend any money on this pet" look, I say... do it all.
They do the stuff and bring her out, I go up to pay thinking, I can't believe I just spent $250 on our rat, then she says, "that will be $89", Love small towns.
Jen holds her all the way home, keeping her warm. We set her cage on top of the floor heat register. She immediately starts eating and drinking again... amazing. She is back! Crazy Daisy.
A special thank you to Gorham, NH Veterinarian Clinic and Dr Odom.
