Sushi

I'm a little nervous about Sushi today. We took her off the ciproflaxin Thursday night as planned, but kept her on the prednisone twice a day. By Sunday morning her breathing was congested again and by Sunday afternoon she was sliding down the ramp in the cage, rather than walking.

It doesn't make any sense to me that the ciproflaxin is the medication making such a difference for her - I really thought it was the pred. Regardless, she's clearly worse off after 48 hours without the antibiotic. We started her on it again last night and will call the vet today.

Sushi before her latest downturn.

A Face for the Movies

It probably isn't fair to Saké that most of her pictures on this blog feature her eating. She's hard to resist though - she is at her most photogenic when having a snack.

Saké enjoys a piece of melon.

Feeling Better

Sushi is back on track in terms of recovery. Today she finishes theciproflaxin (again) but will remain on the prednisone twice a day for a while longer. Hopefully this will give us an indication of which medication is making such an improvement in her health.

Regardless, she's back to her old energetic self. I love this picture of her, because even though her eyes are ringed with crud, they are wide open and bright. We've seen too little this in the past few weeks. She's a pretty special little rat.

Sushi

Smart Saké

Saké continually amazes me. Late last week, while the girls were separated due to Sushi's illness, I walked by the cage and noticed something strange. A piece of flannel bedding had been folded up into a neat rectangle and tucked under the water bottle. I asked Dave about it but he had nothing to do with it.

A closer examination revealed that the water bottle was leaking nonstop (it has since been replaced). The square of flannel was soaked but the rest of the cage was dry.

Since neither Dave nor I had any part in folding or carefully placing the flannel, the culprit must have been Saké. I know rats are smart but this sort of thing continually amazes me. This isn't the first time she has displayed such intelligence and I think if more people understood how smart rats are, they might not get such a bad rap.

Genius.

Reunited...Again

Yesterday the girls finally rejoined each other again, after being apart since Wednesday night. That was when we found Sushi nearly unable to stand, definitely unable to navigate the ramp in their cage, and firmly sliding backward again on her recovery.

Dave called the vet and she is back on ciproflaxin and prednisone twice each day. There seems to be a pattern here - each time she seems back on the road to recovery and then suddenly she slides backward again. The consistent thing in each case is that it occurs about 2 days after she finishes her course of ciproflaxin and the prednisone goes to once per day. So now she's back on both and once she finishes the ciproflaxin on Thursday, the prednisone will stay at twice per day for now. Hopefully that will provide some indication of what is going on.

She's a trooper, but this is so tough on her. She hardly did anything but sleep from Wednesday through Sunday morning, but by Sunday night she'd perked up a bit and by Monday she seemed back to normal. Fortunately she never reached the level of dehydration experienced before and required no fluid injections - just her meds and some quiet rest.

Fingers crossed that she can beat this once and for all.

An Old Favorite

I posted this about a year ago, and it is so cute I'm posting it again. Saké is such a photogenic rat.

Saké

Box Rat Saké

Sometimes you just want the world to leave you alone.

Hiding but nosy

But sometimes, even if you want to be left alone, you want to keep tabs on what is going on.

Saké

Adorable Sushi

Some individuals are so cute it is impossible to deny them anything. Sushi embodies this to the extreme.

Lazy

Some days are made for laying around.

Saké

Sushi Update

Our favorite tiny rat really seems to have turned a corner. Her eyes are mostly clear, her breathing sounds better, and her activity level remains high. She still has trouble breathing in certain instances - when she's really excited or eating quickly - but overall seems far better than a week ago (not to mention two weeks ago!).

She is on antibiotics for a couple of more days. We're going to back off on the prednisone - down to once per day instead of twice - but she is probably going to be on that for at least a while longer. There can be some long term negative effects to prednisone, but since our little girl is 18 months old, we realistically don't need to worry too much about that. Her remaining life likely isn't long enough for any issues to surface (as sad as that is to say).

Henri

I was excited to learn yesterday that my favorite sad cat, Henri, is back! And his new video features a rat! Granted, the rat is described as a snack just out of reach, but still, Henri!

The original Henri video:


The new one:

A Diversion

This is far longer than it needs to be, but it still cracks me up.

Sisters

Have I mentioned how happy the girls are to be back together again?

On a Totally Different Note...

Pausing on the usual rat posts for a moment because we have a new horse and his cuteness must be recognized.

That said, presenting Rockport Missile (aka Rocky), a 2008 16.2 hand thoroughbred gelding. Rocky raced 6 times and then ended up with CANTER. He had surgery to remove a bone chip from his right knee in October and is believed sound for everything except jumping. He and I are embarking on a new dressage adventure, and I can't wait to start him under saddle.

Rocky today

Rocky in 2009 as a yearling

Awwww.

Together Again

Sleeping and sleepy.

Sushi was strong enough to rejoin her sister this weekend, after 6 days apart. They quickly nestled together and took a nap.

Sushi is much better in terms of appetite and activity. Her breathing is still rough and we'll call the vet today to see if there is something else we should be doing. She sounds pretty good most of the time, but whenever she is excited, or when she is eating, she sounds pretty terrible. Our guess is that most of the time she is breathing through her mouth, hence she might sound better, but that when she is forced to breathe through her nose she starts to have problems. I'm also not sure of the long term effects of her being on the antibiotic and prednisone, so we'll see that the doctor has to say.

Content.

Still Improving

Sushi surprised us by climbing into the pipe suspended from the ceiling of the cage yesterday. Several separate times I saw her up there, which is a good sign. Her strength is obviously coming back. She's eating pretty good, although her skin is still pale. This makes me a bit nervous and we're still watching her very closely. Her breathing also sounds a bit rougher, but this might be because of her increased activity level; all of that mucus might just be finally loosening up.

We're going to keep her separated from Saké for another day, as much as I (and they) hate it. We just need to make sure that Sushi is eating and drinking regularly before they are back together.

In lieu of new Sushi picture, here's an adorable Friday picture of Saké:

Saké

Turning the Corner

Sushi

Sushi really is a strong little rat. Today she is walking better - still dragging her stomach a little but her speed is back and she is far steadier than a day ago. She is eating her liquid food like a champ, as well as starting to eat more of her regular food. We are still injecting fluids twice a day, but I hope we can stop that today or tomorrow morning.

Eating her liquid food

I'm also hopeful that in a day or so she will be strong enough to rejoin her sister. 

Saké

Update

Sushi demonstrates how one uses a towel to keep a rat upright.

Sushi is slowly bouncing back, although very slowly. Being sick for so long is obviously taking its toll, yet the little girl is a trooper. She's taking her medicine without a struggle, tolerating the horrible fluid injections with hardly a fight, and still manages to look happy to see us. She is eating her regular food now (in addition to liquid food we hand feed three times a day) and is walking around more, although she's definitely not as light on her feet as is normal. She is still a bit unstable when cleaning herself, but at  least she is feeling well enough to groom. She isn't out of the woods but she is doing well enough that I'm not terrified I'll find her dead every time I look in the cage.

The girls are separated again, because Sushi is too weak to navigate the ramp or stop her sister from pushing her around. Saké isn't pleased with the state of things.

Saké nests in the litter tray.

Hopefully Sushi continues to improve and they can be back together soon.

Sushi

Sushi hangs out in my lap while I work.

I worked from home this afternoon because our tiniest rat is really sick. Sushi took another downturn yesterday and returned to the vet first thing this morning.

She seemed almost back to normal after last week's scare, but on Sunday morning we noticed she seemed lethargic. We kept an eye on her and realized that she was not eating or drinking at all. By early evening her breathing had worsened and it was clear that her upper respiratory issues were back in full.

The news from the vet wasn't great this morning. Sushi's prognosis isn't good but she is a trooper and we're going to give her every chance. She is back on fluids twice a day, along with the antibiotic and anti-inflammatory. The vet gave her an injection of cortisone this morning to help with the inflammation, and her breathing has significantly improved since then. 

We can't do a lot to help her besides the meds and fluids, but she does seem to breathe better when she's laying more up right. She doesn't have the strength to hold herself up, so we are doing a lot of holding her in this position while she sleeps. I stayed home this afternoon and have been holding her for several hours. She is wrapped up in a towel and that, combined with the heat of my body, seems to be keeping her warm. She hasn't had any interest in food yet, but I'm hopeful she will eat some liquid food later today still.

This poor girl really has had too tough of a life. She's far too young for this.

A Change of Pace

Saké has really taken a backseat the last couple of weeks to updates about Sushi. I guess that is what she gets for being such a robust and healthy fat rat.

She's a good way to start off the week though, so here she is: