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.

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.

The Hunchback of East Lansing

After Sushi came home from the vet last Thursday, we had to inject her with 10 ccs of sodium chloride under her skin every 12 hours. This was pretty horrific - it isn't technically hard but it hurt her, and since she is so tiny, there wasn't a lot of room for error. Not to mention how hard it is to focus and not screw up when you also have to pin down a frightened and loudly squeaking rat.

After the fluids were injected, Sushi would have a hunchback for a couple of hours, until they were absorbed.

The raised area above her head/behind her ears is actually the balloon of fluid. She was a trooper to put up with us doing that to her. Originally the vet said every 12 hours for 7 days but he also said that if we got past 48 hours and she was eating her normal food (which has a heavy water content), then we could stop. I was grateful that at 48 hours she was eating and happily put the needles and syringes away.

An Update on Sushi

After 48 hours of fluid injections, liquid food, and laxatives, Sushi began looking better this weekend. She is now eating her regular mush of lab blocks and baby cereal and has shown interest in soaked monkey chow again. Her eyes are brighter, she is more stable, and her energy is back as well.

However, I think the brightest moment in all of this was Thursday after work, when I ran down the hall to check on her. I wasn't sure what we'd find after her visit to the vet that morning.

Amazingly, I found this:

Although wobbly, Sushi was at her food dish, eating. She didn't eat a lot but the fact that she showed any interest in food at all was heartening. It's obvious in the picture how sick she was - her eyes were rimmed with mucus and her ears have almost no color. But she was eating - and shortly after I took this picture she eagerly ate her special liquid diet from the vet.

She might be tiny, but she is a trooper.