Perspective

It's all in how you look at it.

Today I saw the following picture on The New York Times website:

Naturally I immediately went to the article and was amazed at the strides they are making for rats with spinal issues. I was astounded that paralysis was even a big enough issue in rats that it merited this much research (not to mention space in the NY Times!).

Then I realized that the research was on rats who had been paralyzed surgically and in the long run was only going to benefit humans, not rats. 

The full article is here.

Sushi Update

After talking to the vet, Sushi is staying back on ciproflaxin for the time being, possibly for the rest of her life. There doesn't seem to be a real good answer as to why she takes a turn for the worse every time we take her off of it, but we're done screwing around with it. She's a great sport about taking her medicine twice a day, so if that is what it takes for her to stay healthy and live a happy, comfortable life, than that is what we'll do.

Sushi has a piece of watermelon.

Lazy Medicating

When your rat is on three separate medications, it can take a while to get through them all. It helps though if she is particularly cooperative.

Sushi Takes Her Medicine

I cannot imagine how Sushi could be better about taking her medicine (Ciprofloxacin and Prednisone).

It helps that she seems to like the taste of both medicines. After her surgery in the fall she was also on Ciprofoxacin but also Meloxicam, which she hated the taste of. As a result, it took an enormous amount of skill and luck to get any of the meds in her mouth. This time around it only takes one person to treat her, which is a bit of a relief, since she has about fifteen more days of Prednisone ahead of her. 

Sushi's Feeling Better

Sushi demonstrates how to take medicine.

Sushi is doing better today. Her eyes and nose are much cleaner and her breathing, while not yet clear, is greatly improved.

Holding onto the syringe, not pushing it away...

Her appetite also seems good. She ate her monkey chow this morning and immediately dove into her dinner tonight.

I'm not sure she could cooperate more than this.