I got my baaaabies back! I just have to squeal happily to people who understand, I got my boys home tonight after almost a MONTH of them having to be at my friend's house after I had to evacuate them due to my complex suddenly deciding they needed to do plumbing renovations.
They finally finished with it all yesterday, so I got to pick up my boys.
...For a week.
They have to go back to the rat sitter's next Sunday since I'm going out of town for the week of Thanksgiving. *sigh* I am SO rat deprived right now.
They've also picked up a nasty case of mites.
What is it with the mite epidemic on this board? Sheesh.
Anyway, they all got bathed in Dawn dishsoap the minute they got home, their cage and everything in it bleached and scrubbed down, wooden toys and bedding are in the freezer, and hammocks and fleece washed in white vinegar and hot water.
I'm going to have to hold off on getting any ivermectin till I get back since I can't dose them properly since I'm leaving again.
Internal tumors So took my senior female to the vet Thursday to get treated for mites. She got an injection of ivermection at the vets office and they thankfully gave me two syringes of it to do myself over the next two weeks. She has been underweight for awhile, but otherwise very healthy and active. Been feeding her lots of stuff like scrambled eggs to try to put weight on her. We assumed the weight was related to her age, but the vet found a small mass in her abdomen near her kidneys and thinks that might be causing it.
Has anyone here had experience with having tumors removed that were that internal? We go back to the vet on the 3rd of December and will figure out what to do about the tumor.
Ratteries in Northern California? I met Sean when he moved to town for his Master's degree. We became friends and he introduced me to the joys of rat ownership -- before I met his rats I thought they were nasty little animals on par with hamsters (who I still despise, though maybe I've just met really mean ones). His two rats were already middle-aged when he moved here and after about a year one of them died. As a companion for the remaining rat Sean rescued a feeder from the pet store where I used to work. I got to name him, and I called him Ajax (partially because I grew up with a turtle named Ajaxina and partially because he was a big rat). The remaining older rat died a day before Sean moved to California for his Ph. D. Ajax of course went with him. I just heard from my friend that Ajax died unexpectedly this morning at the vet's office. He was a little under 2 years old. ( Medical stuff under the cut ) While my friend will probably wait a while before getting more rats, he is interested in finding a breeder around northern California. He's willing to drive several hours if need be. The two rats he had when I met him came from a rattery in Michigan so he's used to the process and is more than happy to guarantee healthcare, quarantines, no breeding, etc. If you have any recommendations for ratteries (or suggestions of where to avoid) please let me know; he's searching on the internet but I feel like this is the only thing I can do for him. If you have any suggestions for things I can do to help him through this difficult time, I'd really appreciate them (I'm in Illinois so I'm a fair ways away from him). RIP Ajax.
Gah! OMG, Sam on Reaper, how can you possibly dump the awesomeness that is Cady, Possibly Satan's Daughter, for your feckless loser of a wanna-be girlfriend who dropped out of community college because it was omg too harrrrrrrrd?
I love you but you have no taste. None. Go to your room.
hi! i go to school for dog grooming but we accept other animals in to be bathed and this little one was abandoned by her owner. i've had rats in the past and no one wanted to take her so now she's mine! i named her chocka. :)
Anyone have any advice? Is there any way that I can teach my CAG Caesar not to climb off his stand every time he gets a whim? I want him to be out of his cage as much as possible, but he won't stay on his stand, sometimes it only lasts about five minutes and it's neither safe nor convenient for him to have the run of the house lol.
first sad rattie :( As a new rat owner of only 3 months, I am dealing with my first real rattie illness :( My poor babe, Noodle, has some nasty respiratory issues right now. She woke up yesterday afternoon and sounded like a guinea pig. I rushed her to the vet (one I hadn't seen before) who seemed pretty knowledgeable and sent me home with Doxy/Baytril. She mixed the two together in one container (is that normal?) with some raspberry flavoring which Noodle takes right out of the syringe.
This morning, however, I woke up to some really scary stuff. Noodle was not only chirping, but making clicking noises in addition to a bunch of other weird noises like gurgles. She hopped out of her hammock and seemed to be walking strangely, like staggering. I picked her up and snuggled her, and she seems to be moving better now. I also took her right into the bathroom and steamed it up, which I guess helped, but she is still puffed up in her hammock and making this very consistent whimper sound with every breath. It's breaking my heart. :( Her sister, Toast, has been unwavering in her attentiveness and is there for snuggles and grooming. I don't know if there's much else to do, other than wait for the antibiotics to work? She got her first dose last night at around 6pm.
I've also given her some baby food just to make sure she's getting some food and moisture. I plan on giving her some water with a syringe as well, just in case she is dehydrated.
I'm really worried about her, and I have to go to work soon. Is there anything else I can do? Should I be seeming improvement yet? It's upsetting me that it got worse... :(
Here's a picture of her... She's a bit of a bigger squish now. She loves to sit on my head.
Poetry Sale & Flat-Finding News I've sold my creepy fairytale-centric ghazal, "What They Know," to time_shark's guest-edited issue of Goblin Fruit. I am especially pleased about this, as the whole swap venture is awesome!
We've found a flat in Leeds. Or, rather, we've applied for one we saw today! Here's hoping we get it. I think it's perfect.
House Hunting (Well, flat hunting. But it doesn't alliterate as nicely.)
We're off within the next half an hour or so to Leeds for the purpose of looking at four potential flats. I haven't really discussed this here on LJ, but what's happening is, our lease here in York is up on 17 January, and our flatmate, elrice79, will be staying on in this house by herself. James and I spent a few weeks looking at flat listings in York, but to no avail: there's nothing in our price range. However, Leeds, which is where James works, is a different story: there are plenty of flats in our price range, many of them literally within sight of where he works. And given he's shelling out almost a couple of hundred quid for commuting costs per month...
I do not mean a change the papers and wipe off the grate. But an actual take them out and hose them down? How many of you have to take the cages completely apart to get to the point you can take them out and hose them down?
I have my Amazon in a cage that we assembled in the Room as it would not fit through the door other wise. My Macaw is in a smaller cage that will fit through the door but is very very heavy.
My conures and tiel and bourks and senegals are all in smaller cages. So since I got a new set of cages and am selling one I had to completely take apart to get out of the room, I decided that I may as well take most of the cages to the car wash and really blast them rather than clogging my shower drain again like I did last time.
And in the mean time birds get to play musical cages except for the conures who are in a nasty mood right now. You should see my macaw looking confused in the amazon's monster cage....lol
Finished pictures of a clean bird room Tomorrow for any one that wants to see it.
they were about 2 hours from my house and i have a friend who lives over here so we're spending the night with my spare cage which still has my old bra-hammock in it. :P
My god, it's full of links... brownkitty posted this morning a link to My Life Is Average, a site that allows passersby to submit small scenes from tiny oddball portions of their daily life to prove, once again, that the Mean and the Mode are two ENTIRELY different concepts to people who aren't even necessarily mathematicians.
Lots of high schoolers and college kids abounding, not unexpectedly. Still, it's good to appreciate the girl who understands that the way to really attract a proper man is not necessarily through batted eyelashes and a hint of cleavage. See Example:
"On Halloween, out of all the maids, Little Red Riding Hoods, lingerie models and hot nurses at the Halloween party, the most popular girl was the one dressed as a giant piece of bacon, passing out bacon, with a sign on her back that said, 'You know you want me'."
EDIT: Thanks to MLIA I now have a new task for whenever I go back to school or work for someone where I have to write essays. I shall place the word "Waldo" once in every page of every paper I write.
I was cruising the free demos available on Steam, and up came Zombie Bowl-O-Rama! With a promise like that, how could I not grab it?
Yes. You are fighting the evil zombie swarm who are invading the bowling alley by holding a BOWLING COMPETITION. Knock down all ten Zombies, get a strike! The Zombie computer player even gets to roll a Zombie head as a bowling ball.
There are tricks and treats you pick up along the lane, and you can steer the ball, so it's less a game of amazing skill and more a game of "Screw your Neighbor." But who doesn't love that kind of game once in a while? ... Of course I eat my words as soon as the Zombies hand over the Zombi-nator triple stack of random threats, which in this case widens the gutters, makes all the Zombie pins go in formation of three single file lines, and turns my ball into a cabbage that barely knocks down the front pin.
Not bad for the ten-dollar game market.
Current Mood: amused Current Music:Alexey V - Stainless
BTW, I've always wanted to convert a TV into an aquarium. I must say that I'm jealous of the computer monitor turned bird cage. Way too small for my guy, but it's creative nonetheless. :)
Jakey ('08 - 11/12/09) My big handsome is gone. He left a big hole and it aches. So much.
Jake was diagnosed with a very arrhythmic heart, related to congestive heart failure, about 6-10 weeks ago. Heart meds gave him some relief and bought us some more time together but in the end he couldn't be held stable. He started to have issues breathing and I didn't want him to pass frantically panting for air he couldn't find. I had him PTS yesterday afternoon. It was peaceful and dignified. A good passing.
Jake was my special guy, my mama's boy. I could wake him out of a dead sleep just by calling for him. He'd come running to put his head and front paws in my palm, lay down and give me kisses. I think he loved me more than any other rat I've ever had. His heart was utterly and totally mine. And I loved him back just as much.
He and Jack would fight over who got to sit in my palm. Oh, they'd shove each other away from me! My two mama's boys, fighting for attention. Jake usually won. He was always a big, strapping fellow so he'd just flop onto Jack and then sloooowly stop supporting his weight... and Jack would get squished.
He was such a gentle boy. Never aggressive, always accepting of new friends and new humans. He was sweet and kind and a truly beautiful soul. He was as beautiful inside as he was outside. He was a special friend.
I miss him terribly. So does his brother, Eddie.
Enjoy your rest, big guy. Mommy loves you so so much.
"Look, he's so happy!" Staying with the animal theme for a while (amazing how my blogging rate increases even more when school's stressing me out), I had completely forgotten about Stephen Fry picking up the Last Chance to See torch after Douglas Adams. I'm praying for a quick DVD release, I need to see this yesterday.
Still there's the previews, it's delightful to see Mark Carwardine again. Being assaulted by my favourite bird, while Stephen Fry is very amused. Don't tell me that doesn't bring a smile to your face.
Aww kakapo parrots. So precious, so screwed up.
ETA: EEE and they've done an episode on the manatee!
Hey people who answered the meme, I will get to asking you questions when I can brain more. I have to clean out my google alerts, but that can wait too.
:\
"...I can teach you, but I'd have to charge..."
EDIT: oh yeah, and if you haven't heard about it already? There's going to be a comic book about Stephenie Meyers' life. Batman. Because you need to add "Batman" to it to make it interesting.
This disturbs me. I am disturbed. They're seriously srs about this.
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