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I just wanted to pitch in that if you stick in a section about mycoplasma, definitely mention nebulizers. Since it is a chronic disease, the secondary bacterial infections eventually become resistant to whatever antibiotics are being used. Each round of treatment buys you a little more time with your buddy, so once you run out of oral antibiotics to use you should ask your vet about a nebulizer. It opens up a whole different set of antibiotic options and bronchodilators. The best part is that it is pretty affordable to get started. I bought a brand new pediatric nebulizer for about $30 on amazon with free shipping, if you hunt a bit or buy used it could be even cheaper. My treatment chamber is a $5 storage container from Target, modified to connect to the nebulizer. The best part? I paid $13 for a bag of sterile saline, syringes, needles, and the medication. The antibiotic was only $4 and it goes a long way. That is a grand total of $48 which is not bad considering most vet expenses. Dylan has been doing really well with it; I cannot recommend it highly enough to anyone who has exhausted oral antibiotics. The first time we did the treatment he panicked, but by the third treatment he learned to just settle down and wait for a treat. Before I started using the nebulizer, it felt like he was on a slow but obvious downward slope. He never really lost his piggy appetite, but he had trouble keeping on weight and muscle-tone. It feels like this has helped him turn back the clock a bit. He is perkier, plumper, and getting into things that he shouldn't again. Of course this is not a permanent solution, eventually we will have to either switch antibiotics again or try broncodilators, but it has given us a few more quality months together. bonus glamor shot of Dylan in his prime  Click here for the full 600x800 image.
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Jun 24, 2010 03:05
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eig posted:i hope you guys have nothing against coloring your rat with food coloring cause maggie now a dinosaur :3 (its almost all faded away after like 2 days) This reminds me of when my old guy, Beanie, decided to go exploring in my fresh charcoal drawings. One of them was sort of folded over, so he ran down a charcoal tunnel.   For reference, this is what he was supposed to look like:  Click here for the full 829x375 image.
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Jul 8, 2010 02:59
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I am in need of some advice/ideas from you fine rat people. Next month Dylan will be turning the big 2.5, which I think is great cause for celebration. He is still chugging along rather well, but his age and respiratory problems have started to catch up with him. The problem is that he is so spoiled rotten already, I am plum out of ideas on how to do up the Big Day. What fantastically over the top ideas do you guys have? Are there any good out-of-the-box and rat-safe foods that would brighten his day? edit: Here he is in April 2008 as a little squirt.  And June/July 2010 attempting to steal a cheetoh. 
Asstro Van fucked around with this message at 03:40 on Aug 29, 2010 |
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Aug 29, 2010 03:20
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