I will never forgive myself for this.

[Akiska]

Melted Vanilla Ice cream. According to my cousin it is irresistable.  

[Cowgirl-with-heart]

ugh, Malina was a NIGHTMARE to give meds to, I had to trick her, if I tried squirting it into her mouth, all that she would do is hold it till I set her down, spit it out, then start wiping her mouth on everything scream  

[Skeksis]

Like everyone else has said, everyone makes mistakes. It's what you do afterwards that counts- how you try to recify it and how you prevent it from happening in the future. I once made a really stupid mistake when decorating my big ferret house; put a big heavy nest box too close to a wall, but not so far away that a ferret couldn't squeeze it's head into the gap...if I hadn't decided to say goodnight after I got home late that night Mink would almost certainly have died before morning. As it was she was firmly trapped and had struggled so hard that she had a bloody ring around her neck where she had been spinning to get loose; she had the scar her entire life. Nest boxes are now placed so there is no dangerous gap.

I hope Aida recovers...don't be too hard on yourself.  

[pompoennetje]

Everyone makes mistakes. I did with my cats, my mother with her rats. Don't be so hard on yourself. You can learn from this, knowing you shouldn't leave them alone roaming around next time. They are animals, and some animals need supervision when they are free to walk around. Even though they have never done something like that before.

I'm glad Aida is still alive and she's fine except for the swollen lip.  

[Gabrielle_AnimalLuver]

It's been over 12hrs now since the incident. And about 9 since her shot of metacam. She had a good restful sleep, she was still snoozing with Blaze when I got up. But she got up, started wandering around, grooming herself. She ate almost a whole tablespoon of applesauce. I just gotta make sure that lip doesn't get infected. Or anything else. But the lip is very swollen it opened, either from the swelling or from her grooming, but there's a lil blood on her lip and on her feet from grooming herself. I probably shoulda put the antibio in the applesauce, I didn't know if she liked apple sauce though, was sort of testing her. so I'll wait 30mins and then give it to her with ice cream, I'll have to take Blaze out make sure she doesn't take any.

Thanks for all your support guys. When I first got my vermin, I knew I wanted to spoil them, but I told myself I wouldn't do vet care. I know that sounds terrible, but, I figured I'd give them a home, and a good life, but I didn't want to spend too much money on stuff like removing tumors when they have such short lives. But when I noticed something was wrong I grabbed my wallet and I wasn't willing to let anything happen to her that I could prevent.

Edit: melty ice cream is a win. She gobbled it all up. She is loving all this special treatment.. Oatmeal and strawberries for dessert, apple sauce and ice cream for breakfast.

Kay, I got some pics of the damage. I didn't wana bug her too much so this is the best pic I got of her swollen lip.


This is the area where it happened, normally the wires are neatly tucked back here, and she normally doesn't venture that way. Blaze has once or twice, but I shoo her right out and she never went after the wires, so was just passing through.


Now here's what she did. As you can see she got right down to the live wires.

This is the light for the fish tank, so, they're not getting any light today, I need to find some electrical tape and make it safe for me. Then as soon as I have some free time I'm get some rubber tubbing at the hardware store and really cover everything up.

This is the other spot, same wire, not as deep but still made it to the live wire. So I assume this didn't hurt her and she moved on to the next spot.


And THIS is what happens when you put a spoiled bratty in a small cage for 5 mins so you can give the other spoiled bratty her meds.  

[Akiska]

You have other options, if you have a fish store nearby that sells the stuff for undergravel filters they will often have clear plastic tubing that you can just slit down the side and click around your wires. They usually sell it pretty cheap since people just hack it up anyway to make the uptake tubes.  

[Gabrielle_AnimalLuver]

Akiska

You have other options, if you have a fish store nearby that sells the stuff for undergravel filters they will often have clear plastic tubing that you can just slit down the side and click around your wires. They usually sell it pretty cheap since people just hack it up anyway to make the uptake tubes.

I'm not sure what an undergravel filter is but I'll bet aquatica would have it. I'll check that out. I wanted to get more fish food anyway, I haven't seen Zuko eat since I got him. Plus I still need a veggie clip and I wana get better wafers since Shy is still young I think now is the time to give good food and then I'll try to use up the crappy wafer later.  

[Cowgirl-with-heart]

awe poor dear, she looks like a hamster with food in her pouch  

[Gabrielle_AnimalLuver]

meds are going a bit easier. Although, tonight I tried it with apple sauce, she ate apple sauce this morning, but didn't wana know tonight, so I had to mix in some ice cream with it. Then for her pain meds I decided to just go straight for the ice cream. So I'm a lil worried she's gona be sick with all the ice cream she ate today. I did a really good clean out of the cage. I've been cleaning the litter boxes like twice a day. She slept a lot today, and just as I was getting worried she got up and wanted to run around. Blaze is being very supportive. Helping her clean her injury and keeping her company.

The vet called me this morning. Not the tech, who's job it is, but the vet herself took the time to call me and check on her. She suggested we come back early in the week so she can have a listen to her lungs, check there's no fluid in them. I'm going to ask at school if I can bring her in there maybe save money. As it is I didn't have the money to pay for last night.

And now, before I fall asleep, now that Rascal has finally dozed off, I gotta get some fluids in him. I honestly need a second job just to pay for my pets.  

[Cowgirl-with-heart]

Gabrielle_AnimalLuver

meds are going a bit easier. Although, tonight I tried it with apple sauce, she ate apple sauce this morning, but didn't wana know tonight, so I had to mix in some ice cream with it. Then for her pain meds I decided to just go straight for the ice cream. So I'm a lil worried she's gona be sick with all the ice cream she ate today. I did a really good clean out of the cage. I've been cleaning the litter boxes like twice a day. She slept a lot today, and just as I was getting worried she got up and wanted to run around. Blaze is being very supportive. Helping her clean her injury and keeping her company.

The vet called me this morning. Not the tech, who's job it is, but the vet herself took the time to call me and check on her. She suggested we come back early in the week so she can have a listen to her lungs, check there's no fluid in them. I'm going to ask at school if I can bring her in there maybe save money. As it is I didn't have the money to pay for last night.

And now, before I fall asleep, now that Rascal has finally dozed off, I gotta get some fluids in him. I honestly need a second job just to pay for my pets.

I have never had one get sick from eating ice cream, they loooooove it xD  

[Gabrielle_AnimalLuver]

@cowgirl, she did have some diarrhea. I gave her antibiotics with strawberry flavored yogurt this am. Figured the protein and probiotics would do good. This morning I caught her eating lab blocks, so the swelling in her mouth must be down a lot. Still feeding her soft food to make it easier though. And because she has this annoying habbit of sitting in the litter box when she eats a treat or grooms herself, I am still trying to be a**l about the litter boxes being clean.

She's back to her usual self. She actually has been trying (and once succeeded) to get out of her cage. She wants to go back to roaming my room and not be locked up in her mansion. Blaze escapes pretty much every time I open the door, it's just a matter of grabbing her before she jumps off my desk and disappears behind it. But I work today and tomorrow is labor day so I'm not too sure when I'll be able to get the stuff to cover the wires.  

[Cowgirl-with-heart]

Gabrielle_AnimalLuver

@cowgirl, she did have some diarrhea. I gave her antibiotics with strawberry flavored yogurt this am. Figured the protein and probiotics would do good. This morning I caught her eating lab blocks, so the swelling in her mouth must be down a lot. Still feeding her soft food to make it easier though. And because she has this annoying habbit of sitting in the litter box when she eats a treat or grooms herself, I am still trying to be a**l about the litter boxes being clean.

She's back to her usual self. She actually has been trying (and once succeeded) to get out of her cage. She wants to go back to roaming my room and not be locked up in her mansion. Blaze escapes pretty much every time I open the door, it's just a matter of grabbing her before she jumps off my desk and disappears behind it. But I work today and tomorrow is labor day so I'm not too sure when I'll be able to get the stuff to cover the wires.

I heard that rats can be lactose intolerant, so maybe thats why, she should be ok as long as she doesnt get dehydrated, but at least shes getting the meds!  

[Gabrielle_AnimalLuver]

Okay, time for another update on Aida. The swelling has gone down A LOT. She no longer looks like a chipmunk lol. Still has a very healthy appetite. I attempted to have a listen to her lungs but all I heard was the dududududududud of her lil heart. I try to mix up what I give her meds with. Last night blended apple sauce banana and yogurt went over well with both of them. This morning I added pumpkin, which they normally like, but, I dunno, they just weren't into it. Probably cause they already had egg and pumpernickle bread for breakfast. Since the antibiotics were already IN the mix, I had to add ice cream to get her to eat it, so then she had way too much food on her plate, but she ate it all thankfully. If anything I'm worried about over feeding her. Because I don't know if she's ready for lab blocks, everything I give her is so yummy they empty the bowl. So I basically have to leave them with nothing to snack on cause otherwise they would just never stop eating. Her mouth is still bruised though, and her front paws are stained red, I think from grooming her injury. I think her mouth may be permanetly scarred and it's possible she lost sensation. We still don't know what the extent of the damage was but, it's been 64hrs (2.5 days) since the incident and she's still looking good. She'll be on antibiotics for the rest of the week and has two more nights left of anti inflamatories.

She's snuggled up to Blaze right now, looking incredibly cute and comfy. Both crammed into their lil hamser house. heart

Edit: I just did a quick spot clean. Their bedding (paper towels, I rip them up and throw them in they like to pile them in their house, I've tried bed fluff and other real bedding but they only like paper.) it had a decent amount of dried blood on it. I'm thinking this is from grooming herself. It's still worrysome though, cause her lip wasn't bleeding when she hurt herself, so, maybe the swelling caused it to split. It's also possible she has internal bleeding though. So I'm still on red alert here.  

[Gabrielle_AnimalLuver]

Right, so, I'm kind of freaking out a bit now. I put fresh paper towels in their house this morning, and already there are lil dried blood stains. Even though she is not showing any signs of illness or respiratory distress, one of the symptoms of pulmonary edema is coughing up blood.

I'm really afraid I won't be able to afford the treatment. I mean, there's always visa but I'm already in debt a few hundred. PLZ, just let her be okay. I mean the injury itself was bad enough. crying  

[Shanna66]

you could leave them alone in a padded room and they would still find ways to get hurt or into trouble. you had no reason to believe she would chew wires so you cant be blamed for this