When Calla arrived she was a very heavyset 515 grams, but with lots of exercise and good food she slimmed down to a lithe 390 grams. I have been watching her to see how she did without her cagemate who had passed recently from PT, and last night I got a “feeling” and offered her a multigrain cheerio. She only used one paw to try to eat it with, and when trying to hold on with 2 she had to rest them on the couch.
She also was not running and climbing like crazy, which is very un-Calla-like. She had an appointment for a tiny tumour to be removed on Friday and I cancelled it today and put the boys neuter in instead.
Tonight I pulled out Calla and within minutes, my heart sunk to the bottom. I did my standard tests and watched her behaviour. I guess she loved her “big sister” so much she had to emulate her. Same symptoms, and the same progression (fast!). I gave her the dex and baytril right after.
Noooooo!!! This is too soon after my Pea!!!
One good thing is that Calla gave me some good frame-by-frame pictoral of PT behaviours. They are sad though.
From this
To the wobblies and confused partially closed eyes
Attempting to eat the cheerio with one paw
Dropping the cheerio
Trying to use her body to get it back in her mouth
The clubbed forepaws shoved out front
Calla gets smart and takes little bites
I HATE PT, it happens so very very fast! I was looking forward to really getting to know her.
I do want to include this pic of her the next morning, after getting her dexamethasone injection. When a rat responds it can often be very fast and almost "miraculous". She was much brighter, agile and her fur was down. She continued to improve on steroid therapy which is why I always suggest trying it no matter what.
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