Artemis

Artemis - May 2010 to November 16, 2012

My first description of Artemis was;

Rat 2: Black Berk Female. Normal weight. Positive for lice eggs. Resp

think, but it may be rat 3 that has the tumor). May have the start of PT or
some other brain issue. The vet said that the neuro exam was a bit
off.

From the previous owner;
Rat 2: Artemis - Super sweet, she is the one with the start of PT but is still super active and loves to run around. Sometimes I need to hold her separately from the others when I give them veggies/fruit because the others will steal hers if I don't. Artemis and Apolla are related.

I got a message on FB from a woman I knew who was volunteering at a vet clinic. These rats came in with their owner and a sad story. He needed to rehome these special needs elderly girls but the only option he had was the shelter where they would be immediately put down. Liz thought of me and of course I said yes. It took a few weeks of finagling to get a transport in place as the owner suddenly moved 3 hours away from where he was originally. But finally…Artemis, Apolla and Mariah came home.
Artemis got a gentle exam, she had small tumours, lice, tatty patchy fur (she got Revo), and the most wretched URI (so much for oldie rat lungs) and it was incredibly obvious she had PT so I started her on dexamethasone that night (very very late) and the next morning (with no response to the dex) I started her on bromocriptine, just praying to the Rat Gods we would get a response. Well she heard me.

Arrival



She was so sweet, but the confusion in her eyes when her body didn’t work the way she wanted it to was heart breaking.


Two days later YAY!!






3 days later she’s able to turn quickly and not fall over.


And she’s able to start grasping and eating…I was THRILLED, and I think she was too :)



After this the progress was much slower but steady, it was just wonderful to see, and she was incredibly happy. She would get so excited when I would pat her and would brux and boggle and smile :)



Eating like a regular little ol’ rat.



Her Auntie Peggy sent her a hammock in the mail (it was even addressed to her and c/o of myself *giggle*) It was soft and warm, festive and she loved it.
She also loved all her meds I gave her, she didn’t care which one it was, but it was working, the URI was losing its stranglehold on her and was almost gone. Another triumph.

My little happy frog-girl :D


But sadly at only 2.5 weeks home, her PT took over and she regressed The bromocriptine wasn’t working so I hoped the dex might bring her back a little, but like before, no response. My poor gal was very tired.


I picked up some “Yummy pink stuff”(the real strawberry Ensure) to feed her but when I got home she was already past that stage. So I got settled in, with Artemis on my chest, and sang, and cuddled and stroked and talked to her, and finally ended up dozing a little until she finally let go at 2 am this morning.

Sweet Artemis, too short a time with me, but I bet it was just long enough for you. You will be missed beautiful girl.