The Beginning Part 3- Medicine for a Discount

Two weeks of Sulfa-Trim and Dapper still wasn't better. He was sneezing LESS but not to the point where I felt comfortable letting it be. I was disappointed and totally ballistic, worrying that I would need some SERIOUS drugs to get rid of this RI (or maybe he would never get better). Rescuing him and getting used to caring for him was a lot in and of itself, I felt like I had adopted a child! 

Dealing with people on the internet saying that rats with RI's almost always had Mycoplasma wasn't helping either. Mycoplasma, which nearly all pet rats carry from birth, lacks a cell wall, making it hard to get rid of and impossible to treat with Sulfa-Trim (they say). They concluded an RI then  MUST be treated with a Baytril and Doxycyclin mixture. This was not  helping my stress levels either!!

There was also the fact that it had been really really hard to get him to take his medication. I had to mix the stuff  in baby food first, then cookie dough, yogurt, oatmeal... it was getting to the point I was running out of ideas of what to mix it with! I was SUPER hoping that they would let me get a prescription for the Publix brand. Not just because it was free, but because I had had experience with the medication before and I knew it's consistency was slightly different, maybe he would like it better??? 

Back to the vet we went. The vet seemed to think his progress was going well. She prescribed two more weeks of the same medication. "Can I get this stuff at Publix?" I asked for the second time.  "I think I've gotten it at Publix before for my hamster" the tech (a different, more understanding one than last time) gave me a prescription that I could give to the pharmacist. One step closer to a possibly easier medication experience!

Dapper eating banana out of a spoon.