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.

The Beginning Part 2- This Rat Gets Named

The day after I got This Rat (did I mention that he still wasn't named yet? because he wasn't)  it was evident; he did have a respiratory infection. He was making hacking noises, like coughing or something.

Here I am, a newbie rat owner, with a sick rat. So what do I do? I went to the vet obviously.
On the way to the vet I christened my new pet "Dapper Dandy", because my mom forced me to name him before we got to the vet so "Rat" wouldn't be on the vet forms. It was a good thing too, if I hadn't been forced, I would have not named him for two weeks (I hate decisions).

We get to the vet.  The vet pumped him with fluids as he was dehydrated. He was prescribed   medication for a secondary respiratory infection, a stuff called 'Sulfa Trim'.

"Is Sulfa Trim something I can get at Publix Pharmacy?" I asked the vet tech, a young woman with bobby hair.

I asked because the medication was the same I got for my late hamster Delilah when she needed antibiotics, and it was free at Publix, which was nice.

"Oh I wouldn't know," said the tech, looking perplexed, but uninterested.

"Is there any way to know?" (hoping she would offer to check)

"You are welcome to call them if you want to," she leaves the room while I dial the phone.

The phone call goes rather unexpectedly. Publix couldn't tell me if they had the right medication without the dosage, something I didn't know. Oh well, it would have been nice to save a few dollars, but after that it wasn't worth any more trouble, I could tell I wasn't going to get any further with the tech.

Dapper Dandy after the vet visit.