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3K views 22 replies 6 participants last post by  aprilleigh 
#1 ·
I've already lost one of my boys to myco related illness.

Of my two hairless twins Skinner and Melon, the latter currently has issues with myco. He's on ABs and will be for the remainder of his life. With the two they were born close enough to identical that I had to do a careful body check for most of their life and locate identifying scars to figure out who was who when I needed to be 100 percent sure for doctor purposes.

Melon has been having continuing problems with the myco all his life. About two months ago he came down with a pretty significant respiratory flare up. It and the continuing regimen of ABs are really ravaging his little body. The damage is made more obvious without fur to hide some of the effects, and having his formerly identical brother by his side to compare healthy vs. not healthy.

Not only has Melon lost weight, his skin has started to change texture, becoming slightly rougher, in spite of olive oil treatments and a weight boosting well balanced diet. What's most disturbing is that his color has changed. With the oxygen issues from the lung scarring, he has acquired a slightly darker cast to his skin. He looks like he's had a touch of lavender blended in with his natural pink. It's not really noticeable unless he and Skinner are side by side, and then it's glaring.

I don't know how much longer Melon will be around at this point, but I'm beginning to think in terms of weeks instead of months and years. So far he is not slowed down, and as long as he's on AB's the secondary killers are being kept at bay.
 
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#2 ·
Oh Story, I am just so sorry about this and it is just not fair. Myco DOES suck. Absolutely. Just reading about all the things that are happening to Melon's sweet nekkid body makes me want to cry.



I didn't know that the myco and the effects of long term ABs did so much to a ratty's physical exterior either. Our poor baby Melon. I just wish I had something cheerful and wonderful to say to perk you up but I am at a loss this time. I just have sad face right now.
**** that myco. :mad2:



Maybe we can just remember how lucky Melon is to have such a wonderful home and ratty friends who love him and a Mom who loves him and that he has many, many things that are so good in his life. Hmmm...maybe I am trying to cheer myself up as much as trying to cheer you up, eh?


I love Melon and I hope you can give him some kissies and rubs from Auntie Vlad, okay? I send hugs and cuddles to you sweet Melon, and hang in there bubby. :sneakyhug:
 
#3 ·
You're always so sweet Vlad. :)

Nah, I'm with you. I always think in terms of no matter what they're dealing with that I can't help, I know I gave them a pampered life compared to 99 percent of domesticated rats in the world.

I'm not going on any doctoral knowledge that AB's affect them. Just going with the knowledge that AB's are not great for you, being called 'anti' 'biotics' for a reason. Anti=against Bio=life Biotic=part of a living community

I also know that most any medication has side effects that screw with your body. I can only imagine what ABs do long term.

Any medication is weighed in terms of being the lesser of evils.

I think the best term applied to looking at Melon right now would be 'meloncholy', though he himself just keeps trucking along happy in the now of rat-thought. What do you mean only 2 years mom? That's a whole lifetime! There's a lot a rat can do in that amount of time. :)
 
#4 · (Edited)
Yep, I agree with you on the ratty outlook. They are much more go with the flow and enjoy every second with their lives than us whiny humans could ever be, eh?



I started thinking in those terms about how rats live their lives, their outlooks, when Breyer mentioned something about their sense of time and it makes so much sense. Maybe a week for us is like a whole year in ratty time or something like that. "2 years, wow! That is a long, long time!" said the ratty to the person.



I suppose it makes perfect sense. I imagine an alien species with life spans of about 800 years, observing us on Earth and thinking, "Oh, those poor humanoids...they rarely get past 90 years old at most...what short, brief lives they have." You know what I mean?


Rats are wise and know how to make the best of every durn second they have. We can learn so much from them.
 
#5 ·
Exactly! It's funny you word it that way.

I'm a comic book geek in my spare time. One of my long time favorite comics was Elfquest (my son is actually discovering it for the first time this month :))

Time and longevity and the issue of what makes life worthwhile is one of the reoccurring themes with this series.

Immortal shape shifting space faring aliens, searching for evidence of their own lost kind decide to visit a medieval world because they see evidence in the European-esque human culture of creatures with powers similar to themselves. Their lost kin? They shapeshift into the fantasy creatures (elves) they observe from the human fantasies but instead of stopping for a short visit, their ship warps accidentally through time and crashes. So they come out 20 thousand some years into the planet's primordial past, get the snot beaten out of them by neanderthals and escape into the woods.

The rest of the series is them dealing with immortality on a very harsh mortal world. One of the original crash survivors in a bid to give her people a chance at survival shapeshifts into a wolf and joins a local wolfpack,has a mixblood mortal baby who in turn grows to teach the castaways how to survive, reproduce (they'd lost the memory of it with immortality), and live as a part of the world.

So, you can imagine all the angst that arises between the immortals and the new wolfblooded mortals (who only live some 2000- 6000 years if they're lucky), and the knuckle dragging short lived humans who evolve over countless generations with these fantastical and mostly unwelcome colonists.

What does make life worthwhile anyway? Living a short life to the fullest, experiencing everything your skin has to teach you? Or living forever, mentally divorced from your physical shell if you can help it to explore mental pursuits?

I think our ratties can teach us a lot on that front. :)
 
#6 ·
I agree with you: myco DOES suck. Big time. :( Poor Melon. I'm sad to hear he's been having a bad time with it lately. I will say this, though: there were many, MANY times in Russell's life that I thought we were looking at weeks and not months left... and that big-hearted little guy always surprised me. If they have the will to live and the stamina left to do so, it's amazing what it does to their physical ability to pull through even the worst myco flareups. So, I just always took it one day at a time with him. Some days were great, some were bad. Sometimes he seemed perfectly healthy, and other times I thought for sure I would lose him. Do what you can for him now, every day--as I know you already do--and you might be surprised. And even if the time ends up on the shorter end, you will always be able to say you did right by him. :) :hugg2:
 
#8 ·
You're so right. They have this wonderful ability to just LIVE until they know they're done. Then more often then not they say goodbye clearly and with peace and quite quickly.

We're enjoying him completely right now. His brother looks out for him always. It wouldn't surprise me if they didn't pass within days of each other, old married couple that they are.

Thanks for saying just what I need to hear Breyer. :) :hug3:
 
#7 ·
Well said Breyer....so very true. :)

That is always a good thing to keep in mind, for sure!

And yes, Story, the Elfquest series sounds like something right up my alley. Marc and I love fantasy/sci-fi (Star Trek, Tolkien, you name it)
and, it is amazing how many times I have seen this same theme you talked about with Elfquest in other sci-fi/fantasy media as well.

And yes, rats have so much to teach us. I try to learn from my kids all the time about using your time to its utmost, every second of every day. This goes so well with what Breyer has said about taking it one day at a time and appreciating every millisecond with her kids. I do that too with my ratty kids, every day. :yes:
 
#9 ·
It's funny, but it seems the more rats I have, the more they pull me into their little world and I get so enthralled about every little thing about them. Nine is too many for me, but at the same time the sheer amount of Living going on in this house with all of their little personalities is exciting.

And yay, a SciFi/Fantasy appreciator. If you're interested in checking out Elfquest, they raised the bar on publishing not too long back and published the entire 40 year run for free on their website as a permanent archive, so you can get the whole thing in one place. If you do, PM me and let me know what you and Marc think of it. It's so life afferming, nature loving and pro-animal I can easily see any animimal lover finding a liking to it.

Main site: http://www.elfquest.com/
Archive: http://www.elfquest.com/gallery/OnlineComics3.html
 
#10 ·
Antibiotics are targeted to functions that bacteria have that other cells do not. The cell structure is radically different, which is why we can do this. The problem, and the reason why they aren't good for us long-term, is it also kills off the beneficial bacteria that do good things for us. He may be suffering from those effects, but the antibiotic itself is probably not doing him any direct harm unless he's allergic. If that's the case, it's probably mild or he wouldn't have survived long.

There are a couple of exceptions, at least in humans - tetracycline and its derivatives can, among other things, accumulate in our teeth, giving them a bluish-grey caste, and it makes the skin photosensitive.

Side effects are very dependent on the specific antibiotic being used, are frequently dose-dependent (as is their effectiveness). The differences between the side effects in humans and those in rats are also likely to be antibiotic-specific, with some being identical, and others being radically different. All I can say for certain is that antibiotics target cell structures and functions that don't exist outside bacterial cells (or exist is such radically different form in normal cells that they are essentially unrecognizable by the antibiotic).
 
#11 ·
Story, have you noticed any darkness in his nail beds? Cooler extremities along with his overall change of colour? When you treat him with antibiotics for a URI, does it respond and clear up for awhile at least then return, or never truly gets better just stabilizes?
 
#12 ·
April: Thanks for this explanation. My sister is a kidney/transplant patient and is on tetracycline. They said her teeth would do what you're describing but I didn't know why. She absolutely shows teeth and skin issues from it.

Spaz: Yes, he has darker and cooler extremities. And yes, as of this latest round, the URI hasn't gone away, just stabilized. Nebulizer treatments help him breathe easier, but it never really stops the rattling for more than an hour..

Right now he's still very active and isn't telling me he's ready to stop, but all of this is showing me the day is coming.
 
#18 ·
There may have ended up being something congenitally wrong with Trixie, or she got hold of some kind of toxin. Though that's just guessing. Without a vet necropsy, it's often a shot in the dark.


Thought I'd give a non-update of sorts. With all my surgeries and such, I've blown through every bit of my vet money budget, and into my personal savings for this two week cycle. The only thing I can spend money on until the next paycheck is an emergency like when custard split her leg open. So, in the meantime, I'm continuing treating Melon on ab's as if he has myco, keeping him low stress, and keeping him on a healthy diet to which I've added flax oil and other heart friendly supplements as per the Rat Health Guide.

I'll know more next week.
 
#19 ·
vlaine

I had to put my little girl pinky down today. I thought she had myco. my vet is to awsome he checked her and she actually had an annurism in her lungs. so dont ever assume its myco. It could also be either tumers in the lungs or an anurism. maybe even something else. pinky is a hairless rat and she gave me two beautiful years of happiness with her and I will miss her.
 
#21 ·
I'm so sorry about your Pinky, Vlaine. Though it's not a happy post, welcome aboard. :)

You're right, I shouldn't assume it's myco. Pretty much the instant Lilspaz mentioned congestive heart failure I snapped out of that. I was already going to have the vet do an Xray, so hopefully it will show something else to treat, or at least let me know a clear next step. If not, I'll be working with him to treat things symptomatically to see if we can narrow this down to something maintainable or if it's time to consider putting him down.
 
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