Categories: uncategorized
Date: 23 August 2007 11:49:17
And to think I thought it was bad administering antibiotics to a reluctant gerbil!
Ratty is still suffering from his unsightly skin condition which, after a slight slowing down in response to the first application of mite-killer, has proceeded to spread over a lot of his body, leaving him bald and crusty. Not a nice way for a gerbil to be, especially such a pretty one. But he's a strong and determined little fellow and continues to be too sprightly for me to contemplate giving up on him... even if it is costing me a small fortune disproportionate to the size of the gerbil.
Having ruled out infection (treated by oral antibiotics) and infestation (treated by spot-on stuff like you use on dogs and cats), the next possibility is that it is a fungal infection, so we're onto the third experimental treatment. I now have to extract poor Ratty from the comfort of his cage every two days for a fortnight and bath him. Yes, bath him. He is not amused. Immersion in a margarine-tub of warm water is not his favourite pastime, although he doesn't seem too reluctant to let me lather him in this special shampoo which has to stay on for ten minutes before being rinsed off again with another dunk in the margarine-tub. Poor Ratty - the indignity of it! After several months of manhandling and dosing with one thing and another, he's doing really well not to have died of shock!
Must remember, though, to give the next pet a sensible name. It's rather embarrassing when the vet comes into the waiting room and calls for "Ratty" to go through.