poor deedee
my lovely little deedee died yesterday around 4:30.
she was sick, but i didn't realize how sick she really was. about a month or so ago, i took her to the vet about scratches and irritation on her face - turns out the girls got mites from a new bag of wood shavings. we gave them medication for the mites, and put deedee on antibiotics for her scratches. she finished all the medication, and her skin didn't get any better - in fact it started looking worse.
so on saturday after we moved into the new place (steve and i are living together now, by the way), we took her back to the vet. earlier that day she had seemed weak, and really out of it (loss of balance, stuff like that) but after we gave her new medication she started to perk back up. i guess she had a secondary infection from her scratching. poor thing was all red and pink in the face. :( but she did have more energy and was back to her ratty self.
yesterday morning i was getting ready for work and was going to give her her meds, but she was sleeping so i waited til i had to go to work. around two before i was about to leave, i went to take her out. she was so weak she could barely open her eyes, and her body was just limp in my hands. it seemed like she was drifting in and out of consciousness, randomly trying to crawl/squirm. i called steve to let him know "i think deedee is dying, what do i do? can you come home?" - left work to come home.
we took her to the vet to see if this is really it, is there anything they can do. i couldn't live with myself if i could have saved her and didn't try. she said deedee was breathing normally and her heart rate was normal, but her temperature was low, and she seemed to be in pain. she gave her some fluids under the skin (i was trying to feed her water through a baby syringe to hydrate her, hello nurse) and a bit of pain medication, and we had her wrapped up in a towel with a warm bag of oats. she was just lying there limp with her eyes closed. about an hour later in a quiet room she took her last breaths in our arms.
we buried her under a nice big tree on the river beside betty, steve's rat.
i miss her already.
she was sick, but i didn't realize how sick she really was. about a month or so ago, i took her to the vet about scratches and irritation on her face - turns out the girls got mites from a new bag of wood shavings. we gave them medication for the mites, and put deedee on antibiotics for her scratches. she finished all the medication, and her skin didn't get any better - in fact it started looking worse.
so on saturday after we moved into the new place (steve and i are living together now, by the way), we took her back to the vet. earlier that day she had seemed weak, and really out of it (loss of balance, stuff like that) but after we gave her new medication she started to perk back up. i guess she had a secondary infection from her scratching. poor thing was all red and pink in the face. :( but she did have more energy and was back to her ratty self.
yesterday morning i was getting ready for work and was going to give her her meds, but she was sleeping so i waited til i had to go to work. around two before i was about to leave, i went to take her out. she was so weak she could barely open her eyes, and her body was just limp in my hands. it seemed like she was drifting in and out of consciousness, randomly trying to crawl/squirm. i called steve to let him know "i think deedee is dying, what do i do? can you come home?" - left work to come home.
we took her to the vet to see if this is really it, is there anything they can do. i couldn't live with myself if i could have saved her and didn't try. she said deedee was breathing normally and her heart rate was normal, but her temperature was low, and she seemed to be in pain. she gave her some fluids under the skin (i was trying to feed her water through a baby syringe to hydrate her, hello nurse) and a bit of pain medication, and we had her wrapped up in a towel with a warm bag of oats. she was just lying there limp with her eyes closed. about an hour later in a quiet room she took her last breaths in our arms.
we buried her under a nice big tree on the river beside betty, steve's rat.
i miss her already.