Yesterday was one of those days I hope not to repeat any time soon. It’s all about Nibbles.
3 weeks ago, Nibbles got out of her habitat and spent a night free in Ashley’s room while she was at a sleepover. Nibbles developed a wet tail infection and had antibiotics that she took for 2 weeks. She finished those up one week ago.
Little did we know that the infection had not been cured. Friday night, Nibbles was a spazzy hamster. She was frantically biting and hopping, and we put her in the ball and she had hamster rips all over the house. Naturally, we thought nothing of it when she was out cold sleepy yesterday morning. Right after lunch, Ashley took a piece of apple up for her. Nibbles would not open her eyes or even try to eat her favorite food. When Ashley picked her up, Nibbles was sluggish and felt cold. We got Nibbles to the local pet ER that happened to have someone there who would treat a hamster (otherwise, we would have needed to drive to Elmwood Park one hour away). Thank goodness for that. Nibbles would never have survived long enough to go any further. She was cold and struggling to breathe. The vet was able to count her heart rate without tools, something that you can’t do with a healthy hamster, and could not even register a temperature with their tools. The vet said she had a septic infection left over from the wet tail and recommended that we euthanize her if some basic treatments didn’t work. We agreed. It was one of the hardest things Ashley had to consider, but she did what she thought would be kindest (with plenty of guidance and hugs from her mom!). The vet tried a few basic things first: sugar water, saline under the skin, and time in a warm incubator. Nibbles started to perk up. They kept treating her with the warmth and sugar water. She got active and ornery enough to try and bite the vet. We were asked to go home and bring back some food, which Nibbles promptly inhaled and cheek stashed. By 9PM, we were able to bring Nibbles home! She is looking fairly normal, is back on the antibiotics, and needs to see the vet tomorrow or Tuesday. Nibbles got to spend the night in her travel cage with a bed buddy wrapped around one side. I got to check on her at 4AM and warm up the buddy again. Ashley moved her back to her habitat a little while ago.
So now we see. I read that these wet tail infections are persistent and often fatal. We have Nibbles back for now, but she could relapse again. Ashley knows that if she gets like she was yesterday again, it would be unkind to keep putting her through that cycle of near-death to better to near-death again. If we had not been home yesterday, or we had tried to drive to the other pet hospital, Nibbles would be gone.
Top that off with yesterday being the day Kevin lost his dad 5 years ago.
Ashley did have her karate belt test this morning. Kevin said she looked great and should earn 3 stripes at least. If she earns 4, she colors up to her blue belt. If she earns 3, then she keeps her yellow belt and would color up at her spring belt test.
Kayla had an amazing concert Thursday night! I have lots of videos and will post them as soon as I figure out how to download videos onto the new computer. Thanks to my band teacher colleague who saved us! Kayla’s mouthpiece fell on the floor and shattered the morning of her concert, and my friend at work gave us one to use until we get her new one in a few days.