A tough few days

Advance apologies, I'm feeling pretty :( tonight. It has been a rough few days.

*self pitying whinge alert* Things are still difficult outside the animal side of things. Grandpa was finally released from hospital yesterday and is doing well but has had to go to a care home for now. This is in part because Grandma is now ill with a severe chest infection and fluid on her lungs and is on bed rest at my Mum's. Added to that I'm having a really busy and stressful time at work at the moment too. Oh and I think I have an ear infection, hence me writing my blog rather than being upstairs cleaning out as I should be. Dave insisted I have a rest cos the room keeps spinning whenever I stand up!! *end self pitying whinge*

Thursday night I took Fudgey degu and Nutmeg the foster rat to the vets. Fudge had overgrown teeth and Nutmeg had an abcess on his throat. Both stayed overnight to have anaesthetics the next day. Fudge was to have her teeth burred and Nutmeg would have his abcess lanced and flushed.

Friday I had a call to say Fudge's teeth were worse than was originally apparent and the back teeth were severely overgrown. The vet suggested we put her to sleep. Now, naughty as this is, I have to confess that Fudge is my favourite. When she arrived with another possibly pregnant female she was terrified. Anytime I went into the room she screamed and panicked. I was sure she was pregnant because she was so very fat! But her cagemate gave birth a couple of weeks later but she didn't. When the time came to home them all I decided to keep Fudge here and put her in with my others. She was a bit more used to me but still very nervous and I just couldn't put her through the stress of moving to a new home. I started a campaign to win her over and made a point of handfeeding the degus every night. I can still remember the first night she took something from my hand - it brought tears to my eyes! These days she has blossomed into a confident girl who is alpha of my degu group. She's not keen on being touched by us but she is very happy to come and take treats. So, given that she was still distinctly round and full of energy and otherwise in good condition there was no way I could agree to the euthanasia. I asked the vet to burr her teeth down so that we could see how she got on for a while. If the teeth regrow quickly and cause her problems then we will have to consider her future. But if all she needs is her teeth trimmed a few times a year then I think that's worth considering. She bounced back incredibly well from her ordeal and seeing her give all the others kisses and make little greeting noises to them all was so touching.

Nutmeg, I'm pleased to report, is also doing fine and is on antibiotics to deal with any infection.

So, then this morning I went out to see to the bunnies and found that Shadow had a big wound on his side. So he was off to the vets and it transpires that he has lice. So he and Kitkat have been brought inside and both must be treated for lice. Shads also has antibiotics to help to heal his skin, poor lad.

So I'm still hoping for that magical time when everything settles down and gets back to normal and I catch up with everything!