I'm a few months late on this. My little girl passed away on November 27, 2012. I wish I had more pictures because she was always the cutest, sweetest, and funniest little creature I've ever had the pleasure of knowing. At the beginning of 2012, she stopped eating. After a couple of days, I started to get really worried so I started force feeding her an emergency liquid food, (by then she was too weak to hold her tiny head up on her own), and since she showed no improvement, I made an appointment with the closest exotic vet I could find. Unfortunately they were an hour away, but we didn't care. Once there, the vet took a look inside of her mouth and for the first time, we saw how white her tongue and gums were. We were offered bloodwork and medication, and we obliged. As soon as we got home, we gave her the meds, gave her some cuddles, and let her nap for the rest of the night. The next day, the vet called with the results. She said Ollie was (clearly) anemic, and that she had a severe liver infection, but that we could still try medication to help clear it up. Immediately we got in the car to go back and pick up more medication. She was on 3 different liquid meds, as well as a liquid food because she was too weak to eat on her own. We were instructed to administer those medications twice a day for a month. We started noticing improvement after a couple weeks. She was fianlly starting to fight back when we tried to syringe feed her, and could lift her head again.
We were incredibly happy that we were able to nurse her back to her regular self, but after another 3-4 months, I noticed she was starting to become weak again. By this time, I was employed at another vet clinic, and they were being really stubborn and wouldn't send us any of the history/records, but at least we got them to send the bloodwork our way. My doctor wanted to do another blood panel, and with my cooperation, we were able to take a sample from her. The following day, we got the results, and they weren't good. The infection apparently never went away. Her symptoms went away, but the infection was getting worse by the day. I had kept the meds from earlier that year, so we were using one of those, as well as a new batch of some antibiotics. Once I started opening her mouth to syringe feed her food, her tongue was yellow. I then noticed her eyes and skin had a yellow hue as well.. I guess since she was slowly becoming more yellow over a few months span, I never caught on..
After about a week of these medications, I was walking past the tank one morning to grab my jacket to head to work, and she was upside down, laying in a pile of vomit. (At this point, I'm starting to get really teary-eyed). I froze. But immediately started crying. I reached in the tank to pick her up, and while holding her in my arms, she opened her eyes and looked at me. She was frozen, I literally thought I had already lost her. My boyfriend, hearing me cry, came downstairs and hugged both of us. I told him I was taking her into the clinic with me, so he gathered up her meds, a heating pad, and a small handcloth to wrap her up in. She loved being wrapped up in her washcloth after a bath.
When I got to work at 8am, I set up a tank for her, gave her a hug and a kiss, and had to do some work. I hadnt even given her meds yet, and within a half hour, she had vomited. My doctor told me it was because her body was rejecting the food. As often as I could, I kept going in there, giving her a little rub on the nose, trying to tell her she wasnt alone.
By noon.. I checked on her, and she stopped responding. I went home and I cried for hours on end.
I guess I tried to post this here because I wanted to get closure or to share my story, I'm not really sure which.
Anyway, if you read this, thank you. I guess I just needed someone to listen. And I hope, if anything, I won't be alone either. I hope Ollie is okay, and I'm sorry if she was suffering. I still feel like I should've done more. Rest in peace, Olliekins. You were the only thing I've ever truly lost. I love you.
