Hello,
What sized needle tip is that, a 25 gauge? Hard to tell, but, it looks a bit large to me. Usually, the
size of needle used is essentially the insulin needle size.
I am not quite sure he actually needs an antibiotic if he is trying to brumate. If his white blood cell
counts are basically in the normal range, some can actually be off, such as the neutrophils I believe,
but can double check, if they are brumating.
The antibiotic is going to be very hard on his system if he isn't basking enough for it to breakdown &
metabolize due to brumating.
Tracie
Thank you. The reason I felt pushed to try the antibiotic is because
I thought the lethargy might be a sign of him feeling severely ill and weak. Since the first 2 injections showed no sign at all in change of behavior (he actually started sleeping more) then I think it is just brumation and I will back off. Vet agreed I could stop meds. I feel bad doing it in the first place but I was worried the lethargy was a sign of illness and not brumation at all; he
only ended up getting 2 small shots hopefully that wasn't too harsh on his system; the total dose was 10, one every 3 days. Should I give him some baths to get the medication metabolized? He also needs to poop out the food he ate before... he hasn't pooped in over a week.
There still was that
very small amount of pinworm but I haven't treated it since everyone thinks it is not an issue...
Other issue I'm having: he will go into his log sometimes instead of the hide. There is not much darkness in the log so he
stays awake during the day but doesn't move, eat, or bask. I've just been leaving him to his own devices but I feel I should maybe help him find his hide? In his hide he digs under the blankets and actually sleeps. I just read that "partial brumation" is not a real thing and just means they are being obstructed from full brumation they are meant to be doing. He knew to go to his hide last time he bruited so I'm not sure what is up. Also his daytime is set to roughly 13.5 hours right now, so I will be lowing it to 12.5 and then eventually just 12.
I'm also a little sad because he brumated for 4 months during last winter, he was awake for maybe few weeks before the reproductive issues (preovulatory stasis) that led to his surgery, he finally recovers from that and now its another brumation,
but in the summer/fall? Will he sleep straight through the winter until Spring? I miss having him awake, active, and healthy... its been so long
One unanswered thing is that his discolored urinate started back up at the same time as the brumation behaviors... could it be a sign of his metabolism dropping? Any ideas???