Hi everyone!!!
I feel so awful that I'm on for a bit, and disappear for a LONG TIME, and then come back on again and again. Been quite busy that I'll catch up on at the end of the note here.
MOST IMPORTANTLY: Lulu-Bean is going on 9 this July. And as of about 1.5 weeks ago, during a tooth trimming (yes, had to go back to that ) she screamed, peed in my eye, and scratched my hand so bad that it's scarring--all of which is totally out of character for this normally snuggly, loving little girl. After every teeth trimming (once per month), she goes back in her nest to "cool off".
That night she wouldn't come out. Nor the next day.
Once she finally came out of her nest and her cage to get her veggies and fresh food, we noticed she was walking, not scurrying or hopping, but walking with a bit of a hunch over to her food with her tail dragging behind her. While odd, we thought she was just really down after the ordeal and maybe a little under the weather (the weather is going from warm to rainy and cold in SE Wisconsin lately). A week later, and she STILL won't lift her tail, and is still lethargic. I'm terrified that during the tooth trimming, my husband (yes, wedding bells) may have held her too tight and damaged a nerve in her tail or hurt her spinal cord. Diagnosis notes:
-Her back toes are still ticklish, and her tail will twitch if I touch it (her toes aren't cold)
-She will, however, squeak or grunt when I massage her hindquarters, near the hips and base of her tail
-She is still drinking water, though not as much
-She is still pooping and pottying
-We monitor her calcium since she was an MBD baby
-She gets Kaytee rodent blocks every day, and she eats them every day (they are always available to her). Even with this concerning behavior, she is still eating. She has also returned to coming out nightly to eat her plate of veggies
-She sunbathes daily, even when there is no sun (we have a Vitamin D lamp for her)
-Her balance isn't so great right now and she's avoiding climbing and jumping
-We've moved her nest closer to the bottom of her cage so she doesn't have to climb as far, and we've given her a heating pad, on low, to relax on
...SO what's going on with my baby? I feel terrible. Attaching a picture I took of her a few days ago, though you can't see much through the cage. I put food in the cage that day since she didn't want to come out. I have to be off to work soon, but I will respond ASAP.
On the plus side, and for some afterthought reading:
-Lulu-Bean and I moved to Phoenix about 5 years ago to chase the marketing field
-We met who is now Lulu-Bean's Daddy about 2 years ago in Phoenix
-He spent a year patiently gaining her trust
-He and I got married by Elvis last October in Vegas
-We moved back to the Milwaukee area this past December
-We bought my grandparents' house (50 years in the family, and we are the 2nd owners) in May
-Lulu-Bean will FINALLY get a room all to herself and doesn't have to share with Mommy anymore