the new definition of "cheap"

Hiko and Anya's vet trip!

Let's start with Anya; Hiko went first last time, I think :)

Managed to lose 80 grams, stubborn girl, so eek.  So tiny.  The vet didn't seem alarmed, would prefer the weight loss as we get her switched, rather than her gaining weight on crappy kibble, so.  And I told Dr. Paul all about her stubbornness.  He liked my idea, just mixing the bag of Marshall's in with the bag of Wysong in a tupperware container, so the smells mingle and maybe she'll eventually stop picking out just the Marshall's to eat.

She got her implant and her distemper shot.  Also got her nails clipped (for free!) while she was under.  The vet did hear her cough once, while under anesthetic.  Offered to run tests, but because the amount of cough is lessening and she's not suffering behavioral-wise with it, I said no (really couldn't afford it, either.  Dr. Paul did understand that, and said the cough wasn't a top worry of his, either).  Dr. Paul also retested her blood protein.  Up by 20 points, and since she wasn't dehydrated, the increase wasn't due to that :)

So, good news for her.  And now, unless symptoms break through, I just have to call monthly with updates.  The total for her stuff was $479.  $385 just for the implant, which - not to be a bother - but I'm going to call about (I didn't catch it on the invoice until I was home, and it was too late to call), since both Hiko and Pixie's had only been in the low 200s.  I want to know if it was in error, if the price just increased, or (and more importantly) if the make up of the implant's changed, and what that might mean, if that's the case.

Now for Mister Hiko.

First off, he gained some weight!  He's now 2.5 lbs :)  Still the smallest of the big guys, but he's getting up there, again!

He had to be fasted.  What the vet and techs don't get is that a whole prey diet is vastly different, of course, from kibble.  It's more difficult to "pull food" at a certain time with whole prey, than when it is just a bowl of processed food.

Instead of "pulling food," (which is more like "searching for body parts in any and all areas of the cage," - not as catchy, I know), I have to think of what food he'll want to eat, right away, and also what food he can finish quickly.  So, at around 1 am, I gave each of the big three 1 chick apiece.  I watched him settle down and start eating, and it was probably gone in ... oh, 30 minutes, if that.  After that, he didn't eat.

For the glucose curve testing, I fast him, bring him in and then about every hour they draw blood and run it in their glucometer, or whatever.  First one was 100; next one was mid-90s, the last one was 80.  So, Dr. Paul stamped Hiko's health card with a big, fat "not insulinomic."  YAY!

His stuff came to about $100 - so I was right, but not because they charged for a "medical problem."  But because the tech's estimate (she looked it up, online in the computer, so I'm a bit confused) for the glucose drawing was off.  Instead of $48, it was $72.  Which.  The latter looks nothing like the former, really.  Still, I had budgeted for $100, so that didn't hurt me :P

They fed Anya, because since they were keeping Hiko, they just kept Anya as well (which is good, since she's right under their eyes in case of any reactions to either the vaccine or the des.).  They apparently had on hand a little bit of Marshall's, and Dr. Paul made no bones about - he said she ate like a pig, hahahaha.

Poor Hiko didn't get fed, but I was smart, brought along a jar of Beechnut's turkey baby food, and let him eat some of that in the car before taking off for home.  Still, though, when we did eventually get home, I gave the big guys all a large rat apiece.  Hiko was the first to go for one, hissing and screaming at the other two to keep them away from the food.  Yogi and Sian stared at him, then me like, "you took him away and broke him!"