Luckily for Rico, a friend of mine found him when she helped her friends move and brought him to me. It's pretty touch-and-go right now. I gave him a 10 mL injection of saline last night and put him in a sick tank with some cozy towels and a nice heat light. I wasn't sure if he would make it through the night. Sometimes animals will struggle so hard to survive that when they don't have to struggle or when they get the nutrition they desperately need, their bodies shut down.
At 3:30 am, I woke up with a headache and was super relieved to see Rico still breathing. Yeah! He cleared the first hurdle. When I turned his day lamp on this morning, his eyes sorta opened. As I was regulating the temperature, he opened his mouth in an attempt to cool down. Another good sign!
Tonight he'll get a second saline injection and tomorrow night another one. On Thursday, I'll start with a very weak baby food squash & Critical Care formula to start to put some calories back into him. It's all about baby steps. Dr Folland likes to tell me that it takes a lot to kill a beardie, but when they are bad it takes a long time to get them back to health.
I'm more optimistic today about his chances than last night. His body is absorbing the saline without shutting down. The more he hydrates, the better he'll feel.
Baby steps forward, little Rico. :) Baby steps.
