took Coco to the vet
I took Coco to the All Creatures Animal Hospital in Bremerton, WA today, and saw Dr. Little...a good experience for anyone in the area.
It's kind of complex. Coco hasn't eaten for about a month (which is not unusual for her at this time of year), and she is very thin; however, the last third of her body is quite round. Her vent is also kind of open, and her tail is completely limp. The vet took a series of x-rays and did a physical exam.
It turns out that the vet thinks she has a backup of urea (powdery light yellow stuff) inside and she had a urea plug in her vent. The vet was able to remove the plug, and he thinks she'll eliminate the rest on her own (if not, I'm supposed to massage her). He also thinks her enclosure is too cold, even though she has a heat mat under half of her cage (at 92 degrees), and he wants her to have about 14 hours of light a day to keep her eating through the winter (very short days up here!). Also, he wants us to increase her humidity to about 50% by using a damp sponge.
We got her a new light bulb, a heat lamp, and a humidity gauge, and we covered most of her wire mesh lid with aluminum foil. We'll start monitoring her temp. to keep it between 80 and 90 degrees.
Tonight we'll try force feeding her through a tube, which we'll repeat every four days (if we're successful).
Wish us luck!
