Meet Roman

Roman came to IRN in February of 2003.  He was badly beaten up by his cagemate, who became affectionately called "PigPen" by me... she is such a messmaker!

But this month is dedicated to Roman.  I named him Roman after he lost so many of his top spikes that had been damaged by his more dominant cagemate (his head resembles a Roman warrior's helmet with the stubby brushed top).  He came to us with swollen floppy toes that we had expected to have to amputate, crusty lesions all over his trunk, and a gangrenous tail.

After a long course of both systemic and topical antibiotic therapy, medicated soaks and care, Roman has finally began to regrow his tail and skin over his trunk where there was once none.  His toes, that were so swollen and looked as if they were also gangrenous, also healed completely.  The abcesses on his tail and arm have also healed completely.

He has made a miraculous recovery... I was certain that he was not going to make it a week, let alone fully recover!

Then and Now

Then (Feb. 2003)
This is a picture of one of Roman's bite wounds.   Click to open it in a larger window.		You can see the trunk lesions clearly in this picture.  Click to open it in a larger window.
Above, you can see how damaged Roman's tail is. Click to open it in a larger window.		Here is Roman soaking in a betadine bath. Click to open it in a larger window.
Now (June 2003)
See where he gets his namesake now?		He looks great here, I think!
Just look at him now... his tail is starting to grow back, his trunk has healed and he's having a nice shed.  His arm has also healed, his toes are fine and he's getting sick of posing for pictures... *9/20/3 UPDATE: Roman has been adopted!!!!!*