Advice/support required on possible PTS

[Unepuce]

Update - I have one girl running at Rainbow bridge since last night.

Don't get me wrong, Chatouille is still alive and will definitely make it to the vet tonight. I had an outside appointement early this morning and left the meds to my bf - she actually had it all (heart meds only, as per the vet's phone instruction last night. Go figure!!!

The girlie I lost is my Chipie, my little thief, the happiest, the most affectionate little girl I have met so far. I wish I could say she passed peacefully in her sleep - I can't. I found her dangling from the hammock, blood all over her muzzle and some fluid down her neck - most have been horrible. She was OK and happy on Wednesday, then horribly tired and lump yesterday, a bit disoriented but she could still move around when she wanted to, couldn't find any sign of diarrhea in the cage - it was a 24-hour thing. Is this what they look like when they die of a AVC? I thought it could be otitis last night, that's why I wonder.

Mommy is holding up well enough considering the past weeks. Finding her dead and not really seeing her suffering was a big relief - it was sudden and a huge surprise considering she was just over 1 1/2 years old, but at last she went fast enough and didn't give me the option of helping her survive only to have see her degrade before finally having to decide to let her go.

Chipie will be greatly missed - she was daddy's little girl and the kiss showerer of the troup, always running around and discovering something to steal and hide. Rest in peace, baby, Mommy will never forget you

(wish I could insert an image - didn't figure out how...) :sad3:

 

[lilspaz68]

Maybe Chipie had an aggressive PT that burst? Its fast and sudden. ((hugs))

 

[mamarat]

I'm so sorry.

 

[Unepuce]

I couldn't feel a lump on her (shivers) For what I've heard about PTs, if this is indeed what she had, aren't I glad she left so fast! Now, my new scare is that I do see something on her sister (Mimi), on the neck, behind the ear (I think so, she is so fat it's hard to really tell) but it's soft, not hard, and felt more like a lipome to me and my vet, eventhough it was to small to tell last week when I took her.

 

[lilspaz68]

PT cannot be felt from outside, its a tumor on the pituitary gland in the skull. We diagnose it by symptoms usually, or a necropsy after the rat has passed. Aggressive bleeding PT's are seriously fast, and often end up with a bloody rat from the nose/mouth. The fact that she was hanging from her hammock (you mean draped out of the hammock right?) then that means it hit and took her almost instantly. The age is sadly right for PT's.

 

[rodentmama]

I think Unepuce is thinkings Zimbals gland tumour not PT. PT is deep in the brain Unepuce and can't be seen. The tumour in the pituitary grows and crushes surrounding brain slowly taking away function and causing paralysis in the legs so they can't use the back ones anymore. If it burst or grew to crush something it could cause a seizure with drooling (fluid down her neck) and then ultimately blood on the muzzle after the seizure was done. A few months ago we had Kevin go from PT. He had seizures that I could control with homeopathics but toward the end the seizures kept coming. I called work to book a euthanasia but it was surgery day and I had to wait for the vet to be done. Poor Kevin had one last seizure and just died in my arms.

It is good that she seems to have died quickly and if you thought it was otitis it probably was a pit tumour. They normally get the same kind of head tilt and a lot of times there can be bleeding and discharge from the ear. I'm so sorry for your loss.

 

[Unepuce]

Back from the vet. Chatouille fought like a mad girl during the exam, and got into a gasping fit as a result - for the first time, euthanesia was mentionned. BF suggested we tried the meds again for one more week and see if there is improvement - that is, if she does take the medicine. If she goes downhill from now, we will walk her to Rainbow bridge to her sister Fripouille and recently departed friend Chipie.

She's off the antibiotics and on a more concentrated dose of Digoxin (0.56 cc was so much to give to such a little thing!) - we'll see. I just couldn't leave her there, losing one baby in one day is enough for me. Plus, no matter the looks she gives me, she wants to live. I see it in the way she goes to her man, I see it when she's asking for food, when she walks out of the cage for a little break on my desk. I'll will give her that (other) chance. Whether she wants to grab it or not is entirely up to her now, and I will respect her choice, whichever it is.

 

[jorats]

She's a trooper and if she's willing to fight, you gotta fight with her.

 

[mamarat]

Good luck with your sweetie. Fingers crossed the meds will help her.

 

[Unepuce]

Time finally came. :cries:

Chatouille asked again this morning. She would not take the meds, so I blended some extrusion with water and a bit of olive oil and she ate eagerly - about 3 bites. Then she would have no more. She lied by end of my desk, alone, changing position more and more often. I told her that if she wanted to go, I would let her go. And off to the vet we went just before lunch time. I took her in my small travel crate with the top off, but she preferred making the trip in my arms, calm. Very calm. She took the anesthesia without a fight, I believe she was relieved. She went to sleep so peacefully, it took a huge burden off our shoulders 'cause I know we did what she wanted us to do.

She is now running by the bridge with her sister Fripouille and her cagemate Chipie, who was left alone up there only one day. After napping time was over, Picolo was walking all over the desk, sniffing everywhere, exploring places he used to ignore, looking for her - and he finally settled on the small towel Chatouille used to spend a lot of time on those last days, looking at me. He knows, he's sad, now hiding alone beneath my desk, grieving.

It is very hard losing my two girls just one day apart. They leave me with 3 boys and 1 girl - poor Mimi, alone with all these boys. July 1st is coming (national moving day in Quebec), and sadly it too often means that people will leave pets behind. I guess in 3 or 4 weeks, once Mac is introduced and everyone moves into the double CN, we'll go to the SPA and help 2 little girls out.

My Chipie


My Chatouille

 

[lilspaz68]

I am sad that she left you, but glad you let her make the decision. She was ready to go be with her sister again. I am also glad you are going to help out 2 more needy girls, she would love that. :heart:

 

[Rachael]

I'm so sorry.

 

[mamarat]

I'm so sorry. Both were very beautiful. :hugs:

 

[jorats]

Such beautiful rats... I'm so sorry.

 

[xxchelle]

I'm so sorry But you made the right decision for her.

 

[victoria]

I'm so sorry :hugs:

 

[rodentmama]

I'm so sorry for your loss, but when they help to make the decision I find that I rest easier after. Take care of your self during the grieving period. Hugs to you.

 

[Fidget]

I'm so sorry. They can't do more for us in the end but to let us know what they want and need, and we can't do more for them but to hear.
You & she shared every good moment possible for her, you had a precious lifetime love and those never end you know.
Run free Chatouille. Hugs to you & Picolo.