Alice - Not Good (Was - Getting PTS due to tumour)

[SarahA]

Aww sweet little girl, Alice looks great! I hope she continues to to get better and enjoy her life back playing with her buddies. :heart:

 

[dspch911]

:joy: Ground must feel strange under her back feet - she has lost time to make up for ... she looks great!!

 

[RattusNorvegicus]

Her beauty never fails to make me smile! I love the pictures.

 

[Rachael]

Thank you all

 

[Godmother]

It's wonderful to see her so happy and active!! :love7:

 

[Rachael]

Really bad update.....

I noticed that she'd been a bit quiet over the past couple of days and tonight I had a feeling it might be PT. :sad3: I know anesthetic could have brought on the symptoms (she was quiet the day or so before the operation which I thought was the lump but might have been the start of PT, I don't know).

Went to give her a treat to see if she could hold it and she couldn't.

What is worrying me more though is where her lump was there's now a huge lump again.... I'm guessing an abscess, it's not really hard but not soft either if that makes sense. She seems a bit sore I'd say.

She has had Prednisalone, Septrin, and childrens pain relief. I was going to give her Metacam but realised that she'd had the Prednisalone so obviously I couldn't.

I'm so worried....

 

[Rachael]

I might be wrong but there might be a slight infection smell where her probable abscess is Doesn't look good.

 

[mamarat]

Oh no, how sad!

 

[victoria]

Oh no! Can you do a warm compress on the abscess? Could the neuro symptoms be the infection or do you think it's an abscess + PT? Is she still healing or has the healing and hair growth stopped? Can you get Cabergoline?

 

[Rachael]

Thank you both. She was doing so well too.

I think it's PT and an abscess, her front paws are definitely weak and she's a bit confused, definitely seems like a PT.

Septrin is the medicine that my vet always prescribes for abscesses so if we took her back, that's the one that she'd suggest using and I've started her on that tonight. I've not actually heard of Cabergoline before?

 

[Rachael]

I looked on Rat Guide and saw Cabergoline's brand name here is Galastop - sorry I thought Cabergoline was something for the abscess, I'm assuming that's for the PT you meant?

 

[victoria]

Cabergoline is for the PT, it's a bit more effective and better tolerated than Bromocriptine and I think it's more affordable in the UK than in NA. My rat that displayed PT symptoms following anesthesia did well for almost 6 months on Bromocriptine, until she got a very fast growing malignant tumour.

Septrin should be good for the abscess, if it doesn't help you should go to the vet for another ab though.

Good luck!

 

[Rachael]

Thank you, I've seen a lot about Galastop but it's been mixed so I've continued using Prednisalone instead of that. It might be something worth considering then.

I'll give her Septrin again in the morning, I syringed her that tonight and she took it okay.

I feel so bad that I didn't push to get her tumour removed when it was smaller, maybe she wouldn't have such a big abscess then.

 

[victoria]

You can give Cabergoline and steroids at the same time. Cabergoline can give a lot more time than steroids do, it really is worth a try. You may need a second antibiotic if you're giving Prednisone to get more coverage, Septrin is good for abscesses but it's not broad spectrum and you don't want her to get pneumonia or another infection right now.

 

[Rachael]

Thank you.

Here's a picture of the lump / abscess:

 

[victoria]

Try compresses as well, they will help. Rats' immune systems don't work well when they have PT so you want to help her heal as much as possible.

 

[Rachael]

How do you go about warm compresses with your ratties?

I've only done it once with one girl, Pink, who had a smaller abscess after her tumour removal. Her abscess was completely different to Alice's though and that was a few years back so it would be good to know.

Does it look like an abscess?

 

[victoria]

It looks like it could be an abscess, the fact you're saying it's hard makes it more likely.

You can take a cloth and warm saline and apply it until it cools, then dip the cloth into the warm saline and repeat until the rat stops letting you do it. OR you can fill a small tub/container with warm saline and do a sitz bath (let her sit in it for as 5+ minutes or as long as she will stay). Rinse her off afterward.

If you have epsom salts, they work better than table salt. You want the saline to be 1%, so 1 tsp. of salt per 2 cups of hot/very warm water.

 

[Godmother]

Ask your vet if you can wean her off the Pred once you add Cabergoline or Bromocriptine. Pred suppresses the immune system, making it harder for her to heal and to fight the abscess. Unfortunately you can't abruptly stop Pred.

 

[Rachael]

I know - that was her first dose last night here. Thank you.