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

[Rachael]

I'm not sure what to do - after reading more about Galastop I do definitely think it is something worth considering for some ratties, but if she's on steroid here I'm not sure if I should take her back to the vets (it does stress her out). I'll think about it more tonight.

 

[Ratlover2013]

Do whatever you feel is best

 

[victoria]

I have found the earlier you treat PT, the more likely treatment will work. Steroids reduce symptoms but they don't actually treat the tumour. You may end up needing to go to the vet anyway for that abscess or if she gets another infection, better to take her now than if she declines later.

 

[Rachael]

I appreciate your replies.

That's why I started her on the steroid as soon as I noticed the symptoms, if I didn't have the steroid here I would obviously have taken her. I've been using prednisalone to treat PT since my first PT a few years ago, some of them have kept going for months so I've had good results with it..... I'm going to look into the Galastop more tonight but my vets is only open tomorrow morning for a few hours and the one really good vet we always take them to (who did the operation) never works a Saturday morning. I don't think any of the other vets would prescribe Galastop or even know how to dose it.

 

[Ratlover2013]

The way I look at it. Everyone treats PT differently, you go with whatever your comfortable with.

Myself, I don't treat PT, I let it take it's course. Others like using pred, some like using the bromo & the other one.

Do whatever your comfortable with :hugs:

 

[SarahA]

I'm so sorry Alice is having more issues, poor girly. I hope the abscess come to a head and heals soon, as for the PT I hope you can keep her comfortable for as long as possible. Hugs to you Rachael. :hugs:

 

[Joanne]

I recently started my Poppy on Pred and Cabergoline. She is on Baytril too to help prevent infection. It sounds like your girl has more than one thing going on. If you can take your girl to the vets, you can print off information about Cabergoline for the vet that is on the Rat Guide: http://ratguide.com/meds/central_nervou ... goline.php
She may be more poorly because of the infection. The sooner you can get that drained, the better. It's very easy for the vet to confirm it's an infection by fine needle aspiration. If it is pus, they could quickly gas her down and incise the infection so the pus can drain out. Otherwise you have to wait for it to drain on its own, and her body has to fight it that much longer.
Anyway, good luck with whatever you decide...
Hugs for Miss Alice :hugs:

 

[lilspaz68]

Rachael, you're so lucky to have cabergoline more readily available to you where you are. I have used bromocriptine several times now with some lovely results and can tell you the difference between the results from steroieds and the results from a dopamine agonist (sic?) like bromo or galastop. IF the tumour is the most common prolactinoma you should see results around day 3-4 for bromo and it might be faster with galastop. The recovery is much more complete...they literally return back to normal, incisions heal, fur grows back, and they gain all their weight back. With some you even forget they have ever had PT in the first place. Malcolm was the longest one for me (from 26 mo to 32 mo) of well chubby boy normalcy.

The bromo or galastop may not work (not all PT's are affected), but if you are getting a decent response from the pred then it likely will work. If it doesn't work, then you can just continue with the pred.

 

[Rachael]

Thank you so much for your replies.

I'll definitely have to cosnider the Cabergoline then - there is nothing more I can do over the weekend though, my vets no longer do an out of hours service with their own vets, it's another company and they're really not great There's no way I could talk to them about starting her on that. She is still really bright with the preds for the next couple of days though, she was out for playtime last night and although she has that "look" they get, she's determined to keep playing and enjoying herself.

Joanne - I don't think I'd want to put her under anesthetic, even for a short amount of time, when she's got the PT though

 

[Rachael]

Is the Galastop / Cabergoline quite expensive compared to other medicines? One other thing I was wondering, do they get it everyday or is it less than that?

 

[victoria]

I think it is much more affordable in the UK than here. It's every third day it's given, if I'm not mistaken.

 

[Rachael]

Okay, thank you - I thought I had read that somewhere but wasn't sure.

 

[RattusNorvegicus]

Is the new mass that developed hard? Or does it feel like fluid under the skin? I'm so sorry she has a PT- when you were saying she was clumsy, I thought that could be why. Definitely give her bromo or caber in addition. It has given my girls extra months and it's worth it.

If it's any comfort...
My Twitch went through a mammary tumor removal with her PT, and yesterday was put under very briefly for an incisor trim. She has done really well with it. Gloom was also put under bi-weekly for her incisor trims (with her PT) and did OK with it.

 

[Rachael]

Is the new mass that developed hard? Or does it feel like fluid under the skin? I'm so sorry she has a PT- when you were saying she was clumsy, I thought that could be why. Definitely give her bromo and caber in addition. It has given my girls extra months and it's worth it.

If it's any comfort...
My Twitch went through a mammary tumor removal with her PT, and yesterday was put under very briefly for an incisor trim. She has done really well with it. Gloom was also put under bi-weekly for her incisor trims (with her PT) and did OK with it.

Thank you

I don't think her being clumsy was the PT, her front end is weaker with the PT but her walking is almost completely better in general now (although sometimes she will still start walking faster and think she has to lift her leg over the lump for example).

The prednisalone has definitely helped her so far, although she's confused and has that look PT ratties get, she had a great playtime last night and is really responsive when I come to the door or put bowls into the cage. She's always loved making nests and lifted a bit of kitchen towel to take it into the igloo, she only got to the door and then left it but it was something....

I've been looking into the Cabergoline and it is something I want to talk to my vet about. I've had good results with Preds though, I had one boy (Victor) who had an extra 4 months on prednisalone so I don't think I would stop giving them that. From what I have seen it's still going to be very expensive, some people seem to pay £24 for about 7mls which seems quite a lot.... if it was good enough and helped though it's worth it.

 

[RattusNorvegicus]

If you get just the pills it should be much cheaper.
I'm so glad she had a good playtime last night, she's such a darling girl. :heart:

 

[victoria]

I think the liquid is actually super cheap in the UK, I may be mistaken. Even in Canada, there's on pharmacy that makes a suspension that's cheaper than capsules.

If Cabergoline works, it has the potential to work miracles. It's hard for me to justify $200-300 per month here but if I ha the money I would pay it.

 

[Rachael]

I've asked a couple of people and mostly the liquid is very expensive here The tablets seem quite affordable though and a couple of vets are also cheap with the liquid so I'll just need to ask my vet and hope for the best.

 

[Rachael]

She is now bleeding from her girl bits too.....

 

[Joanne]

She is now bleeding from her girl bits too.....

If she is bleeding there, it is usually one of two things:
1. A urinary tract infection (UTI), or
2. Pyometra (infected uterus).
If it is a UTI, then she needs antibiotics to treat it. If it is Pyometra, then she needs antibiotics and surgery to spay her.
She needs to go see the vet right away. She may be feeling poorly because of this infection, and maybe she doesn't have a PT.

 

[Ratlover2013]

She is now bleeding from her girl bits too.....

If she is bleeding there, it is usually one of two things:
1. A urinary tract infection (UTI), or
2. Pyometra (infected uterus).
If it is a UTI, then she needs antibiotics to treat it. If it is Pyometra, then she needs antibiotics and surgery to spay her.
She needs to go see the vet right away. She may be feeling poorly because of this infection, and maybe she doesn't have a PT.

My girl Gwen, had pyometeria, we thought she had PT until we later discovered it was pyometeria.