Anybody know why rats refuse to take Bromocriptine?

[Godmother]

Victoria said recently on another post (the one about xxchelle's RTR ratty girl with the mammary tumour)

I've been meaning to ask my vet about the side effects Bromocriptine and Cabergoline because it seems a lot of rats are refusing it after the first dose. I'm not saying it's bad, but I wonder what it is doing that is making the rats refuse it.

I am wondering the same thing. Cadillac now HATES the stuff. It can't be the taste, because she gobbled it down on the first night and she also did last night (I had cleverly hidden it in blackberry yogurt). Now she is suspicious of the foods I used to hide it in. Tonight I spent half an hour getting just half of it down her. When she detects it she will rub her chin on the liner to get rid of it. I am very sad, because it seemed to be helping her.

The first night she developed squinty eyes for a while, and I wondered if it gave her a headache. She hasn't looked like that since, but there is something highly aversive to her about Bromo.

 

[victoria]

I'm not sure (obviously) but I'll bump the thread. It has to be causing some discomfort for them to refuse it like that after the first dose. I wonder if anyone has had an experience where the Bromo has worked so well that it shrank the tumour right down and it no longer needed to be administered? I had long ago decided not to use Tamoxifen because rats are known to refuse it after a period of time because of the toxic side effects. Mammary and pituitary tumours are different (in that the effects of pituitary tumours are much more devastating than those of mammary tumours) so it's not as easy to make that call but I would like to know what's going on.

 

[lilspaz68]

Issa ate hers happily for months before she refused that one time. I ended up making a solution for a few doses at a time, and syringe-medicating, then making a new batch.

 

[jorats]

We have noticed that in two of our rats that they do obvious owie stretches right after their dose. In Charlie, the necropsy showed blood clots in his intestines. We aren't sure if it's due to the bromo.
But over here we are not seeing favorable results. We've had 4 rats on bromo and each time they had huge PTs so that means the bromo is not shrinking them or anything. Keep in mind, it's only been with 4 rats so far.

 

[tinytippytoes]

Gee I just had to look. Side effects? I wouldn't take this drug for the life of me. But then I'm allergic to many man made drugs.


http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealt ... ideEffects

 

I never had the bromo ..but Hannah would not take the Cabergoline ..no matter what I had it in .. I even tried ice cream!

 

[user 1946]

Honestly most drugs have a list that long. Basically when they run their thousand and one test trials, anything that cannot immediately be linked to another cause must be listed. So, only 2 people out of 2000 could have had those reactions and they could have been unrelated but they still must be listed.

The drugs could have a really bad after taste or could burn a bit when swallowed, like some of our more potent cough syrups do. I'm grateful humans have swallow pills honestly. Most of these drugs taste awful ( I had a vet determined to taste any liquid medication if it did not have a severe warning label. He also would try dog treats *face palm*) and probably do hurt the stomache a bit.

 

[victoria]

Gee I just had to look. Side effects? I wouldn't take this drug for the life of me. But then I'm allergic to many man made drugs.


http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealt ... ideEffects

It's used to treat pituitary tumours though... that's an easy statement to make until you lose a rat to a PT. Chels is also right... there's often an insanely long list of possible side effects but very few are expected to affect even 10% of those taking it. Drug companies have to make sure they cover their bases so they're not open to litigation.

ETA (and edited to add the ETA): Looking over that list, it seems many of the less severe side effects are GI related. Because rats can't vomit they will avoid anything that causes GI discomfort with the goal of self preservation. We understand the medicine will correct an ailment and can decide whether it's worth the inconveniences, rats don't.

 

[lilspaz68]

I think the bromo has to be used as soon as you notice symptoms and possibly in younger rats like Issa and Caddy...I don't know if an older rat would respond well with the bromo, especially if their PT is advanced. I am waiting for my next case of a younger rat, just showing mild symptoms.

 

[mamarat]

I took Charlie to the vet on the 12 as soon as he showed signs of PT, started Dex and Bromo but he died on the 17. Charlie was also showing signs of belly pain after day 3 of the Bromo. Vet found a PT and blood clots in his intestines on postmortem. I wish we had more info on Bromo.

 

[jorats]

Mamarat, with our guys they are quite a bit older, lilspaz is saying that might have something to do with it. It does make sense. Luna is younger I believe and may be why she is responding better although it's quite painful for her.

 

[victoria]

I took Charlie to the vet on the 12 as soon as he showed signs of PT, started Dex and Bromo but he died on the 17. Charlie was also showing signs of belly pain after day 3 of the Bromo. Vet found a PT and blood clots in his intestines on postmortem. I wish we had more info on Bromo.

Can you ask your vet to post Charlie's necro results on the Exotic DVM forum along with any other findings? That way maybe (s?)he and other vets can share their experiences and compile info faster. (I don't know if that forum functions the same way this one does but here's hoping )

 

[mamarat]

Sure I'll ask her.

 

[Godmother]

Thanks, everyone. I am thinking that I could give her a half dose for a while. I'd been given the go-ahead to start weaning her off the Pred, but maybe I will keep her on a half dose of that, too. I don't want to see her lose ground, and her movements today were not quite as good as a day or so ago.

I can't bear to torment her. She will get lots of spaghetti treats after each dose of anything. Sweet girlie, I want her to have quality as well as more quantity of life.