Boys' RI-update 06/05

[twitch]

he weighs in at 745 grams when SQ weighed him. i know males are supposed to be somewhere in the 600 gram range. not sure between what and what is the ideal typical weight though. can anyone tell me how overweight he is? what's the high end of healthy for a male rat?

 

[jorats]

Actually, an average male shouldn't weigh anymore than 650 grams, 500 grams being ideal. But this all depends on his body structure. Most of my males are all under 500 grams.

 

[twitch]

crud. clark said that mr bigs weight was an issue for the neuter so i stopped asking about him and asked about males that would be healthy enough and a good weight for the neuter. that's when he started talking about magic. is weight the big an issue for neuters?

 

[mamarat]

I rescued a big rat (690) but he was very healthy and my vet did neuter him and he's been fine ever since. He was around 2 at the time as well. He's the rat in my avatar.

 

[jorats]

At 745 grams, and making noise, I'd be so scared to make it worse.

 

[Godmother]

Would you consider having Magic neutered in Fredericton by Dr. Stewart of Islandview? If he was on meds for a few days before the surgery, Magic might be improved enough that the vet would consider him a safe bet. Dr. S charges a very reasonable rate (more than the Halfax vet but way less than some of the other places, but you could phone to confirm).

Dr. S wouldn't do it unless he was sure it would be safe.

 

[twitch]

i would consider dr. s but i have no where to stay with magic while he recovers from the surgery a bit. it would be near a 3 hour round trip plus a surgery all in one day, which i don't think would be all that good for him if he gets flares from car trip stress alone.

the plan for right now is to wait for the vet to check him over. i wasn't there so i don't really know what kind of sound was made. maybe it was just excited noises from the playing. i don't know. i asked theratlady how he has been doing since the play session and if there was any other sounds since then or any other symptoms. i haven't gotten a response yet. from my understanding of the vet in halifax he won't operate on a sick rat either, so i will wait and see what he says. if its a no, then we will go from there.

 

[twitch]

i was just with my rats giving them their late night dinner and scritches. sadly, rosie is deteriorating fast. just last night we heard breathing sounds from her for the first time. they were worse this morning. by late this afternoon she stopped walking on her toes and is now walking whole footed. and now she just fell over trying to turn around and had a hard time trying to get back up. she tried to climb up to get to her favorite hammie and couldn't do it. i placed her in the nursery cage for the night, put the nursery cage on the coffee table and will be camping out on the couch for the night. if she makes it through the night i will set up the larger hospital cage for her and watch her happiness level closely. the good news is she still wants to eat and still seeks attention so she hasn't given up yet. but sadly i don't think she will be with us much longer.

 

[jorats]

Oh twitch... I'm so sorry. These moments will be precious.

 

[twitch]

rosie made it through the night

 

[Godmother]

I am glad to hear that Rosie is still with you. How suddenly she took a turn for the worse.

 

[twitch]

so am i. she's still happy but weak. he's playing in the blanket on the couch right now. she'll crawl up on my lap for a scritch then back to her cage for some ensure (she won't eat when i mix it with baby cereal but when its on is own she thinks its ok. but i don't think she will ever go back to the big cage.

with how weak she is but with how stubborn she is i'm afraid to even set up the regular hospital cage. its only one of those my first home bunny/guinea pig cages but i know she'll try to climb the bars and i know she's too weak to do it. i'm afraid she'll fall and hurt herself. the nursery cage isn't really big enough for an adult long term but its safer. she is sick and not as interested in jumping and running though so it might be ok so long as she gets extra out time....

 

[jorats]

My parents had a rat that was an extra special boy, like your Rosie, he was weak but still had such will to live. He couldn't say in the big cage cause the young ones were really bothering him. So he spent most of his days on the couch too.

 

[mamarat]

I'm sorry, sending healing vibes to your Rosie. Sometimes at the end of their lives they only need and want our loving.

 

[Riana]

Goodness, Twitch. I'm so sorry to hear about everything! I really haven't been keeping up with the forums recently, so I didn't know of this until you mentioned it to me. I'm so sorry that poor babydoll didn't make it after the surgery. That sounds like it devastated everyone. Poor things, and poor you...

Good luck with the boys! Hopefully they become more accommodating with the medication. I know that I had to force it into Rose unless I mixed it up with enough strawberry ensure. But one night it was late and I didn't have any ensure, so I just tried giving it to him in the cage, and didn't he just suck it back! He's been doing it ever since!

I'm really sorry to hear about Rosie... poor girl has been through so much! I remember when you first got her and Lydia, how bad they looked. Hopefully she gets better, but if not, at least I hope that she is happy and doesn't suffer. Good luck with everything!

 

[twitch]

thank you everyone for your concern and kind words. but i have some more bad news. somehow in the course of the day of laying on the couch or in my lap rosie has hurt her back left paw. she's not putting weight on it and its swollen up. i don't understand how or where she would have gotten hurt. we've been on soft couch most of the day and i decided to keep her in the safer nursery tank so she can't try to climb and end up falling and getting hurt. i don't have any metacam to reduce the swelling but will go to the vet and get some tomorrow if she is still with us and its still swollen. poor rosie, she just can't win for trying.

update on the boys:
magic-waiting to hear what the vet says. we should know wednesday when he goes in. the vet will not operate on a sick rat, i'm trying to be optimistic but i think he will be coming home unneutered. if that is the case we will treat him for the myco and godmother has generously offered her home to magic for a few days of recovering after the eventual operation if we use the vet in fredericton.

stewart-still being a bugger with the meds but not too bad. no noted improvement health wise today but he is doing better then when we first started the medication.

bribery-is licking the medicine right up. even outside of the cage now. i sit him on my shoulder and he'll grab the syringe and go. he's not that happy when i take it away when its done, he wants more. no noted improvement health wise today but he is doing better then when we first started the medication.


ink seems to be back to normal now. she was chasing the cats this afternoon again.

 

[jorats]

Poor Rosie, just when you do everything to make life easier for her, she manages to hurt herself anyway. Poor girl. I've never given mine any metacam for a limb injury, it passed within 3 to 5 days.
Good thing for Magic, at least there's a plan in place in case he can't get it done.

 

[twitch]

Rosie update: riana came over with her camera and we got some pictures of rosie. when i get them i'll share some of the best here. she's been open mouth breathing a bit from time to time today but not too often. she was in a good enough mood during the pictures that she chased the cat off the couch. :lol: but she is certainly sleeping a lot more. still very bright eyed and attentive when awake though. and an industrious blanket nester! :lol2:

Stewart update: note to self-do NOT give meds to this rat while inside cage, results in him trying to KILL the syringe... he grabbed it out of my hand and SHOOK it. he really wanted it dead. he poor bugger is a bit paranoid now too. he has started to squeak when picked up out of the cage. i think he thinks he's going to get more medicine. he gets picked up just for some cuddles more then he gets picked up for meds but that doesn't seem to matter to him. he is fine once he's up and being cuddled but he still voices his protest.

nothing new on bribery or magic

 

[jorats]

Rosie still got spunk!

That was too funny about Stewart! He's a machomanrat.

:joy: for pics!!

 

[Riana]

We got some really nice pictures of Rosie, so I'll post them asap! I'm real glad I got to see her once again, she's such a doll, as is every one of Raven's babies (ink is a brat!)