Cadillac on Bromocriptine: helped, but s/e were too bad

[Godmother]

I started her on it last night. Shelagh's trick with the drop of water dissolved the half pill very well. A drop of baby food peas, and she gobbled it down. That was last night. Tonight was much harder. It has been almost impossible to get her to take her other meds over the last day and a half, and tonight it was hard to get the Bromo down her. It's like her sense of smell is off completely; she turns her nose up at everything except kamut puffs.

for those of you who have used Bromocriptine, have you noticed any changes in them shortly after taking it? Last night Caddy's eyes were all squinty for an hour or so. I hope she was not having a headache.

The Pred had been giving decent results. Her right paw is able to grasp much better, she can stand on her hind legs (a bit wobbly, though), and she astonished me last night by climbing the cage when I had the ramp out for cleaning. She is not herself, though. She is a finicky eater and she wanders aimlessly. I miss my alpha girl.

 

[Kimber]

sorry to hear that her mood is still off.

 

[lilspaz68]

No difference. I use a small pinch of baby cereal and a few drops of Ensure to mix my bromo with...try that instead.

Is she still on steroids?

 

[Godmother]

I have Caddy on Pred/Baytril still. Last night I gave the three meds separately, which took forever but it worked. So it will be hard to tell whether it is the Pred or the Bromo that is helping, although any big improvement would be the Bromo.

My biggest concern is for her nutrition. She will eat only the most palatable of foods, so she is eating banana, baby cereal, Rice Dream (one of the few things she will drink), spaghetti, yogurt, and baby food. She doesn't bother with lab block mush no matter how carefully I mix it in with other things. But somehow she is keeping hydrated, even though I don't see her drinking water. I saw a drop of her pee last night, and it was very pale.

 

[lilspaz68]

take your lab block powder and mix it in her baby cereal to start...how long has she been on the bromo now?

 

[SQ]

Shelagh, she started it Thursday night and it is once a day so today is day 3 and she has recieved 2 doses.

 

[lilspaz68]

Keep her on it for a week, then start slowly reducing the pred, and if at any point she regresses, then bring the dosage back up a bit to keep her stable.

 

[Godmother]

She is able to grasp with both paws and not have to stand as high as she did yesterday. She was grooming her sides and tummy, and she is a lot more active this morning. Both she and Cadillac devoured the kidney beans (President's Choice Blue Menu No Salt Added are a big hit with my rats). she still seems to have trouble locating food, but is eating. :joy:

 

[Godmother]

OK, that's good. I had been hoping that I could reduce the Pred eventually, even though it helped her a lot. Before Pred, her right front side was very weak and she could not use her right front paw at all.

The other day I got them to eat some lab block mush mixed with spaghetti bits. It clung to the spaghetti, which they go crazy for, and they accidentally ate the lab blocks. I will do the same today. Liquid from kidney beans is also a good way to induce them to eat other things.

The scrambled egg was also a hit. You should have seen Caddy grab onto that!

 

[Godmother]

Cadillac was able to eat peas tonight! I was very happy for her. She grabbed a piece of watermelon and ran up the ramp with it, too. Even with the improvements, it takes forever to get her to take meds, but it is worth it. :heart:

 

[eagle]

:dance:

 

[jorats]

I'm so glad to see someone having some luck with bromo.
We've had three rats on it here with zero success. But of course the tumours will only react to the bromo if it's a prolactinoma.

 

[Joanne]

Great news! So glad to hear she's improving.

 

[lilspaz68]

Oh I am so glad Godmother!! It's this gradual improvement like I saw with Issa... :joy:

 

[Godmother]

Yes, I hope that it is helping. Right now it's hard to know whether it isn't just more results from the Pred. I am so happy to see her able to move and to eat more easily, even though her sense of smell is not normal. She sure recognized the porridge this morning, though!

The big problem is that, by the time PT is diagnosed, the tumour may be too big for Bromo to handle. I am going to try to pay more attention to the little things in my rats over two. Caramel, for example, got more reclusive for at least a month before she got lethargic. Even then, there was nothing obviously wrong when the vet examined her. She has become worse since then, but I don't know whether it is PT or another neurological problem.

Cadillac's first sign was that she lost some weight and was being pinned by the young ones. Maybe if I had had the Bromo then it would have helped more.

Issa's tumour was so huge that I don't think anything could have shrunk it. She was an amazing little survivor.

 

[mamarat]

So glad your girl is doing better.

 

[Godmother]

I took Cadillac off the Bromo. She was so uncomfortable for hours after taking it, and her poop was black and soft. She developed aversions to any novel food that I mixed the Bromo with. So she is back on the Pred and seems to be doing OK. Even with the Bromo, although she could eat peas with a vengeance, she couldn't seem to eat corn kernels. She is enjoying being able to go into hammocks again. Here she is in a LMR tunnel, enjoying a kamut puff this afternoon:

 

[mamarat]

What a little cutie.

 

[victoria]

Awe, I'm sorry it was bothering her so much. I hope the Pred continues to help her for a long while. She is loving that hammock :heart:

 

Too bad about the Bromo, but atleast she's more comfy with the pred :heart: