Debbie
Well-Known Member
First a little background. I'm pet sitting two of my good friend's ratties while she's on the east coast for 2 weeks. She recently rescued two lovely little girls. One had a pretty nasty ear infection, the other had not only a peri-urethral abscess/tumor, but two GIANT bolders hanging off her sides.
The day before I got the girls, my friend had her vet do tumor surgery. Her vet is not an exotic specialist. They removed one of the big tumors, the peri-urethral abscess/tumor and that's all they had time for. Poor little Dove was left with a 50 gram tumor. This was so big that she walked hunched over, as not to high center on it.
Although I had her on Cefa, Baytril and Metacam (our meds of choice here, post surgery)....little Dove's tumor incision started to get infected just a few days later. I rushed her to our vet, who confirmed the surgical techniques were probably not the greatest at the other vet, (they didn't shave her well enough and debris from her fur probably infected the surgical area). I also assume her immune system is pretty compromised from hauling those tumors around. Other than the tumors, she was skin and bones.
During the exam, our vet said he needed to go back in and clean out the infection (cut away the infected area and resuture etc)...if he had time, he'd address her last tumor, but it would be a risky surgery due to her age, body weight etc. I called my friend and gave her the news. She knew it was a hard decision...but said to go for it.
I'm happy to report that little Dove came through the surgery with flying colors! He didn't have time to redo that infection incision, but he did clean it up nicely and it looks much better. The tumor removal took over an hour though :sad3: Our vet is an excellent surgeon who is fast and leaves TINY incisions. But in Dove's case....well, you can probably figure what an incision from a 50gram tumor looks like.
Anyway, this is where her saga hopefully starts to take a turn for the better....BUT.......
Due the length of the surgery and the HUGE incision she has....our vet would not risk the time to do internal stitches like usual. Poor Dove has externals and is stuck in an eCollar.
I am actually amazed at how well she's doing in it. Most usually are miserable...she's more ticked off, but still eating, drinking and pottying, just fine.
Now for the scarey pics. Gee, look what happens when I pet sit for friends. :sad3:
Dovey's "good" side...notice how hunched her posture is, from carrying around that bowling ball?
And poor little Frankerat! I've seriously never seen an incision so long on rat in my life (but this was the biggest tumor I've seen removed too).
Ok, now that you feel really sorry for her (trust me, I feel terrible for all of us), I must tell you....she has spunk. She's already mastered that collar and gets around just fine. Tonight, we'll give her a bit of out of collar time (strictly supervised of course) on the bed with her bestpal Hannah (who's ear infection is almost gone by the way).
I hope to post better pics as Dovey heals up.
The day before I got the girls, my friend had her vet do tumor surgery. Her vet is not an exotic specialist. They removed one of the big tumors, the peri-urethral abscess/tumor and that's all they had time for. Poor little Dove was left with a 50 gram tumor. This was so big that she walked hunched over, as not to high center on it.
Although I had her on Cefa, Baytril and Metacam (our meds of choice here, post surgery)....little Dove's tumor incision started to get infected just a few days later. I rushed her to our vet, who confirmed the surgical techniques were probably not the greatest at the other vet, (they didn't shave her well enough and debris from her fur probably infected the surgical area). I also assume her immune system is pretty compromised from hauling those tumors around. Other than the tumors, she was skin and bones.
During the exam, our vet said he needed to go back in and clean out the infection (cut away the infected area and resuture etc)...if he had time, he'd address her last tumor, but it would be a risky surgery due to her age, body weight etc. I called my friend and gave her the news. She knew it was a hard decision...but said to go for it.
I'm happy to report that little Dove came through the surgery with flying colors! He didn't have time to redo that infection incision, but he did clean it up nicely and it looks much better. The tumor removal took over an hour though :sad3: Our vet is an excellent surgeon who is fast and leaves TINY incisions. But in Dove's case....well, you can probably figure what an incision from a 50gram tumor looks like.
Anyway, this is where her saga hopefully starts to take a turn for the better....BUT.......
Due the length of the surgery and the HUGE incision she has....our vet would not risk the time to do internal stitches like usual. Poor Dove has externals and is stuck in an eCollar.
I am actually amazed at how well she's doing in it. Most usually are miserable...she's more ticked off, but still eating, drinking and pottying, just fine.
Now for the scarey pics. Gee, look what happens when I pet sit for friends. :sad3:
Dovey's "good" side...notice how hunched her posture is, from carrying around that bowling ball?
And poor little Frankerat! I've seriously never seen an incision so long on rat in my life (but this was the biggest tumor I've seen removed too).
Ok, now that you feel really sorry for her (trust me, I feel terrible for all of us), I must tell you....she has spunk. She's already mastered that collar and gets around just fine. Tonight, we'll give her a bit of out of collar time (strictly supervised of course) on the bed with her bestpal Hannah (who's ear infection is almost gone by the way).
I hope to post better pics as Dovey heals up.
