Elderly Rat Loosing Weight Rapidly Update 8/8 :(

[Dazzle87]

As some of you know, Dazzle has had numerous health problems. Her most recent issues were a severe respiratory infection, from which she remarkably recovered after months of trying (of which she shows zero symptoms now!), and a mystery skin issue which has finally started to clear up with the use of an antifungal and dexamethasone. For a little while she had been bonier, and slightly slimmer than she was in her more full bodied youth, but she had maintained a steady 408ish grams. This has changed in just a little over two short weeks. I weighed her tonight and she is a mere 345 grams :shock: She looks slightly thinner but I would have never guessed she had lost that much weight. I am obviously calling the vet tomorrow while I'm at work and consulting and getting an appointment. I doubt there is all that much advice one can give me, but it does give me some comfort sharing.

I am also picking up some ensure, not strawberry, as it is apparently not very palatable to my rats :doh: Hopefully vanilla goes over better. Dazzle does still have an appetite, she will greedily snatch veggies, rice, etc. She does eat a little bit less though.

Her teeth looked fine to me, as do her stools.

Anyway good thoughts are appreciated. My sweet Dazzle is a real gentle soul with a lot of spirit :heart:

Here are some pictures. While her skinny weight sounds normal, it is not normal for her, she is a large, long rat. In her youth she weighed about 450, she was never a chub or anything at that weight, she was quite fit. She also looks better in pictures than in person, in person she looks and feels fragile..

PS: The lump visible is not a tumor, but a mammary cyst, just pointing that out since a tumor would account for weight loss: if she has one, it is internal.

 

[SQ]

I hope she is soon feeling better.

My elderly rats have always enjoyed eating baby cereal mixed with soy infant formula and a bit of olive oil.
They also enjoyed their lab blocks made into mush, sometimes with a bit of oilve oil or a bit of baby cereal added.
Bits of boiled egg have always been a hit as well.

Will be thinking of both of you

 

[Dazzle87]

Thank you.

Baby cereal with olive oil? I would have never thought of that, but thats a great way to add calories, I will certainly try that.

 

[jorats]

We first used the olive oil, it was several years ago, when one of Nic's rats was losing weight scary fast, and it actually worked.
I hope it's not the meds making her lose weight? How's her appetite?

 

[mamarat]

I hope your girl is feeling better soon. I give my elderly rats baby cereal 3 times a day and once or twice a week with olive oil. Mine will not take any flavor Ensure. I also have Oxbow in water in their cage at all times.

 

[Dazzle87]

She will eat the nummy foods, but I'm having to make stuff liquid or else she wants to stash a lot of it. So she's had a lot of babyfood today, and loved the olive oil addition. I've seen her eat lab blocks but I'm going to blend some with some soy milk anyway to encourage her to eat more.

I truly hope its not the medications but I will ask about that. It would really suck since this is finally helping her skin

I hope she does like vanilla or chocolate, I'm just grabbing one can of each for now though since she's snubbed strawberry in the past.

I talked to the vets today, who agreed it is worrisome so she's getting a checkup Monday morning-sooner though if she stops eating, stops drinking, loses energy, etc.

 

[temblabamomo]

Hope she can get some weight back on her with the Ensure and other yummy stuff. Will be thinking good thoughts for her.

 

[Joanne]

I hope she starts turning around and puts some weight back on. Good luck on Monday.

 

[Dazzle87]

Thanks guys. I'll update when I get back tomorrow.

 

[mamarat]

Fingers crossed for your sweetie.

 

[Dazzle87]

Thanks everyone.

Unfortunately, I have sad news. My vet thinks there is a pretty good chance she has cancer :sad3: I am starting her on prednisone to see if it helps any. If anyone has any suggestions or anything for me to bring up with my vet, I'd love to hear them.

On a related note, does anyone know if they sell 1/2 or 1/3 CC needleless syringes anywhere (even online)? None of the pharmacies near me go smaller than 1CC with the needleless ones, and Dazzle is getting .02 CC of the 10mg/ml prednisone twice a day, which with such a small amount I'd prefer a smaller syringe.

 

[Joanne]

Would you be able to get a lower concentration of prednisone so you have to give her a larger volume?

 

[Dazzle87]

I'm not sure, it's a bottle of the injectable prednisone, which I don't think they would have given me without it being requested unless that was just what they had. I'm thinking I can dilute a couple days worth of at a time it in some strawberry syrup though.

 

[Joanne]

The Prednisone I have from my vet is an oral liquid (chicken flavour!). They should be able to order in liquid Pred - what the heck do they give to most owners? (Dog, cat, etc)

 

[Dazzle87]

This is liquid, just not flavored or diluted. I could ask for a script for human oral prednisone if I wanted. I already have this though, and it is usable (and wasn't noticed in the baby cereal) so I don't think it's really worth it to me to get more.

 

[mamarat]

Your poor sweetie. :hugs:

 

[jorats]

Did you ask your vet if you can purchase the syringes? I haven't seen them that small.

 

[jorats]

I did a quick google and they can be bought. I'm not sure if you can get them without needles, they are for insulin. But maybe the needles can be removed.

 

[victoria]

I get .5 cc syringes from my vet, so they are out there. I can mail you a few if you want.

 

[lilspaz68]

You could also go to a local pharmacy and ask if they have syringes where the needles can be removed...tell them you need it to medicate wee rodents.