mamarat
Well-Known Member
That's great news, sending healing vibes to your sweetie.
hard lump in the belly - another super update! 3/17
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she's pretty miserable at the moment 
really hoping it's normal for the first day home from this kind of surgery. she wants to eat solid food (ie: gave her a cheerio after her meds), but she struggles to eat all of it. I kind of feel like sitting up might be too sore for her. but she IS hungry. she gobbled down some chicken and veggie baby food when I gave it to her. so I am thawing out some a/d cat food for another high protein source of soft food.
if she's not feeling a little better by morning, going to call up the vet. she just had her post surgery metacam a little while ago. so hoping that will change things a little.
gah, the only other abdominal surgery I've had done was her spay back in May. I remember her not being too happy, but a little less miserable than this
but this was probably much more invasive too
really hoping it's normal for the first day home from this kind of surgery. she wants to eat solid food (ie: gave her a cheerio after her meds), but she struggles to eat all of it. I kind of feel like sitting up might be too sore for her. but she IS hungry. she gobbled down some chicken and veggie baby food when I gave it to her. so I am thawing out some a/d cat food for another high protein source of soft food.if she's not feeling a little better by morning, going to call up the vet. she just had her post surgery metacam a little while ago. so hoping that will change things a little.
gah, the only other abdominal surgery I've had done was her spay back in May. I remember her not being too happy, but a little less miserable than this
but this was probably much more invasive too
Joanne
Well-Known Member
I find that appetite is the most telling. If she's still hungry and eating, that's a very good sign. Give her easy stuff that is soft or she can lick up. Hopefully the Metacam will help.
the metacam kicked in in the middle of the night and she harassed me when I woke up lol.
she's doing MUCH better today. definitely slows down and does a few mild owwie stretches when the metacam starts to fade, but luckily she's on it for a week (or longer if needed). she's also been given the clear to give it a little earlier (within a couple hours of the normal dose time) if she's too uncomfortable as it fades.
she's still not eating only lab blocks, but is comfortable enough to gobble down as many cheerios as she can get her paws on. she has a/d cat food or baby food available all day if she wants it.
so nervous today though lol. my vet is now closed until Monday as of a half hour from now. 2 and a half days without being able to call in with my paranoid concerns hehe.
she's doing MUCH better today. definitely slows down and does a few mild owwie stretches when the metacam starts to fade, but luckily she's on it for a week (or longer if needed). she's also been given the clear to give it a little earlier (within a couple hours of the normal dose time) if she's too uncomfortable as it fades.
she's still not eating only lab blocks, but is comfortable enough to gobble down as many cheerios as she can get her paws on. she has a/d cat food or baby food available all day if she wants it.
so nervous today though lol. my vet is now closed until Monday as of a half hour from now. 2 and a half days without being able to call in with my paranoid concerns hehe.
jorats
Loving rats since 2002.
Sounds like she's healing.
she's doing so so so good today
I'm still monitoring her lab block consumption (I find some nibbled on, but not entirely sure she's finishing them off), so she's getting soft food.
but swelling is down, if not nearly entirely gone. she's not grooming open her incision. she's back to being fickle (Wednesday night? couldn't get enough a/d. now? "omg gross, go make me some more eggs ~" lol).
she looks like a different rat now! it's amazing. when she came home, her belly looked much smaller. now without the swelling, you can see how much room the mass took up. given, some of the skinny is the lack of fur on her belly, but still!
I'm still monitoring her lab block consumption (I find some nibbled on, but not entirely sure she's finishing them off), so she's getting soft food.
but swelling is down, if not nearly entirely gone. she's not grooming open her incision. she's back to being fickle (Wednesday night? couldn't get enough a/d. now? "omg gross, go make me some more eggs ~" lol).
she looks like a different rat now! it's amazing. when she came home, her belly looked much smaller. now without the swelling, you can see how much room the mass took up. given, some of the skinny is the lack of fur on her belly, but still!
Joanne
Well-Known Member
Glad to hear that she continues to improve.
I thought I'd boost a thread with some good news :dance:
if Blue didn't have a shaved belly you'd never know she'd had surgery a little over a week ago.
she had a rough first couple days, but mid Friday she started to perk up. she also did her trademark "I am going to heal faster than anyone could imagine". by, I'd say Monday, her incision was nothing more than scabs. by Wednesday if you couldn't see the lump of internal sutures under the skin, you'd have seen basically nothing.
now today her sutures look like they may be beginning to dissolve and she's back to full time bossing me around. starting re-intros this weekend (her hospital cage is getting moved back to the rat room today to sit next to her old one to play it safe).
if Blue didn't have a shaved belly you'd never know she'd had surgery a little over a week ago.
she had a rough first couple days, but mid Friday she started to perk up. she also did her trademark "I am going to heal faster than anyone could imagine". by, I'd say Monday, her incision was nothing more than scabs. by Wednesday if you couldn't see the lump of internal sutures under the skin, you'd have seen basically nothing.
now today her sutures look like they may be beginning to dissolve and she's back to full time bossing me around. starting re-intros this weekend (her hospital cage is getting moved back to the rat room today to sit next to her old one to play it safe).
Joanne
Well-Known Member
Great news! You may find intros are a piece of cake. I have separated my colony for a week with no problems putting them back together. Hopefully it will be the same.
mamarat
Well-Known Member
That's very good news for your sweetie.
When my rat is out for a while I put him back during out time and they all go back in together.
When my rat is out for a while I put him back during out time and they all go back in together.
bah. today is just going downhill fast :|
first our heater breaks (thank goodness we have a gas fire place and then a space heater for the rat room).
then during intros I found another lump on Blue :| it's internal, near the spine. very close to her back, rather than her belly. it kind of feels like maybe her kidney is enlarged. which MIGHT make sense because that's what her abscess was attached to. it's also not movable like the last one.
intros are going slowly because Mini is a "tiny tyrant" as we call her lol. even after 10 days she's like "grrr, I am the boss" and in cage makes Blue shriek (no blood) + tugs at her neck skin. so we're dialing back intros to a couple more couch times. it's funny because Blue is 100% the boss on the couch lol. Mini has always been difficult with intros though hehe. I think a little more couch time and it'll help dial back the cage trouble. the other girls are happy to let Blue be the boss again.
(Blue was the alpha, so that's where the trouble is. she's going in wanting to be alpha again)
first our heater breaks (thank goodness we have a gas fire place and then a space heater for the rat room).
then during intros I found another lump on Blue :| it's internal, near the spine. very close to her back, rather than her belly. it kind of feels like maybe her kidney is enlarged. which MIGHT make sense because that's what her abscess was attached to. it's also not movable like the last one.
intros are going slowly because Mini is a "tiny tyrant" as we call her lol. even after 10 days she's like "grrr, I am the boss" and in cage makes Blue shriek (no blood) + tugs at her neck skin. so we're dialing back intros to a couple more couch times. it's funny because Blue is 100% the boss on the couch lol. Mini has always been difficult with intros though hehe. I think a little more couch time and it'll help dial back the cage trouble. the other girls are happy to let Blue be the boss again.
(Blue was the alpha, so that's where the trouble is. she's going in wanting to be alpha again
)so, I thought I'd post a long update because a LOT has happened.
about 10 days post op, when I was beginning intros, we noticed a new lump on Blue. which I believe I mentioned. it turned out to be a lump IN her belly and at the time we thought it was pushing her kidney out.
well, we felt the best choice was to do surgery again. it was a difficult choice, as I have no interest in putting Blue through too much pain if it's a losing battle. but she's still VERY healthy and active.
unfortunately, we did not get lovely news. her spleen + a lump (abscess) ended up coming out. her spleen was pretty darn infected. and it turns out her left kidney IS enlarged, but does not appear infected. but that wasn't what was pushing out of her side.
it's ANOTHER abscess. the bad part? it's IN her abdominal wall. he'd have to remove muscle, etc to actually remove it without rupturing it. he could see pus from the inside (the wall was thin near her right kidney).
this time we did a culture (hindsight, i should have done one before). we don't have news yet on whether or not any abs will kill the bacteria, but we have bad news that it's 2 bacteria. my vet says this is a bit abnormal and worrying for the type of abscesses she's getting (normally it's one bug that's getting out of control. not two.). he's worried about her immune system.
so Blue goes in to have it aspirated and maybe have abs injected into it on Wednesday. I am hoping she can last that long. I busted up my leg and cannot go in today (plus my vet wants to wait 1 week post op to knock her out again, if we can wait). it's getting fairly large, fast.
posting some photos. first time posting photos + they are cellphone photos. so this may go badly
about 10 days post op, when I was beginning intros, we noticed a new lump on Blue. which I believe I mentioned. it turned out to be a lump IN her belly and at the time we thought it was pushing her kidney out.
well, we felt the best choice was to do surgery again. it was a difficult choice, as I have no interest in putting Blue through too much pain if it's a losing battle. but she's still VERY healthy and active.
unfortunately, we did not get lovely news. her spleen + a lump (abscess) ended up coming out. her spleen was pretty darn infected. and it turns out her left kidney IS enlarged, but does not appear infected. but that wasn't what was pushing out of her side.
it's ANOTHER abscess. the bad part? it's IN her abdominal wall. he'd have to remove muscle, etc to actually remove it without rupturing it. he could see pus from the inside (the wall was thin near her right kidney).
this time we did a culture (hindsight, i should have done one before). we don't have news yet on whether or not any abs will kill the bacteria, but we have bad news that it's 2 bacteria. my vet says this is a bit abnormal and worrying for the type of abscesses she's getting (normally it's one bug that's getting out of control. not two.). he's worried about her immune system.
so Blue goes in to have it aspirated and maybe have abs injected into it on Wednesday. I am hoping she can last that long. I busted up my leg and cannot go in today (plus my vet wants to wait 1 week post op to knock her out again, if we can wait). it's getting fairly large, fast.
posting some photos. first time posting photos + they are cellphone photos. so this may go badly
temblabamomo
Senior Member
Oi, that's rough. I'm sorry the news couldn't be better. It sounds like you have an awesome vet though. I will keep my fingers crossed that having it aspirated and getting some abs in there will help. Blue's a tough girl. Hugs to both of you.
my vet is pretty amazing. even if we chose to do that difficult surgery, he'd probably be able to do it.
we're kind of in a difficult position. Blue is fighting pretty hard, but her immune system for sure seems to be failing. whether this is solely her immune system or if the bugs are something harsh (like e-coli or staph. my vet says it's not uncommon for those to build up a drug resistance pretty fast) we won't know until the culture comes back.
she's doing well needing to be separated from the girls though. she was supposed to be back a couple weeks ago, but we can't risk her being put back until the size of this abscess is under control. due to where it's located, if it burst, it could cause more internal troubles. it's right by her good kidney. so bleh.
it's funny though. rats are SO good at walling off infections. you'd never know Blue was so sick. when she came back from her second surgery, it was almost like nothing ever happened. she was bouncing around! she felt so much better having that infected spleen out.
we're kind of in a difficult position. Blue is fighting pretty hard, but her immune system for sure seems to be failing. whether this is solely her immune system or if the bugs are something harsh (like e-coli or staph. my vet says it's not uncommon for those to build up a drug resistance pretty fast) we won't know until the culture comes back.
she's doing well needing to be separated from the girls though. she was supposed to be back a couple weeks ago, but we can't risk her being put back until the size of this abscess is under control. due to where it's located, if it burst, it could cause more internal troubles. it's right by her good kidney. so bleh.
it's funny though. rats are SO good at walling off infections. you'd never know Blue was so sick. when she came back from her second surgery, it was almost like nothing ever happened. she was bouncing around! she felt so much better having that infected spleen out.
mamarat
Well-Known Member
Poor Blue, sending good thoughts to your sweetie.
unfortunately I think we may be hitting the beginning of losing Blue.
I noticed she's been feeling lighter the last week. she was about 278g on my scale pre-surgery. then 269g a couple days post surgery. the 10 gram drop didn't alarm me too much due to Blue still having an appetite, energy, etc. it's not my favorite side effect, but I have seen rats lose a little weight, then gain it back after a major surgery.
but tonight she's 253g on my scale. she has an appt for another aspiration (if necessary) Monday. going to wait and see what she weighs there before I panic (just in case my battery is dying maybe).
her energy hasn't changed. her appetite is still amazing (she never turns down a treat or veggies and I catch her eating lab blocks all the time). I'm not quite sure what is wrong.
I noticed she's been feeling lighter the last week. she was about 278g on my scale pre-surgery. then 269g a couple days post surgery. the 10 gram drop didn't alarm me too much due to Blue still having an appetite, energy, etc. it's not my favorite side effect, but I have seen rats lose a little weight, then gain it back after a major surgery.
but tonight she's 253g on my scale. she has an appt for another aspiration (if necessary) Monday. going to wait and see what she weighs there before I panic (just in case my battery is dying maybe).
her energy hasn't changed. her appetite is still amazing (she never turns down a treat or veggies and I catch her eating lab blocks all the time). I'm not quite sure what is wrong.
jorats
Loving rats since 2002.
Sending good thoughts for Blue.
well, the current update is a mixed bag!
good/bad:
she has lost weight (down from 278g pre-surgery to 256 today). BUT a chunk of this may be from her operations. she has had a lot of thick, heavy pus removed + an infected spleen removed. this could account for about half of her weight loss.
bad:
she has respiratory issues
good:
if she gains weight and gets better, the abscess has gotten small enough from the aspiration that it can be removed.
good/bad:
she has lost weight (down from 278g pre-surgery to 256 today). BUT a chunk of this may be from her operations. she has had a lot of thick, heavy pus removed + an infected spleen removed. this could account for about half of her weight loss.
bad:
she has respiratory issues
good:
if she gains weight and gets better, the abscess has gotten small enough from the aspiration that it can be removed.
ATez
Well-Known Member
I wish you and Blue the best of luck!!!!! Hopefully things will go for the best, sounds like you have a good vet too!
I have an awesome vet I cannot say enough nice things about them!
if Blue has any chance of making it through all of this, they will make sure it happens
the other good thing is the type of bacteria that is causing her abscesses should not be able to cause her respiratory stuff. so likely she's over stressed from all the surgeries/anesthesia (3 times in 1 month. a lot for a little thing!).
so we are crossing fingers and toes right now!
I cannot say enough nice things about them! if Blue has any chance of making it through all of this, they will make sure it happens
the other good thing is the type of bacteria that is causing her abscesses should not be able to cause her respiratory stuff. so likely she's over stressed from all the surgeries/anesthesia (3 times in 1 month. a lot for a little thing!).
so we are crossing fingers and toes right now!
