Jaw/Tooth Abscess

[victoria]

Nine days ago I felt an asymmetry when I was rubbing the bottom of Maggie's chin and I took her to the vet. There was no smell of infection but the vet suspects an abscess so she prescribed Metro and Metacam as well as the Baytril she was already taking.

Maggie had two tumours when I adopted her last summer, but in the past 4-5 weeks, she has developed 5 new ones that I know of, not including the growth on her jaw. I got the first one I found aspirated and the vet said it was probably malignant and abscessed (hence the Baytril) so I'm fairly certain most if not all of the new tumours are cancerous. The two she had when I adopted her didn't grow very much at first and when they started to, we treated her with Lupron which seemed to help.

In nine days, the lump under Maggie's chin (towards her throat) went from not being noticeable just by looking at her to the size of a grape even though she is on meds.

I don't know if I should try to soak the abscess and bring it to a head to drain it or if that's going to do more harm than good. She seems uncomfortable even though I have increased the Metacam dose and reducing the size of the lump will make her more comfortable, but I don't want there to be a hole in the bottom of her mouth. I know she will not recover from this, and my gut says it's not only an abscess, but I want to make her as comfortable as possible.

Maggie is probably close to four years old. She looked well over three when she was brought to the SPCA, her HED so bad she's got almost no muscle mass on her hind legs, and she's completely deaf. She did lose weight in the week between her last vet visit and when I found the lump, but she's put that back on and then some with soft foods. She still gets very exited when I feed her and dives right in (I'm trying to feed her more than twice a day but sometimes it's hard) but she's not as happy or comfortable as she was a week ago...

 

[jorats]

My sister had an older girl with a tooth abscess. It was drained, it was surgically cleaned out and it kept coming back. In the meantime, Tanzie was in so much pain, even with the metacam.
At her age, it might be best to leave it alone until she can bear it no more. On the other hand, no two rat are alike and things could be different for Maggie. Poor girl.

 

[Unepuce]

I cannot give any advice but... poor poor Maggie! Hope it's just an abcess and that she will feel better when it pops... she really doesn't need another tumour... :sad3:

 

[victoria]

I chatted with Shelagh yesterday and I've decided to try compresses to relieve the pressure. Surgery was never an option for Maggie -- even when I would have chanced it, no vets I trust would perform it. I don't know if she would have even recovered even if she survived the surgery and anesthesia, so I'm glad we went with the treatment we did.

Recovery from a tooth abscess is extremely unlikely, so I don't think an abscess is much better than a tumour. I found more tumours last night, I think... she has tumours growing on tumours so it's hard to keep track at this point. She's still eating though, hates it and fights me when I give her Metacam or do compresses, so she still has some fight in her.

I took some pics last night, I'll upload them and add them later. I'm in adopter screening hell this weekend.... I think I'm writing more words replying to applications than I did in university.

 

[victoria]

I've been insanely busy lately but I thought I would update the thread.

The lump on Maggie's jaw continued to grow, despite antibiotics and warm compresses. I'm pretty certain it's a mass (and the vet said it originates on her jaw, not a tooth) and she's so unhappy when I do compresses, I have stopped them for now. Last week, I noticed her bottom teeth became crossed (inwards) but she seemed to be able to keep her teeth trim so I left it for a few days. Then I noticed the tip of her tail was black and I couldn't explain why and her breathing was odd, so I took her to the vet.

It's very hard to get pictures of lumps on an albino rat, it seems.

Here she is hiding under a piece of Vet Bed in her favourite tunnel:

and here you can sort of see the lump

and a bird's eye view from a little earlier:

Not important to her condition, but here she is with her 'family' enjoying some lab block mush and baby cereal:

And her tail the night I discovered it:

and at the vet:

The vet couldn't hear any issues in her lungs but also noticed the odd breathing so we switched her to azithromycin to try to prevent respiratory infections. She thinks it may be a tumour pushing on her trachea and obstructing her airway. Her bottom teeth were ok except for one splinter growing inward, so that was trimmed and I am keeping an eye on it -- if it needs trimming again, I'll try it myself or take her in again.

She said the black spot on her tail was cold gangrene and caused by poor circulation. Her tail and hind legs are cooler than the rest of her body, which means they aren't getting enough blood flow. If she lives long enough, the tail will continue to die off and could fall off, followed by the digits on her hind legs. The poor circulation can be caused by heart disease, inflammation, thrombosis, bacteria blocking the capillaries... and maybe some causes I missed. We don't know for sure the cause so I'm not going to test heart meds but I am doing hydrotherapy and giving her a SnuggleSafe to try to encourage blood flow. It doesn't seem to be worsening (it's been a week since our appointment) and she seems to like the SnuggleSafe, so I guess that's all I can ask for.

 

[ratkin412]

Wow, Maggie is an exceptionally beautiful rat. I am struck by her poise, despite her medical conditions.

I am so sorry that she (and you) are dealing with so many things at once.

An alternating warm and then cool wet towel "compress" might help to draw blood to her tail tip. What might be happening is the tumors are eating up her blood supply, making it hard for oxygenated blood to travel to her little tail.

You and Maggie will be in my thoughts.

I wish I had something more than words of encouragement and crossed fingers.

 

[jorats]

Poor girl.... but she sure is content with her family and mushy blocks.

 

[victoria]

Poor girl.... but she sure is content with her family and mushy blocks.

She does. She doesn't do much but eat and sleep these days but she still looks happy, so I'm just focusing on keeping her that way. I had the day off today so they've been out for almost 10 hours (first two hours were intros but I almost killed the new boys at one point, so they were banished) and she seems pretty content with that.

 

[Aida]

Oh gosh. She is such a fighter, those pictures almost made me cry. She almost has one of those awkward-beauties about herself. Reminds me of Benjamin Button.

I hope that when it happens, it'll be calmy in her sleep- snuggled into a huge, loving rat pile or stroked to the bridge by you.

 

[SQ]

I am so sorry .......... such a wonderful girl

 

[mamarat]

She seems like a happy girl with all her buddies. She's such a cutie in her tunnel.

 

[lilspaz68]

I love this girl, such a brave serene girl. Takes what comes, and poor Victoria fights along side her. She's doing as well as can be expected and is completely gorgeous in my eyes. :heart:

 

[Aida]

What are those porfect holes in her ear?

 

[victoria]

What are those porfect holes in her ear?

Yes, her ears were pierced/punched when she was found. We think she was a lab rat that was 'saved' when the lab was done with her, then dumped when she became inconvenient.

Last night, I found the lump on her chin had ruptured and she has a hole the size on a nickel on her chin

It's definitely a tumour under there (I can see it) but it does also smell like there is infection.

Initially, I thought I would bring her to the vet to be euthanized today but even before I gave her her pain meds last night she was cheery and happily gobbling down food. She looks terrible but she's still upbeat... I'm so torn, but for now I'm taking it day by day. I can't let her go if she wants to stay...

Edited for typo.

 

[mustloverats]

I hope its just an abscess! Give her a hug from me

 

[mamarat]

Poor girl, it's so hard to watch them, I so hate tumors.

 

[Joanne]

It's tough watching them when they're so compromised but there doesn't seem to be any treatment. I would let her tell you when it's time to go. But on the other hand, if she turns suddenly and you can't get her to a vet right away, she may have a painful, panicked death. It's a very hard decision either way...
:hugs: