just age related or illness? UPDATE it's a PT :(

[Petunia]

My Cookie isn't looking too good, I noticed yesterday that she had one porphy eye and was a bit rough looking, and today she looks a tiny bit worse....
She's not sneezing, no sign of any kind of URI, nothing like that, just her fur is standing up a bit, like she's got "bed head" and never smooths it out.

her eyes are not bright either, but dull and slightly sunken in


she's barely 2 yrs old!! (her actual age is unknown but I was told by her previous owner that she was born in Nov or Dec....Although when I first adopted her in Sept I was told she was a year old- so she's either just over 2 or just coming up to 2yrs)

anyway!! whatever, she's not *that* old


ETA: I"ll get a photo of her and post that

this happened literally within the past 72 hrs.

she does have two tumors, one is about the size of a shooter marble, and has grown very slowly.
The other one popped up just a couple of weeks ago and is under her front leg, near the top of her chest, sort of at the bottom of where her neck is (or would be, if rats actually have necks?)

I worry that tumor is pressing on something and making her uncomfortable.
My rat vet is only about 50-60 % up to speed on treating rats, so I don't know if it would be of any benefit to bring her in to be seen.
Not sure that anything can be done....?


any and all input welcome. She's my COOKIE, my :heart: girl. I'm so not ready, I'm in shock because I never really let myself think about the day she'd leave me.

 

[mamarat]

Would your vet know if the tumor in her neck is pressing on anything? My Cocotte had what I thought was an abscess in her neck but it turned out it was a tumor pressing on her trachea. Sad to say I had to let her go.

 

[lilspaz68]

Would your vet know if the tumor in her neck is pressing on anything? My Cocotte had what I thought was an abscess in her neck but it turned out it was a tumor pressing on her trachea. Sad to say I had to let her go.

I have a pic Petunia sent me of her chest tumour, and its definitely not throat (I had the same thought as you mamarat).

 

[jorats]

I have found mammary tumours to not affect the rat much at all. I would think there would be something else going on with her. How's her breathing?

 

[lilspaz68]

Althea says her lungs are clear, so I suggested she gently palpate her belly for lumps inside. She's out at an appointment right now so isn't answering these questions.

 

[Joanne]

The dull eyes and staring coat are worrisome. Something's not right.....

 

[Petunia]

thanks Shelagh, they called while I was in the shower to tell me my appt has been pushed back to this afternoon

yes Joanne, that's what bothers me the most, the dull eyes and coat- she is sleeping now but next time she wakes up I'm going to give her a massage and try to see if there's any lumpiness in her belly, the way Shelagh instructed

if she doesn't look any better by tonight, I think I should call a vet.

 

[Petunia]

well she is sneezing now so it's off to the vet we go

wish us luck please! mostly that the vet knows what to do for her!

 

[mamarat]

Fingers and all little paws crossed for your sweetie.

 

[Joanne]

I hope your vet knows at least as much as you do!! Let us know how you made out....

 

[Petunia]

hi
it's looking more like a PT with the sneezing just being from using a heater.

she wasn't able to use her front paws yesterday to hold food, but she could do it this morning- can that happen with a PT?

she's limp feeling and seems weak but sometimes starts darting around and acts confused

she's still able to eat but needs help and some softer food.
I'm going to see if the vet will prescribe a steroid without seeing her, if not, I'll bring her in

gotta run out and get some $$ for cab fare
and some baby food and cereal

any thing else I should ask about/for?

the rat guide says to give baytril for a PT, what is that for? because the steroid suppressed the immune system?

it can't hurt, I imagine, maybe the vet would be willing to give me a larger bottle of it in case I need it for the other girls too, heard Paige sneeze, I really think it's the change in temp and putting the heat on

it's been snowing here and we're expecting a storm tomorrow, ugh

 

[SQ]

hi
the rat guide says to give baytril for a PT, what is that for? because the steroid suppressed the immune system?

yes, baytril is very important when you give a steroid

Hope it gives her lots of good time with you.
Very sorry :hugs:

 

[Petunia]

thank you

she's going in this morning, I'll post later on what the vet says
I gotta go right back out when I get home and mail some pkgs so it may not be til later tonight

 

[lilspaz68]

Good luck to the ladies

 

[Unepuce]

Paws and fingers crossed that it's not PT, but something that can be cured more easily... :sad3:

An inner ear infection maybe?

 

[mamarat]

Good thoughts for your sweetie.

 

[Petunia]

we're home.
she's got a PT

I got some pred and baytril for her and the vet said to give her melatonin too, gotta find some liquid melatonin and call her with the concentration so she can calculate the dose

One of the employees at this vet has a rat with a PT and she was put on pred 3 mos ago and is doing so well they took her off the pred.
so I'm very hopeful that this will give us more time together.


by the time we got there, Cookie had some swelling in her female parts area- vet said that's from the estrogen being secreted as a consequence of the PT- she explained the whole series of things and how that works and I understood it at the time, but to try to remember it all-
er, I am lucky I remember my name and address most days :roll: :lol:



Cookie likes this vet, she relaxed on her chest and let her stroke her- She closed her eyes and was clearly soaking up the lovin' :heart:



I brought Hope along to keep Cookie company, and also showed the vet her huge lump- it feels like bone to me it's so hard but she said, no it's muscle. She told me what it most likely was, what kind of tumor, I mean but I forgot. Its' not operable and it's not bothering her, either, amazingly,
I just thought she'd like to see it
She was surprised by how big it is- it's really really big now. At least as big as a golf ball and now is involving an area further down her back.

so that's the news. It's pretty much what I thought it would be, except now I have more hope that it can be slowed down and she can have more good days ahead.

 

[Joanne]

Sorry about your news. At least you know what to do next. Here's hoping she will respond to the Prednisone and have lots more time with you.

 

[Petunia]

thank you
honestly this came on so fast, I was thinking I'd lose her in a few days so as bad as the news is, it's not as bad as I was thinking things would be
Of course no one knows how these things will go, but I'm very hopeful that she'll hang in there with me for awhile longer

 

[Godmother]

I wish you good luck. Prednisone has given me several precious months with several of my girls. Bromocriptine has helped two of them, even though they did not tolerated taking it for long.

It is hard to see a rat develop signs of PT. Hope your sweetie has some more quality time with you.