Megacolon Question

[DarkBlade]

Hey,

When I had my trio of babies, I remember jorats warning me about Megacolon because of their color. I noticed that Cheese-Cake, the girl in the trio was growing alot faster than Patch and X. Patch is growing faster than X. X died yesterday when I wasn't home. I feel so bad since he was just 7 weeks old... :cry4: I am in Bathurst and left the rats with instructions to my friend Mick cuz I got a job here and I'm returning next saturday. Yesterday he told me that X died in his hands and he pooped a large amount of yellow liquid stuff I imagine is diarrhea just before he died. His testicles we're all gone, disappeared. Imagine they we're dried out.

Patch and Cheese-Cake are sill active and nothing is wrong with their poop. Nobody is bloated. X was very skinny though. Patch is rather normal and Cheese-Cake has a beginning of chubyness but she always had it. But, Pach is still small compared to his sister. I am worried. Can Megacolon be behind all this or did X just dehydrate?

I am doing a vet appointment for has soon as I arrive back too for them to be checked.

 

[ryelle]

male rats can sometimes pull their testicles up into their bodies when they get scared but personally ive never seen it happen yet. And sorry about what im about to say when anything dies (human or animal) muscles in the body relax and the bladder tends to release itself.

I have no idea about megacolon though. sorry if im being totally useless.

Sorry for your loss too hun

 

[sausage4ever]

Sorry for your loss, and his testes were probably retracted into his body not dried up, My SKinKids used to do this anytime I picked them up.

 

[Debbie]

Megacolon generally becomes obvious around 5-8 weeks of age. Bloating of the belly and othewise signs on them not thriving (skinny tail, and other parts of their body), diareeha are all symptoms of Megacolon. Without knowing for sure, I'd probably say it's a definite possibility.

Please keep a very close eye on the remaining babies, and their output. If you believe they too have MC, a vet is definitely in order. It's a very painful way to die and most need to be humanely euthanized before they get to that point.

Because you may see one or more babies develop Megacolon, does not mean the entire litter will have it. I've had 4 rats from two litters that had MC. Sadly it popped up in the first litter, before the breeder could stop the sibling mating. I ended up with one of my four having MC. He, thankfully had a mild form where I had to help him poo his entire life. He lived to 21 months, but that is EXTREMELY rare. (if you want to do a search on "Willie"...you might find my post here.

Anyway, do watch those other babies closely for bloating and signs of not thriving. Then, PLEASE get them to the vet. :sad3:

 

[MumsyRat]

I've dealt with mega colon a couple of times and from your description I do not think X died from megacolon. It is not sudden onset, nor do they die quickly. Their tummies become very bloated and if they poop at all it is usually small and misshapen. Towards the end (if you haven't been merciful and had the poor baby PTS) they will hang on the cage bars and try to sleep upright because the pressure on their lungs from the hugely swollen colon will make it difficult to breathe.

 

[ryelle]

Towards the end (if you haven't been merciful and had the poor baby PTS) they will hang on the cage bars and try to sleep upright because the pressure on their lungs from the hugely swollen colon will make it difficult to breathe.

:sad3: :sad3:

 

[DarkBlade]

:sad3: :sad3: MC is horrible.

Then what happened to X all of a sudden? Did he just dehydrate? And why is Cheese-Cake so big compared to them? It's like they're having trouble growing up. Cheese-Cake isn't fat, she just grew so fast. She's about 20% bigger (size-wise) than Patch. :sad3: :sad3:

 

[jorats]

I'm so sorry about X... any chance we can get pics?

 

[Moon]

Sometimes very young babies will just die, with no reason that can be seen. It's sad but it happens

As for size differences, when you are dealing with a very small litter, you don't get the range of sizes you'd get with a normal sized litter. Comparing two or three babies can be much more shocking than seeing a range of sizes amongst ten or eleven bubs.

 

[DarkBlade]

I'm so sorry about X... any chance we can get pics?

If you mean pictures of X, he<s already burried. But I can get you a size difference pic of Cheese-Cake and Patch when I get back to Moncton.

 

[jorats]

Yes, I meant the one you are worried about right now.