victoria
Well-Known Member
Sophie is about 27 or 28 months old, she came to us last March when her first family couldn't keep her and Grace because of a serious allergy. She was a very timid rat when she got here, but after we introduced her to my other rats and Grace passed in the summer she really came out of her shell and is a very happy, easy going rat.
In May, she developed her first mammary tumour under her left armpit. We went to the vet and she was my first recipient of a Deslorelin implant. Unfortunately, in July the tumour started to grow and we thought she developed another on her collar bone, so we booked her for surgery. The vet was able to remove the one under her armpit but because it was so spread out he was not able to get to the one on her collarbone. We decided to keep an eye on it (I had already tried compresses and antibiotics to try to treat it as an abscess) and if it continued growing we would book her for another surgery when she had healed from her first one.
It did continue to grow, so she went in for surgery sometime in August and it was then we found out it was an abscess. Despite the two months on antibiotics and the compresses. At the time the tissue under her right armpit was feeling like it was developing into another lump but it was in the early stages and I was much more concerned about the lump on her throat.
She was on antibiotics (Batryl and Doxy) all through the fall until mid to late November, when she finally went through an entire two weeks without a wheeze and I took her off. Big mistake. Within 48 hours she developed a huge lump in her throat. At the time, I had already found two more likely mammary tumours on her - one about the size of an olive on the outside of her left hind leg, the other the size of a lentil on her right side. I took her to the vet, he also suspected an abscess (he thinks it's blood borne from the lungs) and we decided to try Sepra to get rid of it since Batryl and Doxy did nothing for it last time. At that appointment the vet also found a lump (we do not think it's a mammary tumour but some other kind of tumour) near her urethrae.
After a week on Sepra the lump was shrinking but she started to wheeze so I called the vet and he added Batryl and Doxy to her treatment regimen. When we went in another two weeks later, her abscess had stopped shrinking but was at least stable and her breathing was good. Both the lump on her hind leg and her underside were growing and we talked about when we would have to worry about them because neither I nor the vet want to put her through another surgery at her age unless there are no other options. She also has a small scratch on her back from a run in with Amy during intros that doesn't seem to be healing and is getting bigger. I started putting an ointment on it last week and it is finally starting to heal, but I think her body is losing it's ability to heal itself.
She is still on all three antibiotics and was doing great until 2 days ago when her abscess was clearly getting bigger. I have tried doing compresses but it is hard to keep her still and it will not come to a head. Yesterday, I had her out with my two former fosters (we adopted them) and Monty and she had a blast. She even sneaked off the bed at some point and left the room, only to trot back in before I noticed her gone with a piece of cracker she found God knows where. She was so proud of herself.
Every night when I let them out, I clean the CN. If nothing else I change the liners and any hammocks or cubes that smell like pee. It's become a ritual that when I start cleaning the cage, Oreo will come in and try to take the blocks from the cage and hide them around the room and the other four girls, especially Sophie and Annabelle, bring them all back. Tonight Sophie was doing just that but something happened and she bolted out of the cage and I never saw her again during playtime. This is odd, because Sophie is not the most graceful rat and she doesn't really bolt, not the way she did (I wasn't even completely certain it was her because she disappeared so fast) and she always stops by for cuddles many times during playtime and is almost always asleep and back in the cage when I put everyone else back.
At the end of playtime tonight I did meds (everyone comes for those - they think they are treats :giggle: ) and put everyone back and had to go searching for Sophie. She was buried under some fleece scrap they have dragged to a hard to reach corner of the room, not asleep, but would not come out when I called her. I reached in and brought her on the bed, gave her her Sepra (have not figured out how to mask it so I have to force it) but afterward she would not eat the applesauce/PB with her other meds. All of the other rats ate theirs (they all get some, whether they are taking meds or not, this way they are used to the routine for when they do need meds) so I don't think there's anything wrong with the mix itself.
Watching her I noticed she was a little confused - not like PT confused but like maybe she was blind. She's a himi so she has always had poor eyesight, but it's almost like she can't see at all now. I got a Cheerio to do "the test" and I had to poke her with it to get her to hold it, which she did perfectly, but she wouldn't eat it. Her chin was soaked in drool, which may be partly due to her trying to spit out the Sepra, but it seemed a bit excessive. She doesn't seem to have any balance or coordination issues though, and no paralysis of one side of her body. Feeling her over I found two more lumps. Another tiny one, this time on her left side, and the one that was developing under her right armpit is also now clearly a tumour. The one on her underside, the one that worries me, is not much bigger and does not seem to be affecting any vital functions. Her breathing is fine and there is no sign of porphyrin or lethargy. She seems like a lumpy, healthy, happy rat in a new place - too busy trying to get to know her surroundings to bother eating. She has slimmed down over the last few months, but she is still by no means skinny or underweight, and it has not been a drastic change.
She never would take her meds tonight, no matter what we tried, and I don't want to force them and stress her out even more. I made her some oatmeal with a bit of boiled egg white and Greens + (my rats love the stuff and I can't stand it) and I got her to eat that, but she did not go to the bowl on her own, we had to put the spoon in front of her. I am going to mix up some baby food and block dust before going to bed, hopefully she will take some of that as well.
I'm calling the vet in the morning for an appointment, but I was hoping someone had some suggestions on what it could be. I haven't ruled out early PT even though she passed the Cheerio test, but I don't think that's it. Could she have had a stroke that's affected her eyesight? I don't think she's in pain and do not want to give Metacam to double check because I know she may be put on Pred tomorrow. I do have an opiate pain med of some sort, but I am going to avoid it unless I am sure she needs it as I don't want to affect her behaviour before we go to the vet. She is such a sweet girl, this is so unfair :sad3:
In May, she developed her first mammary tumour under her left armpit. We went to the vet and she was my first recipient of a Deslorelin implant. Unfortunately, in July the tumour started to grow and we thought she developed another on her collar bone, so we booked her for surgery. The vet was able to remove the one under her armpit but because it was so spread out he was not able to get to the one on her collarbone. We decided to keep an eye on it (I had already tried compresses and antibiotics to try to treat it as an abscess) and if it continued growing we would book her for another surgery when she had healed from her first one.
It did continue to grow, so she went in for surgery sometime in August and it was then we found out it was an abscess. Despite the two months on antibiotics and the compresses. At the time the tissue under her right armpit was feeling like it was developing into another lump but it was in the early stages and I was much more concerned about the lump on her throat.
She was on antibiotics (Batryl and Doxy) all through the fall until mid to late November, when she finally went through an entire two weeks without a wheeze and I took her off. Big mistake. Within 48 hours she developed a huge lump in her throat. At the time, I had already found two more likely mammary tumours on her - one about the size of an olive on the outside of her left hind leg, the other the size of a lentil on her right side. I took her to the vet, he also suspected an abscess (he thinks it's blood borne from the lungs) and we decided to try Sepra to get rid of it since Batryl and Doxy did nothing for it last time. At that appointment the vet also found a lump (we do not think it's a mammary tumour but some other kind of tumour) near her urethrae.
After a week on Sepra the lump was shrinking but she started to wheeze so I called the vet and he added Batryl and Doxy to her treatment regimen. When we went in another two weeks later, her abscess had stopped shrinking but was at least stable and her breathing was good. Both the lump on her hind leg and her underside were growing and we talked about when we would have to worry about them because neither I nor the vet want to put her through another surgery at her age unless there are no other options. She also has a small scratch on her back from a run in with Amy during intros that doesn't seem to be healing and is getting bigger. I started putting an ointment on it last week and it is finally starting to heal, but I think her body is losing it's ability to heal itself.
She is still on all three antibiotics and was doing great until 2 days ago when her abscess was clearly getting bigger. I have tried doing compresses but it is hard to keep her still and it will not come to a head. Yesterday, I had her out with my two former fosters (we adopted them) and Monty and she had a blast. She even sneaked off the bed at some point and left the room, only to trot back in before I noticed her gone with a piece of cracker she found God knows where. She was so proud of herself.
Every night when I let them out, I clean the CN. If nothing else I change the liners and any hammocks or cubes that smell like pee. It's become a ritual that when I start cleaning the cage, Oreo will come in and try to take the blocks from the cage and hide them around the room and the other four girls, especially Sophie and Annabelle, bring them all back. Tonight Sophie was doing just that but something happened and she bolted out of the cage and I never saw her again during playtime. This is odd, because Sophie is not the most graceful rat and she doesn't really bolt, not the way she did (I wasn't even completely certain it was her because she disappeared so fast) and she always stops by for cuddles many times during playtime and is almost always asleep and back in the cage when I put everyone else back.
At the end of playtime tonight I did meds (everyone comes for those - they think they are treats :giggle: ) and put everyone back and had to go searching for Sophie. She was buried under some fleece scrap they have dragged to a hard to reach corner of the room, not asleep, but would not come out when I called her. I reached in and brought her on the bed, gave her her Sepra (have not figured out how to mask it so I have to force it) but afterward she would not eat the applesauce/PB with her other meds. All of the other rats ate theirs (they all get some, whether they are taking meds or not, this way they are used to the routine for when they do need meds) so I don't think there's anything wrong with the mix itself.
Watching her I noticed she was a little confused - not like PT confused but like maybe she was blind. She's a himi so she has always had poor eyesight, but it's almost like she can't see at all now. I got a Cheerio to do "the test" and I had to poke her with it to get her to hold it, which she did perfectly, but she wouldn't eat it. Her chin was soaked in drool, which may be partly due to her trying to spit out the Sepra, but it seemed a bit excessive. She doesn't seem to have any balance or coordination issues though, and no paralysis of one side of her body. Feeling her over I found two more lumps. Another tiny one, this time on her left side, and the one that was developing under her right armpit is also now clearly a tumour. The one on her underside, the one that worries me, is not much bigger and does not seem to be affecting any vital functions. Her breathing is fine and there is no sign of porphyrin or lethargy. She seems like a lumpy, healthy, happy rat in a new place - too busy trying to get to know her surroundings to bother eating. She has slimmed down over the last few months, but she is still by no means skinny or underweight, and it has not been a drastic change.
She never would take her meds tonight, no matter what we tried, and I don't want to force them and stress her out even more. I made her some oatmeal with a bit of boiled egg white and Greens + (my rats love the stuff and I can't stand it) and I got her to eat that, but she did not go to the bowl on her own, we had to put the spoon in front of her. I am going to mix up some baby food and block dust before going to bed, hopefully she will take some of that as well.
I'm calling the vet in the morning for an appointment, but I was hoping someone had some suggestions on what it could be. I haven't ruled out early PT even though she passed the Cheerio test, but I don't think that's it. Could she have had a stroke that's affected her eyesight? I don't think she's in pain and do not want to give Metacam to double check because I know she may be put on Pred tomorrow. I do have an opiate pain med of some sort, but I am going to avoid it unless I am sure she needs it as I don't want to affect her behaviour before we go to the vet. She is such a sweet girl, this is so unfair :sad3:
