Sophie's tumour burst... RIP 04/08 - some necropsy results

[jorats]

I wonder if the tumour is actually draining? My sister's rat Sookie had a tumour on the side of the face, it looked like getting it drained (blood) seemed to help alleviate her discomfort.
It's always scary when you see so much blood in the cage.

 

[victoria]

The blood is definitely necrotic (I think that's the word the vet used to describe it) that I think had pooled around the tumour, not fresh blood. It smells disgusting - the other girls sniffed it on the liner but wouldn't touch it, which tells me how gross it was. I do believe it's relieving the pressure (and maybe buying time) but I'm worried about anemia. For whatever reason, I'm more open to Ensure this morning, so I will give her a small bowl when she is up and about. I have baby cereal in the freezer, so maybe I will mix some of it in as well.

Not sure what her poos look like now, I saw her using the litter box but didn't inspect. I only assume the poos flattened on one side are hers... there's no reason why they should be any of the other rats. She doesn't have a large amount of dried blood covering the opening this time, so I will use the antiseptic twice a day to keep it clean. I hope I have everything covered.

 

[ChrisK]

Sounds like you're doing a great job.. Sending you and Sophie positive, healing thoughts...

 

[lj]

Poor Sophie. Sounds like you're doing everything you can for her. I just wonder about giving sugars as sugars tend to feed the tumours.

Necrotic blood is def. better than blood blood. Hopefully relieving the pressure.

 

[victoria]

I realized yesterday that while the really rapid blood loss stopped, she's still slowly leaking blood. She's still her sweet self, and explored quite a bit while we sanitized the cage last night, but I worry at all the blood she has lost. I called the vet (found out that my regular vet is on loan to the e-clinic which is why I he hasn't been around the last few times I've been in) and left a message for the vet we saw last time with an explanation of
what happened to see if she thinks we should come in.

I thought I would add some pics of the tumour and Sophie in the last few days:

These to were taken Mar. 5... I was concerned about the size/condition of the tumour and was going to make a thread, but it burst before I had a chance. I will take some after pics when I can, but the tumour is much smaller now.

These are of her last night:
Here, she got herself stuck in her favourite hiding spot (I took it out of the cage weeks/months ago because I worried she may get stuck) and needed help getting out Like everything else, she took it in stride

This is her and Monty in the Cozy Shack tent Ratty Momma bought them for Christmas :heart:

This is her enjoying some homemade (salt free) barley lentil risotto (hubby is tilting the bowl for her off camera) while Butterscotch and Oreo (both 27 months) do their thing and try to steal the shot

Poor Sophie. Sounds like you're doing everything you can for her. I just wonder about giving sugars as sugars tend to feed the tumours.

Necrotic blood is def. better than blood blood. Hopefully relieving the pressure.

I've had a debate about that with myself, and briefly brought it up with my vet once, but Sophie can't eat hard blocks anymore, at least not well enough to fulfill her nutritional requirements. I go through a small bottle of baby food (it has no sugar added, but because the vegetables are puréed the sugars are more readily available) every 3-4 days and half a bottle of Danactive (which has less sugar based on volume than Ensure) a day for nine rats. Sophie's tumours seem to be slow growing, it's Oreo's that have really grown quickly in the past few months. (She is healthy and will be having them removed shortly.) I'm trying to find a balance between getting enough food into Sophie and doing what's best for the rest of the cage. I'll keep it in mind though, and try to use oatmeal to mix the block mush with more often instead of baby food.

 

Poor Girl :heart:


I'm glad she is enjoying the tent

 

[smilez_n_hugs]

Poor girl, will she not eat lab block dust mixed with water?

 

[victoria]

Just got a call back from the vet (the receptionist was very nice and took the initiative to call my regular vet at the faculty) and they said there's not much that can be done. She's not in pain, so I just have to keep an eye on her to make sure it stays that way and make sure she can still maneuver the CN. In the meantime, I found a bunny cage that can fit 12 rats, I'm going to look around town to see if there are any stores that don't sell animals that can get it. I have a bunny cage I can put Sophie and Monty in, but I'd like to keep the entire colony together. I don't have high hopes in finding the other cage but there are quite a few retailers that carry Ferplast products, so it's worth a try.

Poor girl, will she not eat lab block dust mixed with water?

She was losing weight when I was giving her just that, so either she wasn't eating enough or she needs more calorie dense foods. She eats small amounts of food at a time, so I decided to keep making the food available at all times. She's also got that sore on her side that wasn't healing forever and last week it finally developed a nice thick scab, so it seems like her body is regenerating a bit more.

 

When it comes down to situations like this and I needed to buy a cage liek that ..I would buy it from a store that sells pets if I was unablel to find it somewhere else ..so dont feel bad if you have to buy it from there ..if you have the funds do it.

 

[victoria]

I really don't want to if I can avoid it. We spent $450 in December to e-spay Lily because the same store that I would be buying the cage from knowingly sold someone a male and female rat. It becomes a vicious cycle. I would rather buy a second CN, join them side by side, and block off the top half.

 

[ChrisK]

by the way, I loved the photos... just melts my heart... such lovely little ones :heart:

 

[lj]

What about kijiji or another site like that? Maybe there's something sort of close and someone can help with transport?

 

[victoria]

I've looked but there are very few bunny cages that can fit 6 or more rats... this is the one I was thinking of http://www.ferplast.com/scheda_prod...ents-rabbit-160/id_menu=04010512/frm_pagina=2 but there are others.

There was a new ad posted today with a cage that looks promising but it is very far away and they have not posted a pic. It's a breeder selling it though, so I'm not too sure if I'm interested or the condition it will be in. I have a small and a large bun cage already to use for hospital cages, so if she needs to be moved she will be. If I can find a way to move her and keep her with her buds thought that would be preferable. If only rats could be contained in C&C cages...

 

[lj]

Try to steal it? Then you don't support the breeder or the pet store. :giggle:

 

[victoria]

LOL... that would be interesting. Trying to walk out of the store with a cage with a 150 cm base and no one noticing. I may also have an avenue to borrow something... we'll see. She's still holding her own, nomming on some kale and carrots as we speak.

 

[ChrisK]

LOL... that would be interesting. Trying to walk out of the store with a cage with a 150 cm base and no one noticing. I may also have an avenue to borrow something... we'll see. She's still holding her own, nomming on some kale and carrots as we speak.

Go Sophie Go.... we're cheering for ya!! :dance:

 

[victoria]

What a week it's been...

I did exactly the same thing with this burst as I did the last time, except I had her on Batryl the entire time this time, but a nasty abscess developed. I probably should have caught it a day or two sooner, but it smelled like necrotic blood (and I wasn't touching the dried blood very much in hopes the hole would clot and close) and not pus like I would expect from an abscess. I started getting concerned about the smell on Wednesday and started cleaning the area with cotton balls and warm water and on Thursday the scab (that I previously thought was dried blood) came off and the abscess revealed itself. I did hydrotherapy and sprayed on some Baxedin a few times a day but it wasn't improving like I would expect and after talking to Shelagh yesterday I took her in to the vet today.

She's lost 45g since Mar. 8 :'( and the tumour on her throat is getting bigger and getting in her way more. (And I found another tumour sometime last week.) The vet checked her incisors and molars to make sure there weren't any issues there and at least there weren't. He said to continue with the hydrotherapy and the Baxedin and added another antibiotic, Metronizadole. He said the abscess probably came about because of what's going on with the tumour (which is apparently necrotic *gag*) and it's also making it hard for Sophie's immune system to fight it.

I notice that the partial paralysis on the leg were the burst tumour is more pronounced now, I'm wondering whether it's related to the tumour or HED starting on one leg. When I put my fingers against that hip/leg I can feel muscles spasms but not on the other leg. I hope it improves a bit if I can make some headway on this abscess. I can't believe she gets around as well as she does, I found her in her favourite hammock again this morning. Her first mom came over for a visit yesterday and was happy and surprised to see how well she's doing, Sophie and the gang enjoyed their four hour out time.

On the way to the vet today I considered euthanasia but I think Sophie still wants to try and I am willing to do anything I can. I realize we are now at the point where we reassess things day to day and not week to week though, as I think does Sophie. She is cuddling with me as much as I like, making sure I know she loves me. I really hopes she tells me when she's ready and doesn't make me decide.

 

[jorats]

Victoria... I hope you know you are an amazing rat mom.

 

[Moon]

Victoria... I hope you know you are an amazing rat mom.

Yup :bow: :bow: :bow:

 

[ChrisK]

It's true! You are an amazing rat mom...