spay complications

[her.corner]

Tuesday night my little girl Maisie was having vaginal bleeding. I took her in Wednesday(yesterday) morning for this, and they were able to get her in that day for a spay. It's been almost 24 hours since her surgery completed and she is still really out of it. She's very tired and very weak. Her breathing is somewhat shallow and it looks like she may have even lost a bit of weight. I'm really, really worried and upset. The vet told me to watch her to see if she improves at all this evening,and if not bring her in tomorrow morning. (A side note: my regular vet is on vacation until next month. So this is a new vet that I'm somewhat unfamiliar with, though they were recommended by my normal vet.) Also, she won't eat hard food--not even peas--but she has been eating the baby cereal mixed with soy milk that I've been giving her. She hasn't produced any stool.
Any ideas what could be going on? She's not going to die is she? I'm so worried. I don't know what I'll do if I lose her.

 

[victoria]

How old is she? Was she given any medication (pain meds or antibiotics) post op?

 

[her.corner]

She's about 1 year and 10 months. She was given pain meds following the surgery and I've been given 3 does of metacam to give her over the course of 3 days. I gave her one dose earlier this afternoon.

 

[victoria]

Can you rat phone her? (Put your ear against her sides to listen to her breathing on both sides.)

What's the Metacam dose?

I had an older rat that had a very invasive tumour removal and she was in rough shape for a few days afterward. Metacam can cause stomach upset/constipation, so that may explain that. If she had vaginal bleeding prior to a spay, there may have been an infection though and she probably needs antibiotics. I would call the vet an ask for antibiotics, at least to prevent any post op infections. You can also try adding some fish oil to soft foods - she will be more like to eat it and it will help lubricate her digestive system.

 

[her.corner]

I listened to her breathing and I didn't notice anything that sounded abnormal--I don't like to disturb her too much given that she's so weak. For the metacam, she's taking .4 ml at .5 mg/ml . I'll ask the vet about some antibiotics.

I'm really worried though. It almost seems like she's getting worse rather than better.

 

[Joanne]

Poor little girl...
Did the vet use gas only? Before I knew about how fragile rats were with anaesthetic, they had the sedation followed by the gas, and that was too much, and they took a long time to come around.
I think two very important things are to:
1. Keep her warm. If she is still dopey, she probably can't regulate her body temperature, and may be a bit shocky.
2. Keep her hydrated. Encourage her to drink.
I really hope she starts recovering. Fingers crossed for her.

 

[her.corner]

If I take her to the vet in the morning, will they be able to do anything for her other than give her fluids?
I'm really worried that nothing can be done for her; she seems so bad right now.

 

[mamarat]

Your poor girl. I did have a little girl who took a couple of days to come around fully. Can you syringe Ensure to make sure she drinks. Offer her baby cereal on your finger. Sending healing vibes.

 

[her.corner]

I've picked up some Ensure and have started syringe feeding it to her. I'm thinking I might give her a couple ml every hour or so. Her breathing seems a little better: still shallow but not as bad. I hope that means that she's going to pull through.

 

[jorats]

It really is scary when a rat seem to have a reaction to the anesthesia. If she is still out of it tomorrow, I would bring her to the vet for fluids and possibly oxygen. Keep her hydrated and warm.

 

[hopefloats]

how much does she weigh? Some of my big boys dont get that much metacam.

 

[victoria]

how much does she weigh? Some of my big boys dont get that much metacam.

Most people get Metacam at 1.5 mg/ml, hers is the one used more commonly for cats and is only .5mg/ml.

I hope she's just having a hard time bouncing back... I know when it happened to Oreo it was very scary and it was awful watching her, knowing there was little I could do to help.

 

[her.corner]

Maisie has made small improvements, but I think that she's still not out of the woods. On Saturday I thought it would be best to get her out of the carrier and into her cage. She has 3 cage mates and all were sleeping when I returned her. But when they woke up they began asserting their dominance over her, and sometimes aggressively so. This was very, very stressful for her. Since I didn't want to return her to the carrier, I put the 3 in the bottom half of the ferret nation. But this is all very disappointing because I thought having her buddies around would help her. Now I fear that she's very, very alone, and perhaps a little depressed because of it. But I'm also surprised that they acted like that since she's been with 2 of the girls her entire life. I even tried putting one of the girls in her half today--they were the bestest of friends--but my other girl aggressively went after her. So what I'm wondering is whether I"m going to have to go through an entire introduction process with them now? If so, should I wait until Maisie is at full strength?

 

[victoria]

Maisie has made small improvements, but I think that she's still not out of the woods. On Saturday I thought it would be best to get her out of the carrier and into her cage. She has 3 cage mates and all were sleeping when I returned her. But when they woke up they began asserting their dominance over her, and sometimes aggressively so. This was very, very stressful for her. Since I didn't want to return her to the carrier, I put the 3 in the bottom half of the ferret nation. But this is all very disappointing because I thought having her buddies around would help her. Now I fear that she's very, very alone, and perhaps a little depressed because of it. But I'm also surprised that they acted like that since she's been with 2 of the girls her entire life. I even tried putting one of the girls in her half today--they were the bestest of friends--but my other girl aggressively went after her. So what I'm wondering is whether I"m going to have to go through an entire introduction process with them now? If so, should I wait until Maisie is at full strength?

The same thing happened with Oreo and her cage mates, it was very distressing to see. I think it's their natural instinct to attack a member of the colony that is in very bad shape because if they die in the nest, they will attract predators. I took one member of the colony that was especially gentle and caring and I put them together (we spent several days living together on the couch) until she was out of the woods. When she improved a little bit, I put all the rats on my bed and and one of the other girls got puffy but backed down when she saw Oreo was well enough to protest. After that, they went back to living together like before.

Do you have one rat you can try with her?

 

[KatTheHippie]

When Aurora came back from the vets for a tumor removal I noticed she had a really, really strong smell on her, so before I put her backwith the other girls I put her on some of their old bedding for a while to help mask the smell and get her normal scent back. So maybe try that and see if one of the girls she was closest to accepts her again.

I hope your girl pulls through, just keep hope and be patient!

 

[Joanne]

I like the idea of starting intros again. Maybe by switching bedding/cages every day it will calm things down, and if you do that for several days it will give her time to gain some more strength. I'm glad she's still hanging in there!