Surgery today - looking for food ideas

[toeberto]

Sushi is at the vet right now, finally getting her upper and lower incisors pulled. I'm a bit nervous sitting here waiting for the vet's office to call and let me know how things went.

When she comes home, she is going to have a few days where she can only eat softer foods. Long term, I don't expect a lot of changes to her diet, since she already couldn't eat harder foods such as lab blocks without soaking them first. Do any of you have short term suggestions for her? We provide vegetables every day and I think some of those (i.e., peas and corn) should be soft enough for her to eat them right away. Cereal (such as Cheerios) soften so quickly that I think that might also be an option. But neither of those seem particularly substantial to me. Does anyone have other ideas? She will have access to her regular food of course (since Saké isn't going to want to change her diet because her sister has less teeth) but I'm trying to come up with supplementary foods to make sure she is getting enough to eat.

I appreciate any suggestions!

Sarah
http://bentorats.blogspot.com/

 

[lilspaz68]

Take quality lab blocks and crush or use the powder on the bottom of the bag, mix it with baby cereal and moisten it. She will be getting her lab blocks in a form she can eat

Good luck to Sushi today...watch for pain later on, its a big surgery for a little girl.

 

[mamarat]

Fingers crossed for your sweetie today.

 

[M0onkist]

Oh, fingers crossed for Sushi!!

Let us know how it goes!

 

[*Rebel_Angel*]

Good luck Sushi!

 

[toeberto]

Thanks for the well wishes! I should hopefully hear soon how things went. Ideally the vet will be able to get both the top and bottom incisors out. He did say though that if it takes too long (i.e., if Sushi is under anesthetic too long) he'll only take the top or the bottom and then we'll do the other half in the future. She will come home on antibiotics and pain meds.

I really like the baby cereal suggestion - I had thought about dissolving rat blocks but wasn't sure what to do with that to make it more substantial. That seems a good solution to get her the nutrition she needs, especially for the next few days when her poor mouth is so sore.

Sarah
http://bentorats.blogspot.com/

 

[toeberto]

I just got off the phone with the vet. He was able to get the right upper and lower incisors out w/ no problem (and he saved the teeth for me so I can see how long the roots are) but in the process of getting the right teeth out, the left incisors snapped off. He said this will sometimes happen when you're applying pressure to the teeth to get them out, but in this case he wasn't even working on those teeth.

This means she'll go back in a few weeks or a month, when the left teeth are longer and get those removed. He could have gotten them out today but felt like that would be too invasive and traumatic to her mouth. If we wait until they are longer, he should be able to get them out more easily.

He said she was a trooper and had gotten through the surgery with little blood loss. He was watching her while we were on the phone and she was up walking around and sniffing at food, which is a good sign. We will pick her up in a few hours!

Sarah
http://bentorats.blogspot.com/

 

[lilspaz68]

you are going to be amazed at the size/length of the teeth!

 

[ChrisK]

I'm happy to hear that she's done well with the surgery. Great news! Hope she heals well and fast for the next round.. sending happy, healing thoughts..

 

[DadRat]

When we have a rattie not eating well we often crush lab block (either in a bag with something heavy, or a food processor/blender will work) and mix it with some combo of rice cereal, water and/or Ensure.

Noms and hydration all in one!

 

[rhapsody]

Yup, just as lilspaz68 and DadRat suggested! Works great for rodents with teeth issues.

Er, if Sushi doesn't finish the food in one go, be sure switch out the food as often as you can - my toothless hamster's "porridge" has to replaced twice a day since otherwise it will start to get fuzzy.

And CONGRATS! Hoping the post-surgery process goes smoothly for your gal!

 

[toeberto]

Thanks again, to all of you. I'm happy to report that despite having a very swollen face, Sushi is shoving her cereal/lab block mixture into her mouth by the pawful!

We separated Sushi from her sister for most of the evening, and after she loaded up on food, Sushi slept really hard for a couple of hours. Saké is now back with her (and also enjoying the cereal/lab block mixture) and other than the swelling, things seem pretty normal. I was unprepared for how much swelling there is (pictures are at http://www.flickr.com/photos/thewickerman/ if you are curious), and how rough she'd look in general. Fortunately she seems pretty comfortable.

Sarah
http://bentorats.blogspot.com/

 

[lilspaz68]

Oh wow, she looks so much like Chelle's Maya who stayed with me while we tried to work out her troubles...she only had 1 bottom incisor removed, as it was infected at the root and in the tissue, but she was quite puffy as well. Don't forget it also may be the effects of the surgery (puffed up fur rather than all of it being true swelling) and as long as you keep the good pain meds on board (what did they send you home with?) and antibiotics to prevent infection, she should do really well.

 

[mamarat]

Glad your girl is back home with you. You have beautiful girls.

 

[fenshae]

Ho-lee-crap. I just looked at the pics (she's so gorgeous btw!) and I was floored by that TOOTH. That thing is beast! I can't even imagine having that in my mouth! :hugs: to Sushi, she's gonna feel sooo much better now.

 

[M0onkist]

What a sweet little munchkin... give her the very softest of kisses from me and mine.

 

[Maple]

Good news is always welcome. Glad to hear things went well with her surgery.

 

[toeberto]

and as long as you keep the good pain meds on board (what did they send you home with?) and antibiotics to prevent infection, she should do really well.

They sent us with Meloxicam for the pain and the antibiotics are Ciprofloxacin. She took the antibiotics pretty easily this morning but was less impressed with the Meloxicam.

She's still pretty big this morning but she did groom herself and had obviously eaten more. She also spent some time exploring the bed this morning while we were getting her meds ready, so I think she's feeling okay (all things considered).

As for the teeth (http://www.flickr.com/photos/thewickerman/6212244047/), the giant one in the middle is her lower right incisor. The outside pieces are actually the upper right - the vet trimmed it before he pulled it, hence the two pieces.

Sarah
http://bentorats.blogspot.com/

 

[Moon]

Oh wowzers, rat teeth are so amazing, though I bet she'll be a happier girl when hers are out of the way! She's a beaut, and I'm glad to hear she's doing well