Toofer Jane - swollen face, eye is bleeding

[whirlytwirly]

Sorry to kind of hijack this thread, but I have a similar problem with a rat at the moment.

My hubby spotted this tiny little rat in a local petshop and felt sorry for it and brought it home to me. He's only very young (his scrotum hasn't fully descended) and he had an abcess on his face above his nose. I noticed his face was swollen and his nose pushed to one side and I thought it was all because of the abcess but on further inspection his top right tooth had grown around in an arc and had broken through the roof of his mouth. His top right tooth (which is only a small nub) was up in the gum and his bottom two teeth were so long he could barely close his mouth.

I was shocked. I'd never seen such bad teeth on a young rat before. I trimmed them which only seemed to bother him cause he was being held so tightly and he's now on antibiotics for the abcess and the infection in his mouth from the teeth puncture sites.

Was he most likely he was born this way? I was worried that I couldn't see the top tooth though my vet suspected it had just snapped off. Should I just keep an eye on him?

He has been eating everything I've given him, including lab blocks, and seems pretty happy. I just felt so sorry for the poor little guy and worry that he will never develop trust in me because of all the medical things we've had to do to him at such a young age....

 

[jorats]

He could very well have been born with it. Ya, he'll need to be constantly checked, they can grow quite fast and will most likely need trimming on a regular basis.

 

[SQ]

Starting Toofer on antibiotics tonight and phoning my vet (again) in the morning .....

Found a lump under her chin, on Toofer Jane's neck tonight .... on the same side of her face as her porphrin eye (ongoing for almost a year ... nothing has helped) and the smell I have been smelling and trying to treat since she was rescued. Godmother thinks it may be a lumph node ....
hoping and praying it is not something too serious, or deadly.

Poor Toofer ...... although she is going to enjoy her baby cereal and hidden meds tonight ... a nice change from her twice a day lab block mush.

 

[mamarat]

Poor sweetie. Good luck at the vet.

 

[jorats]

I think the swelling for the lymph node would be closer to the neck?
I sure do hope it's not an infection in the bone. Do you have Chlorpalm?

 

[SQ]

No but I can ask a vet for some ...
Haven't taken her to see a vet yet ... will soon tho ...
was trying antibiotics first and also trying to talk to my vet in NB first ....
It is a $+_ hour trip each way and I have 6 others on meds plus Iris recovering from her spay ...
Vet here is very expensive and not convinced they know much about rats.

 

[jorats]

It could also be a tooth abscess, again, I would try Chlorpalm. You could also try Clavamox if you have it on hand.

 

[SQ]

Talked to my vet in NB ...
We decide to try antibiotics and see if it helps.

Just found some chlorpalm I have
I also have baytril, clavamox, doxy and zithro
Had started her on baytril + zithro
but think chlorpalm might be better ... thanks for mentioning it Jorats, I had forgotten I had some .....

 

[Chel]

Hi, I don't know much about this smell and the lump but as you know I have a rattie with a similar tooth problem, Rose. Re the missing tooth: Last time I was in to get them trimmed the vet noticed that one of her upper teeth didn't have a normal root, the gum line was higher and there was evidence she has been pushing her teeth on the bars of her cage. He warned me that she may lose the tooth naturally. Maybe this is what happened to toofer. Abnormal root due to lifetime of abnormal teeth, a little pushing on the bars and poof! no toof!

 

[jorats]

That's a possibility. :nod:

 

[SQ]

The chlorpalm decreased the size of the lump and then no more changes in it for a week.
So tried other antibiotics yesterday and today the lump is huge again.
I am going to start her on metronidizole tonight as it seemed to help when she was on it in the fall.
Does this sound reasonable?

She has a vet appointment in NB on Monday ...

 

[jorats]

Absolutely, keep changing it up until you find what works.

 

[SQ]

Was at the vet today ... Toofer Jane has two swollen lymph glands and her jaw bone is swollen :sad3:
Xrays to be taken Wed. am as that was the earliest the vet could arrange it.

:sad3: :sad3: :sad3: :sad3: :sad3: :sad3: :sad3:

 

[mamarat]

Poor sweetie.

 

[Dahlas]

Poor little girl....she has been through so much.

 

[jorats]

Swollen lymph nodes is usually caused by a virus. I believe SDA is one such virus that causes the swelling. Also it could very much be cancer of the lymph nodes. Nothing is good news at this point. :sad3:

 

[SQ]

It appears that all of Toofer's facial swelling, etc. s being caused by her missing upper tooth.
It is growing back from a bud that was so small it did not apear on her previous xray.
Unfortunately, the tooth root is growing through her sinus' causing lots of pain, etc. and from her recent behavior I would guess lots of internal pressure as she has been acting like she has neurological problems. :sad3:

Vet doesn't know if he can do anything as he has never operated on a rat tooth root ... tooth is not yet visiable from outside of her head.

 

[jorats]

Oh god, she must be in severe pain.

 

[Dahlas]

OMG that poor girl.

 

[lilspaz68]

Oh poor little darling! Its going to have to come out or you will have to put her to sleep...what black and white options for your sweetie. :sad3: