URGENT : please help!

[vorbei]

A few days ago I noticed a cut on one of my 2 female dumbo's lip, and she had severe facial swelling. We cleaned out the cage fresh and looked her over, but my dad was not into going to the vet. He still is pretty adamant about that, regardless of what has occurred since.

Her face ended up draining through her cheek, it is pretty deep and a gray-black color. She is kind of smelly and it is very hard to try and clean. We wiped her down and gave her a mini bath, and separated her from her sister. The cut on her lip turned into a huge gap in her jaw, and it is only getting worse. It looks like she has no bottom lip anymore. It's HORRIFYING and I don't know what to do for her at all. There was one cut, now there are several gaps and they are swelling and turning red. You can see her bottom teeth and the inside of her cheeks. I may be able to take a picture if that can improve the quality of advice...

Is there some sort of medication I can give her? She's in a cardboard house and I put towels instead of paper shreds, and she seems to be sleeping. She's lost some weight and I can see a lump forming on her stomach. I'm pretty sure her injury became infected. She needs to go to the vet, but I cannot see how she could recover at this point. I'm very torn over this. These were my mother's rats, but she moved several states away and left them with me, now we can't go to the vet. If anyone has any advice... please let me know. My boyfriend and I have no money, we are even considering dropping her off at a vet or shelter, there are not many options... And most of all I want her to be comfortable, but I feel as though she is suffering. She's doing O K, she's always been quiet, but she's trying to eat and she is drinking and moving around.

What should I feed her? It seems difficult for her to eat solid food. I know I'm not the best caretaker and I probably shouldn't have these rats, but she is my responsibility now and I am very much a sensitive animal lover. Help?

 

[mamarat]

Your little girl must be in excruciating pain. If you can't bring her to a vet for treatment maybe euthanasia would be best for her. Can you take a picture of her? It really sounds horrible how you describe her injury.

 

[thefriggintribe]

:sad3:
Sounds like it is definitely infected and she is in pain. I would suggest feeding her baby food/cereal to make her as comfortable as possible and start contacting local animal rescues/shelters that take in rats. She needs to see a vet as soon as possible.

Good luck.
:hugs:

 

[hopefloats]

You can start with ensure that she can lick up. Post her weight and someone can help with the infant ibuprofen for pain. A picture will help.maybe you can flush it but she my need abs asap.

 

[lilspaz68]

We really need to see what you have going on, but it sounds horribly painful. I am watching this thread for pics and a weight for the ibuprofen. Get infant if you can, its twice as concentrated, meaning less to get into her.

 

[RattusNorvegicus]

Definitely get her some infants Ibuprofen. Like Immediately.

In this situation, I'd say who gives a crap what your dad says, she needs to see a vet. Can you borrow money from anyone? Sell some things? I bet her chances of recovery are very possible if you get her to a vet ASAP. :heart:

Please keep us updated.

 

[jorats]

At the very least, bring her to a vet and surrender her. She really needs medical care.

 

[SQ]

She needs immediate vet treatment.
She is suffering horribly.
At the very least, she needs to be put on strong antibiotics like clorplam and pain medication.
At this point she may require surgery.
She may find comfort in being with her sister.

If the infection has gotten so bad that she needs to be put to sleep humanely, make sure it is done by a vet who knows how to humanely kill rats (most vets do not know). Please see viewtopic.php?f=26&t=9582 for info on humane euthanasia.

If you can not get her the medical care she needs, please surrender her and her sister to a good rat rescue.
Rats, like other pets need vet care.

I really hope you are in contact with lilspaz68 and that someone can be found in your area to help

 

[hprats]

I agree with everyone else...but I wanted to add, if you do surrender her, or if she is put to sleep, you should surrender or re-home the other girl right away too. It's best for them to stay together though. I understand you want to care for them, but rats usually need to see the vet (more than once) in their lifetimes, and you don't want to be in the same situation again soon.

As far as finding money, are you in contact with your mother? If they were her rats initially, would she agree to pay for a vet visit, either by sending you money or agreeing to pay your dad back if he pays for it? Selling stuff is a good option usually, but in this case, she needs care sooner than it would take to get responses from craigslist or something.

If you do decide to surrender her, don't just drop her off, try to call ahead and be as clear as possible about the situation, and that it is an emergency, that way you can find out if they are knowledgeable about rats, and people who can help will be ready.

 

[EDK]

I just read through everything, I do live in TX, but I live in south central, just outside of Austin. Now if your in the Austin, Buda, Kyle, or San Marcos area I may be able to help you with medical bills if theres a chance to save your girl, otherwise I'd just be helping in putting her down for you I hate to say...her condition doesn't sound likely of survival, but I'd let my vet decide that. And ya unfortunetly if you can't afford to give your girls vet care I'd be happy to take them in for temporary rehoming till I can find them a home or a shelter that will take them in. I do know of a Houston Animal shelter that is very good with rats and would probably be able to help out. But I need to know of your location. If you live too far away, such as Dallas, McKinnely or higher, I'm afraid I can't make the money to travel that far. I've spent quite a bit of money already neutering one of my boys who's in current recovery, and I can't afford another vet care plus travel, its only vet care at this point. So let me know of your location, and if your willing to meet somewhere publically if you are close by and I'll be happy to help with the vet and rehoming.

 

[lilspaz68]

You might want to PM this post to her, e1d2k3, just in case.

its incredibly kind of you to offer to do this for a stranger. :bow:

 

[EDK]

Good idea i'll try that now

 

[mamarat]

That is so generous of you to help her and her girls. Fingers crossed everything works out.

 

[EDK]

I'm just worried she'll be too far away for me to help hopefully i'll hear back from her today before i go to class

 

[vorbei]

Thank you so much for the offer e1, if I were in the austin area I probably would have taken you up on that but, I'm in the upper Dallas metroplex. :/

Last night her swelling went down slightly and her lip started to turn pink instead of red. I gave her some softened cereal and her favorite, a piece of fig newton yesterday afternoon and she went to town on it. This morning when we gave her fresh snacks and water the drainage on the side of her face seemed to be healing, and the facial swelling is about the same, however her lip looks slightly worse. Some of the areas are turning yellow and her mouth is still as visible as it was. I'm very surprised at the advice I've gotten so far, thank you. I will upload some pics in a moment.

Then we're on our way to pick up some pain medication and something to eat such as the baby food / ensure. I will try to get her weight asap. I'm playing with her sister right now. Do you think it's fine to let them out together? i really can't say... she likes to hide etc and I don't want her lost or more hurt. Maybe I should wait until I post some pics. ... Will edit shortly

It is pretty hard to see from the pictures how it looks because it was difficult to get a clean shot. Some of the yellow is from her teeth and some is from her gums, her bottom lip however is all torn up and swollen looking. You can tell she's very puffy and her eyes do not look typical for her. she seems a bit more stressed today than yesterday... I find it very very odd and it's hard to describe or find any similar stories... it seems like her lip is just deteriorating like she's scratching it away, but I don't think she'd do that. she must be very sensitive to wounds like this, and I think it may be getting a bit more infected. trying to figure out the best way to clean it out, because it's starting to look like she will pull through, as long as it doesnt get too much worse...

she's very hard to handle, though. she's always been skittish since we have had her and shys away from being touched or squeaks/runs away. she has a bit less strength now but she's still pretty adamant about touching the swollen areas and moves her head around. maybe there's a technique to this?

 

[hopefloats]

I think most rats heal better with company. Some can get depressed being alone. If she acts ok with her sister then let them be together. Rats heal fast get a syringe and you can flush with a saline flush to help get the infection out

 

[EDK]

Darn...really is far for me, hmmm *thinks* she really needs to see a vet though. Think there might be a chance for us to meet somewhere half way? If not sorry I can't be more of help.

 

[mamarat]

If the two sisters are bonded I would leave her in the cage. There's more stress when they are alone. Fingers crossed for your sweetie.

 

[SQ]

She really needs to see a vet and be put on antibiotics (and pain meds) immediately.
She needs the antibiotics to deal with the infection or she will die.
Cleaning out the wound is important but she needs to see a vet and to be put on strong antibiotics or she will not have a chance. If you wait too long, it will be too late.
Please find some way to get her the vet care she needs from a vet experienced in dealing with rats
or make arrangements to get both her and her sister to e1d2k3 so she can get the care she needs.

Edit:
I rescued a girl several years ago. (viewtopic.php?f=4&t=4292&p=62786&hilit=Liverpool#p62786) The whole side of her face was dead, black and infected. The vet operated and cleaned it out. She recovered on antibiotics, gave birth in the backseat of my car the day after her surgery, and both her and her babies lived long happy lives.

 

[EDK]

The best possible compromise I could offer, would be if you have a paypal account, I could send you some money to help in the vet bills, but i'd need to know how much it would cost to cover it. Personally I'd rather have my vet look at your girl himself as he is a rat expert and knows what needs to be done. But a vet visit is better then none