Post-Op Eye Removal Surgery… Poor little guy.

They really hate Metacam, and I've often resorted to smearing it drop by drop on the mouth (followed by a bit of strawberry Nesquick) so that they are more or less obliged to lick it. The infant ibuprofen is a good idea; I'm going to buy some as a back up.

I once had a rat whose eye needed removal. She did so much better without the eye, which had been bulging and was probably painful.
Your little one will probably be bouncing around and climbing in a few days.

Ok, so I will calculate the dosing range according to the range provided by the Rat Guide.

The dosing range is 10mg/kg - 60mg/lb which equates to:
0.01mg/g - 0.13mg/g

347g rat x 0.01 = 3.47mg
347g rat x 0.13 = 45.11mg

Ibuprofen is 200mg/5ml = 40mg/ml
So the amount you give him is:
0.09ml - 1.13ml
This is a very big range. I would start off probably around 0.4ml, and see how he does. You want to keep the dose as low as possible, but also be effective in pain control.
I would use the Metacam until it is all gone. By then he may not even need the Ibuprofen.

okay phew… i should just learn to trust my vet haha..just seeing those pics of the eyes that didnt need to be removed and then thinking maybe Max didn't need to be in so much pain (and me owing so much $).. but looking back at it the eye was really nasty to look at :/ it was badly ruptured… i'm think it was the right thing to do.

and yes! dang it… 200mg/ 5mL not 500 :emb:

Joanne said:

Ok, so I will calculate the dosing range according to the range provided by the Rat Guide.

The dosing range is 10mg/kg - 60mg/lb which equates to:
0.01mg/g - 0.13mg/g

347g rat x 0.01 = 3.47mg
347g rat x 0.13 = 45.11mg

Ibuprofen is 200mg/5ml = 40mg/ml
So the amount you give him is:
0.09ml - 1.13ml
This is a very big range. I would start off probably around 0.4ml, and see how he does. You want to keep the dose as low as possible, but also be effective in pain control.
I would use the Metacam until it is all gone. By then he may not even need the Ibuprofen.

Click to expand...

aw thankyou so much joanne! i tried working it out myself but seeing as i failed all my math classes thru high school and don't even know how to do simple calculations… glad to have you helping out yeah i'm gonna give him another dose of metacam today.. if i have to hold him down and force it so be it, after yesterdays dose he seemed a lot happier so it's proof to me the few seconds of pain (for both of us) are worth it. baby ibuprofen will be great once the metacam runs out.

I just want to say a huge THANK YOU to everyone here giving advice and kind words during these last difficult days. :grouphug: i am so grateful to have had some help with this situation, because as i've said before i've never had anything like this happen to one of my furbabies and even though i had some good advice from the vet (and am very grateful for that too), i feel a lot more secure having people like you around (even if you're on the other side of the planet!). Max seems to be happy and on the mend.. still early days yet but i know rats heal very fast. He's back to his usual self.. bouncing around and getting into things he shouldn't. I got another dose of metacam into him this morning and within about 15 mins he was zonked out under my quilt… sleepy little boy.. i think some sleepy-rest time will do him some good.
I tried having his 2 cage mates come for a visit this morning but they both got quite rough with him (Ratticus the main man even fluffed up and went all super-domineering on him!!).. I put them back right away. I hope this short term separation doesn't affect their bond with each other. I feel like the longer I leave them separated the harder it will be to re-introduce them, but he's far from healed enough to stand the rough and tumble from the boys so there's not much I can do at the moment. :/

What an awful situation to have to deal with! You've done well by your little guy, poor thing.

Just wanted to pop in my 2c on getting meds into rats - I've found that if you try something on them once and they don't like it, they remain very, very, VERY sensitive to small traces of that taste or smell for about two weeks to a month afterward (on average? my experience anyway). This is a very good survival mechanism for wild rats - they become sensitised to smells and tastes that might be poisonous to them, and thus they can avoid eating these things. Not so great for us, though!

The best ways I've found to get around this are:
1.) strong-tasting/smelling concealer foods - think smoked oysters, peanut butter (diluted with something so it's not too sticky), maybe a dip (there's a red rock deli kind that's pumpkin and cashew or something that worked for me once), etc. Savoury can work better than sweet, but not always.

2.) massive dilution factor. By this I mean you put the tiny amount of medication into such a large amount of "carrier" that it's more difficult for the rat to sense. I use baby food for this, and it has usually worked very well. And even though it's not the healthiest thing, you're only giving medication short-term, so it won't hurt him if you have to give him a spoonful of baby food every day for a bit (as long as it's not the "dessert" baby food like custard - I try to pick all-fruit or all-vegetable varieties. Currently using Rafferty's Garden chunky pasta rissoni?/macaroni and cheese with vegetables).

Good luck! Hope he continues healing and stays happy, sounds like it's going well so far (med administration issues aside). And as a side note, not QUITE everyone's on the other side of the world... I'm in Aus too, but more toward Sydney way.

I'm glad he's doing better. That bump your feeling might be, as you ready in Peanut's thread, the vet put some kind of foam in there so that might be what your feeling. I suppose that is because they need something to fill the socket so it doesn't cave in. Just keep watching for pus/signs of infection. That eye did look pretty nasty. He will adapt just fine. :getwell:

fuuuuuuuck. okay so Max's eye are started to swell a little over the last few days… I was really hoping it was just the foam inside his head moving around.. just to be safe I booked a vet app for Saturday morning bc the lump was kinda big.
This morning I woke up and his eye area was covered in pus. a little hole where it was glued up formed (i guess the pressure of what was inside made it open up a little) and thick yellow pus was gooing out. I picked him up and poked the lump and about a teaspoon (maybe a little more) of thick yellowy green goo shot out. I'm so glad I booked the vet app.. this infection could be nasty. I don't have pics but it looked pretty big before and now it's tiny and looks less sore.. still needs to be cleaned properly and given something for it.
i've had so much trouble giving him his antibiotics… with the pain meds it was easier bc the dose was quite high even if a little bit went on the side of his mouth, most of it would end up being swallowed (and he WOULD swallow it!!). this banana flavoured antibiotics **** had such a small dose (0.08mg) and must have been worse than the metacam bc even if i got the liquid into his mouth and held up for a while, he'd hold it in his mouth and wipe it along anything he could to get it out… even if i got the dosage IN his mouth he'd find a way to get it out :/

im an idiot for not going the moment the lump appeared but i was really really hoping it was just a natural thing happening and would go away… another vet visit is gonna be another few hundred $$$
if i need to i will pay it, but it still bites.

That's exactly what happened to Peanut. You read his thread and saw the pictures. They had to clean it out and he had to wear a cone for quite awhile. As it was explained to me he probably infected it scratching since they have poop/urine on their paws. You need to get antibiotics before the infection gets to his brain. I think we had Peanut on two pain medications metacam and tramadol, but I'd have to look over his thread. It was a long process with his eye. I hope your rattie is alright.

It is good that it popped. If the pus can come out, it is less likely to travel under the skin. Try and keep it draining. Use warm, wet compresses to soften the scab if it blocks the hole.

looks so much better today. no more pus but there is a tiny stitch from the inside poking out. taking him to the vet in an hr to check up.

Great news!!

healing very nicely since the vet drained and cleaned the infected area. only a little scab left from where he left the wound open to drain. got a new set of antibiotics which are doing nicely. very happy rat and rat mumma

Yay! Great update!

Aww, what a cutie. He looks great! C:

Yay, that's great news!

The little sweetie! So glad it worked out well for him.

Looks fantastic!