Axe - heart condition Update 1/1/15

I'm starting to think I should just start posting who isn't sick or injured over here. We have suspected for some time now that Axe also had a heart condition like his siblings since he hasn't been responding to his doxy/baytril combo he seems to have been on forever. That was confirmed today, but his is at the point where the hubby (critical care paramedic) can even tell when he is have an episode. He has been put on heart meds too, but today when I went to give them to him my precious boy that LOVES taking medication his, and anyone else's that he can get his paws on he wouldn't take them. In fact, he seemed spacey and sat there shaking his front paws like he was having a seizure. He eventually recovered and took the medication. Aagghh, what next!!! Its official all of my hoarder boys (Destructo Seven) have been diagnosed with some type of fatal illness, except Peanut he just had the unknown origin eye infection.

These boys came to you because you two are knowledgeable about these sorts of things. The Universe decided it wasn't fair to give them to someone who was ignorant of medical conditions because they wouldn't have gotten treated. It's fate, and you're building up one heck of a big pile of good karma with these boys!

Amen amen!

I am still in awe over this. I am slowly seeing all the heart problems here. Momma Grace will need to be inspected tomorrow I noticed her breathing fast but she isnt sick. The only 4 that do not have the problems so far are the 1 ton boys that we have the 4 of grumpy and snickers brothers, Pj is even having problems he came with peanut I am going to have to book a full day of heart appts so they can listen to them all...

hopefloats said:

I am still in awe over this. I am slowly seeing all the heart problems here. Momma Grace will need to be inspected tomorrow I noticed her breathing fast but she isnt sick. The only 4 that do not have the problems so far are the 1 ton boys that we have the 4 of grumpy and snickers brothers, Pj is even having problems he came with peanut I am going to have to book a full day of heart appts so they can listen to them all...

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Its just heartbreaking these sweet boys have to suffer because of the ignorance of these people.

So here we are two days before we leave on our trip that is going to take us away from the boys for 16-17 days!! Axe is stressing us - we're not sure if its his time or not... We can visually see him using his side muscles to breathe, but that has become his normal. What we don't see is any open mouth breathing. In fact, he never even opens his mouth to breathe at all. His tail is warm, from what I can see his tongue/lips appears pink, but his back feet/toes get purple at times - however they do pink up and sometimes its only one foot. He eats, drinks, loves treats, and is still running around for play time. We are taking him to the vet tomorrow, but I'm just not sure what it the best decision for him. We are going to leave him with my mom so she can give him his daily medication, but she isn't going to know if he is in distress and needs immediate care or at least I don't think she will. Its so much harder when they still seem to have life left in them, but yet still seem to be coming to the end... Help, what should we do!!!!

Oh boy, this is a hard one for sure. I don't have any answers for you. But are you sure your mom won't be able to see if he's in distress and needs to be pts? I wish I could help more. I don't know what I would do in this situation.

jorats said:

Oh boy, this is a hard one for sure. I don't have any answers for you. But are you sure your mom won't be able to see if he's in distress and needs to be pts? I wish I could help more. I don't know what I would do in this situation.

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Its not that I'm not sure she couldn't tell the distress - she cannot make the decision. Axe is the only one of our rats she truly loves. When her greyhound had to be pts I had to sign the paperwork because she couldn't. Just looked at him now, Throttle was on top of him, and he looks good pink feet and minimal rapid breathing (that's his normal) I'm hoping perhaps another medication can be added. We added some lasix last week and it seems to help a bit even though he doesn't sound fluid filled - definitely cardiac. He probably has a tumor or something like his brother Popper

dspch911 said:

I'm hoping perhaps another medication can be added.

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What meds is he on?

Benazepril, atenolol, digoxin (if enlarged heart seen on xray) and Lasix are standard.

Antibiotics sometimes needed as well

Tumor should show up on xray, if doing xray to see if heart is enlarged

Did not do an xray but will today if they think he has more time he's on enalapril

That's a tough one, for sure. Do you have someone else that could take him in? So if your mom recognizes that it's time but can't do it, then someone else could? He may be fine for a while yet...

Good news for now xray does show right atrium might be enlarged and the heart is more on the right side of his body than the left, the trachea is being pinched although not even close to what we've seen with Popper and Oliver. He will remain on his current heart med and get lasix everyday now since there does seem to be some fluid. We will add doxy and baytril for a month, then off a month, on a month, etc.

Plus she is studing up extra om rats and has realized medicam needs to be given and bigger doses and that the rat medical education on them is greatly advancing

Keep us posted on his progress. Sending healing vibes.

she might consider adding atenolol as it is added when benazepril helps.

Also, if the heart is enlarged, digoxin makes a huge difference

hope he has lots of good quality time left

She said heart really isn't enlarged just possibly the right atrium. Also sais digoxin outdated and suggested another med which I cannot remember. I totally forget he was on doxy / baytril for months until about a month ago. So perhaps that is why he got worse and does need to be back on them. He's by grandma and being spoiled

Axe has been doing good. His breathing no longer looks labored, but he does look like he has lost weight. He is more active than before now. We have decided not to do the doxy/baytril month on/month off, but to just stay on it continually since he seemed to decline when he came off of it. He says "thank you for the well wishes"

Great news!
I have had several rats on antibiotics indefinitely because of respiratory issues - they never seemed to have any ill effects, although they did get yogurt on a regular basis to replenish their intestinal flora.

That's good. I've had quite a few rats live the rest of their lives on baytril and they did quite well, in fact, in a couple, their lungs cleared right up.

He's doing good, but he is definitely smaller than he used to be, but that doesn't seem to be affecting him any. He's first up to great me in the morning and first to the food dish these days...