Mass in Chest - Pushing Heart to One Side

Anyone have experience with a rat having a mass inside their chest? My sweet girl, Nora, has a mass in her chest which is pushing her heart to one side. She's breathing heavily and has a pounding heart. Nora is in great spirits, though----eating well and playing. She's only 1 yr and 5 months!

Nora's being seen by a very good rat veterinarian but, after today's ultrasound findings that it's almost definitely a mass, not an abscess (or even an abscess in one of her lungs), I'm worried there's not much I can do.

Nora is currently on Baytril, Cefa-Drops and will begin Metacam tonight. I'm also nebulizing her with Gentamicin, Albuterol and saline.

Any comments from those whose rats have had similar medical problems would be so appreciated!

There is someone who had that with their boy recently. Maybe Hopefloats?

It sounds like all you can do is keep her comfortable until it's time. I'm glad she's still in good spirits.

Popper had a chest mass he did well for awhile. Here are his threads perhaps they will help you - I think this is all of them. We also had Oliver who had a heart tumor you could search for his threads too. I would not suggested a nebulizer treatment in a cage - if you read the threads you will find they made him worse rather than better probably because he panicked when in there. Sorry about your rattie, but its possibly to keep them going for a few months. You just need to let them do their thing which will mostly be resting toward the end. Watch for weight loss too that was a big thing with Popper we didn't realize that breathing that hard burned so many calories. Popper was very active until the last couple weeks.

http://www.ratshackforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=28111
http://www.ratshackforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=29612
http://www.ratshackforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=29735
http://www.ratshackforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=29798

Thank you so much Joanne and dsph911. I read all of the posts about Popper and they contained helpful information. It's so great we can share our experiences here and help one another out with caring for our precious rat friends.

Thanks Again!

AboutPetRats:

Sorry to hear about your baby's problem.
I do hope for the best. There is some good information on this forum & some great people too!

These poor ratties end up w/ so many ailments - but don't we just love them to pieces ?!?!:kisses::kisses::kisses:

2Rats said:

AboutPetRats:

Sorry to hear about your baby's problem.
I do hope for the best. There is some good information on this forum & some great people too!

These poor ratties end up w/ so many ailments - but don't we just love them to pieces ?!?!:kisses::kisses::kisses:

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2Rats, It's so true that they end up with so many ailments and we still just love them to pieces! We are fortunate to be able to form bonds with such special beings.

Update: Nora went to the vet today. Her regular vet is now on vacation so I wanted another vet to be familiar with her case as a backup until her regular vet returns. Nora became more lethargic today but then she perked back up. Still eating well. Got some pain medication from the vet today and will be starting Nora on prednisolone tomorrow morning to see if the tumor will shrink some. (Only had one dose of Metacam, last night. Need to wait at least 24 hours before starting a steroid.)

The way it looks now, she could go any day. I will definitely euthanize her if she stops eating and/or becomes consistently lethargic. I hope she's able to hang in there at least until tomorrow morning when she can start the pred. The vet we saw this afternoon said it can start working within about six hours!

Hope she does ok
The pred may help by reducing inflammation.

You really need to wait more like 72 hours before starting steroids after meticam is given.

dspch911 said:

You really need to wait more like 72 hours before starting steroids after meticam is given.

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She only had one dose of Metacam, so should be OK, eh?

I have adopted rats with this problem before and the only thing I've been able to do was give them Pau D'Arco and Essiac. They sometimes can help attack tumors by shrinking or suppressing them but it's not totally guaranteed. I can say is that it had extended the life of the rats I took with a mass in their chest for a few months more and one for a year and three months more. The thing is these herbs come in tinctures and rats usually don't like to drink them, so administering them with a dropper has to be done very slowly and carefully, don't want the rats to choke on the liquid as they're given it. My advice is if you decide to try them, make sure to use each separately from each other and especially separately from any other medications, leave a few hours in between each med. Give a dropperful or two of each herbal separately and see if it helps over time. You can buy them at your local herbal shops. Maybe a bit can be mixed in the drinking bottle, a little at a time?

Joanne said:

She only had one dose of Metacam, so should be OK, eh?

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I wouldn't because I've seen what happens unfortunately, but we gave the dex too early with Curley not knowing to wait. I'd at least wait 48 hours, but I don't know if pred is as strong as dex.....

Thank you for your comments dsph911 and Joanne! That is correct that Nora only had one dose of Metacam. I'm also not 100% positive I was able to get her to take the full dose. The veterinarian we saw on Friday thought it would be okay to wait 36 hours....especially since Nora was essentially "flat" a couple of times while in for the exam. I hope I'm not going to be doing any damage by not waiting 72 hours.

Rattymouse, thanks for the information on the pau d'arco and essiac. A dropperful or two sounds like a lot to be able to successfully administer. That's so wonderful it's worked for your rats. I'll definitely look into this further.

Just thought I'd post a quick update: Nora is doing fantastic!!! The prednisolone and the buprenorphine are making a big difference. She's acting like her old self----playing, excited to see me, pinning down her roommate, Vera. I know I'm probably just "buying time" but I'm savoring every single moment with her. :heart:

AboutPetRats said:

Just thought I'd post a quick update: Nora is doing fantastic!!! The prednisolone and the buprenorphine are making a big difference. She's acting like her old self----playing, excited to see me, pinning down her roommate, Vera. I know I'm probably just "buying time" but I'm savoring every single moment with her. :heart:

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Yes you are buying time, but time to them is everything since they have such sort lives. Glad to hear she is doing better. :flowers2:

That's great to hear! After all, quality of life is most important.

Thank you, dspch911 and Joanne! I really appreciate your support and encouragement. I agree that quality of life is so important. One helpful thing about rats having such short lives is that I'm very familiar with the euthanasia process and knowing when it's time. I don't think I could be as comfortable with it as I am if I hadn't already experienced 20+ euthanasias over the past 24 years!

Nora is continuing to enjoy life and is eating and playing. Maintaining the quality for now....

AboutPetRats said:

Thank you, dspch911 and Joanne! I really appreciate your support and encouragement. I agree that quality of life is so important. One helpful thing about rats having such short lives is that I'm very familiar with the euthanasia process and knowing when it's time. I don't think I could be as comfortable with it as I am if I hadn't already experienced 20+ euthanasias over the past 24 years!

Nora is continuing to enjoy life and is eating and playing. Maintaining the quality for now....

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Glad to hear she is doing good. I sometimes tend to treat too long or as my vet says we try so hard with our babies and give them everything we can where others just hear the diagnosis and put them down right away. We're learning though when to call it quits earlier, but I would never just not try... Hopefully your baby will continue to do well for awhile :flowers3:

Beautifully said, dspch911. What you wrote helps me remember not to wait too long. It's so hard to keep an unbiased, objective perspective when it's your own baby.