Heart Arrhythmia

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ennie

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I am wondering if anyone has any experience with their pet rat having a heart rhythm problem or cardiac arrhythmia.

Riley is my amazing, loving and incredibly intelligent female rat. She is about two years old and is very loved.
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About a week ago I noticed a lump under her armpit that appears to be rapidly growing. I know tumors are common in female rats and took her to an exotic pet vet. The vet I found is great and told me that she has done hundreds of lump removals on rats and that at it's current size should be easy to do.

During the exam she discovered a big problem though. Riley has a serious heart arrhythmia. Every 3-5 beats her heart stops and then starts again in the same pattern. I listened to it myself with a stethoscope, comparing it to her sister Alice's regular beats and the problem is very obvious. Occurding to my vet this is rare for rats.

My vet says that this makes surgery extremely risky as there is a strong chance that under anesthesia her heart will stop. But without surgery her fast growing tumor will become worse and quickly decrease her quality of life. In the second scenario I would probably need to eventually put her down. It is a complete catch 22 with my baby Riley.

The vet did an EKG (Riley being Riley, it took 15 min to get a decent reading) and from it believes she has a condition called heart block. The results have been sent to a cardiologist to determine it's severity, how risky surgery would be for her and if there's any treatment such as medication that would allow her to have surgery safely.

Has anyone else had similar experience with their rats having a heart rhythm disorder?

Also if you were presented with this choice with your rat, what would you do? Right now I'm leaning towards surgery since I would rather her go out fighting than suffer, but at the moment she is perfectly happy and her normal self and I want as much time with her as possible.
 
I do believe heart blocks can be treated with heart medication just like with humans. I have and have had some boys with heart conditions that have been on and are on heart medications. I guess another question is what kind of tumor is this and what is the probablity of it coming back or more appearing in other locations?

I also had a boy with a tumor and also was not a surgical candidate due to a lung condition. I did not have surgery done, but I didn't have to make the decision because they would not do the surgery since he would not survive.
 
I had one girl whose mobility was so bad we didn't do a tumor removal. It broke my heart to euthanize an otherwise healthy and lovely girl because of that tumor when it was time.
I would probably investigate medications that could help, and then go for the surgery. If this lump is rapidly growing, then she wouldn't have a lot of time anyway. Good luck with whatever you decide.
 
If the lump is still small, you have time to decide. Lump growth sometimes will slow, given you even more time. And should you decided not to go ahead with surgery, I've seen several females live another 7 months with their lumps before it becomes debilitating.
 
Hi,

First of all, I'm so sorry that this is happening to your baby. She is an old lady now, and it sounds like she has a great, caring owner and a good vet. Whatever happens and whatever you have to decide, just remember it was all you could do and you did your best.

Tumors are always tricky like this, it seems. I have been in a couple situations where I had to make a similar choice, and it's always hard. You have time to see how fast it is growing. If it is increasing mass so quickly that you think she only has a few weeks left anyways, then go for the surgery, escpecially with meds.
 
Happy news!

Riley had her surgery today and did wonderful. She's currently eating, walking around and doing everything possible to get her cone off. We're all especially amazed at this as the cardiology studies revealed that she has complete heart block, which is extremely serious and can only be treated with a pacemaker. Going under anesthesia with this condition is very dangerous for a human, let alone a little rat!

The decision to go ahead anyway was based on her tumor continuing to grow rapidly and knowing that her heart giving out during surgery would essentially be the same as putting her down, which would need to happen at the rate it was growing. When I dropped her off at the vet today, I was pretty convinced I would never see her again.

Thank you everyone for your comments and kind words. I am so overjoyed to have more time with my little miracle rat.
 
Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!!!!!
:hug4:

I am so happy for your little girl and you!
 
:flowers4U: Way to go little girl! Glad the surgery went well and she is on her way to healing. If she isn't bothering the incision site take the cone off its just causing unnecessary stress.
 
Riley is an obsessive groomer, barbering herself and forced groom sessions with her poor mates can attest to that.

My new question for you all is how long I should keep her a separate cage from her friend, if at all. Apparently the fear is that they might chew off the stitches, but I've also read that following surgery they need the comfort of their friends. Personally I think Riley loves having the whole "house" to herself,but I feel bad little Alice having to be downgraded to a smaller cage.
 
I only separate mine for a day or two. Although when I did have boy that had to have he cone I kept him separate until it was safe to take it off.
 
I would also say seperate for only a day or two, keep the cone off if possible, BUUUT....
my girl Oreo had a ton of trouble with her incision. She, too, had the dreaded cone, couldn't be with her cagemates, and even got infected. It sucked, but unfortunately she had to be in the dang thing all alone for a week or even more I think. Take it one step at a time, and judge what to do next by how she is progressing.
 
Riley is still doing very well. Alice has been returned to her for most of the day and they are happy to see each other with no problems. When they were in separate cages side by side, they would both sleep pressed up on the same side of the cage as the other one trying to be as close as possible. So cute! :love5:

Riley's not eating as well as she should be, most likely hindered by the cone as it's hard for her to hold food. Her stitches don't come out till next Saturday, but I'm going to hound the vet on Monday to see how soon I can safely remove the cone. Riley has external stitches instead of sub-dermal, as is usually done with rats, as doing so would have increased the time she was under and thus put her at greater risk. Right now I am mashing her up fruit and giving her baby food, which she loves. I've been having to take Alice out of the cage when I give it to her, to keep Alice from stealing it all from Riley who is currently eating a lot slower than her. Any other suggestions?

I am so thankful for Riley and how the impossible decision I had with her turned into a best case scenario. Thank you to all of you guys too!
 
Honestly, I would just take the cone off. It has been five days since the surgery, so even if the sutures got chewed out things would probably be fine. My rats all have had external sutures, and only one spay was a problem with the chewing.
 
My vet says that it has to stay on until several days after the stitches come out, but the mischief had other ideas. Alice has been chewing at it to such an extent that it is now non-functional and had to come off. Riley really appreciates her sisters "helping".
 
Such a sweet face!
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You can see the beginnings of Alice's assistance to her sisters problem.
 
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Such a happy ending! Riley's arrhythmia must have been bad to have been so easily detectable with a stethoscope. She is looking good, and it's a good thing that she got help with the cone. ;)
 
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