Post-Op Eye Removal Surgery… Poor little guy.

Hey there !
So a few days ago I noticed one of my younger boys Max's eye was really swollen and red (he's a BEW so the red colouration was very disturbing) and I saw a rather large cut on the lower section of his eyeball.
As you can see it didn't look good at all and I wanted to get him to the vet ASAP but it was late afternoon on a Sunday so all my local vets were closed. Early Monday morning I called up some local vets but none of them wanted to see him bc they weren't familiar with rats… so after about 5 calls finally one nice lady referred me to an animal hospital in the city that had a few "pocket pet vets", which I then called and booked an appointment for him that afternoon. I took Max in for his app and the nurse saw to him right away.. had a look at his eye (under the light and magnifying glass it looked awful… no definition at all just a big red smooshy mess).. and told me it would need to be removed. They took him in for overnight stay and surgery. They operated on him yesterday (Tuesday) and called me 5 mins after the surgery saying all was well and he was resting up fine (phew). I picked him up this morning and the poor darling looks AWFUL I cried when I saw him..

… My beat up little dude.
Vet gave me some painkillers and antibiotics for him.. Have to keep him separate from his other 2 cage mates (vets orders) bc they seem to try lick and bite at the wound.. I've never dealt with something like this before.. has anyone here had a similar experience who can offer some advice?? Vet game me some tips but I'd love some rat lovers to help me out. I feel so bad for Max he's had such a hard life already (I bought him bc he had a poorly healed broken arm/wrist and I felt sorry for him.. so glad I got him though he's got such a nice character).

<3 big loves xxx

P.s Even though this is a post-op thread so therefore not exactly an "emergency"&#8230; I felt like bc the operation was so severe and so recent and the fact that I don't have any experience on the matter, that this thread belonged here and not the "General" health one. But if any mods feel otherwise feel free to move my post&#8230; sorry if i broke any rules im just very worried about my baby boy.

Aw, your poor baby. I wasn't prepared for how my boy looked with when his was removed. Here is my Peanut's (RIP) thread from his eye removal.
http://www.ratshackforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=30546

My only advise to you is make sure your rattie isn't scratching at it and/or getting poop near it when scratching. Peanut's got a bad infection and had to be opened up again and cleaned out. So watch closely for any signs of infection and if you see anything get to the vet immediately so it doesn't get into the brain. Other than that, and I don't want to scare you, but you need to watch for it since they do walk in their bodily functions. After that his healed up just fine and he looked like he was always winking at us. Unfortunately, he passed away a couple months ago from PT, but he lived a long time with the one eye and it never bothered him.

:getwell: healing vibes from all of us.

aw im sorry to hear about Peanut :c but thats crazy!!! i just read that whole thread and my gosh i thought I went thru an ordeal today!! your poor dude had a busted eye for far too long that nasty vet should have helped quicker

Max only has inner (idk the proper term) stitches so it just looks glued together on the outside.. poor thing is just sleeping by himself.. gonna give him his pain meds soon i hope it helps.
on my way home with him today i got on the tram and there was only 1 spare seat… when i went to sit down this lady screeched and basically told me not to sit near her bc of max.. i just accepted it and stood up at the back and this guy started taking pics of us!!! i was so angry i gave him the dirtiest looks… didn;t want to say anything bc i was already too upset.
and so many of my friends seem to think it wasnt worth taking him to the vet….. "should have just hit him on the head with a shovel" "could just get a new one" LIKE SERIOUSLY?????? just bc he cost me $8 doesn't make him any less valuable than a cat or dog so over people thinking theyre easily replaced….
the total vet bill is gonna cost me $670 (!!!) and even though im being stung by the cost i do think it was the right thing to do i couldnt bare to see him hurting like that. i love all my babies <3 and would do anything for them!!

update: Max refuses to have his medication&#8230; 0.08mL of clavulox and 0.35mL of metacam&#8230; i tried straight from the syringe, then mixed it w/ banana, then peanut butter, then yoghurt... but he wont eat it!!!

EDIT - i tried mixing it in with green peas i boiled and smooshed up (usually loves peas!) but still refusing&#8230; i'm actually so stressed out right now you can see he's in pain but doesn't know i'm trying to help!!! i just wish i could tell him it would make the pain go away if he ate it he's just curled up in a ball in his hammock

Can you syringe/squeeze in the metacam at least? I would try and get that in him for sure. You can put the syringe at the side of his mouth, just inside the flaps and squirt it in, he should lick it up from there.

he moves around so much i can't get the syringe near his mouth and i don't want to hold his head still cause it'd be so tender.. i mixed up another dose with some kiwi fruit and he ate a little bit of it which was good, still not the full dose though&#8230; i don't want to keep trying with more doses cause it's such a waste and the vet didn't give me too much. if i run out i'll have to get more though. my partner and i were thinking of leaving him in the cage with no food for the night and then mixing up some with yoghurt or something in the morning when he's really hungry&#8230; but i don't want to put any extra stress on him i don't know what to do
might have to call the vet again in the morning and see what the options are.
i've also taken him out of the cage and let him free roam around my warm bedroom which seems to have made him a little happier (he always hated being in cages!) .. the vet had to shave off his whiskers on one side which has made him a little uncoordinated.. i feel bad but it's kinda funny to watch him walk around. not letting him get on anything higher than my bed though!

Hmmm...I am actually unsure the eye needed to be removed just yet, and they didn't need to shave his whiskers, that was probably a mistake on the shavers' part.

It sounds like his eye may have been full of blood but wasn't protruding from his head?

I generally have a rule if the rat is able to close the eye and lubricate it, then the eye can stay in the head (no enuc)...once it starts protruding or looking like its going to rupture, I have an enucleation done. Ocular bleeds can often resolve themselves or sometimes its a sign there's an issue behind the eye (Just information for the future).

Metacam is most vital right now as jorats says...you need to keep pain controlled and swelling to a minimum, and you just need to get it in for a few days.

Holding a rat to give them meds after an op on the head is very difficult but do your best. Even if you have to hurt him a little bit initially to get the metacam in, the pain will be all gone in about 20 mins.

If you run out of metacam, you can always pick up the much tastier infant ibuprofen but it will need to be given 4-5 times a day rather than just once. If you go this route, then give us a weight in grams and we can give you a dose.

This is an ocular bleed



and this



This is an eye that needed to be removed (and was)



and this one

I know it seems mean to hold him down for his meds, but it is for his own good. If he has pain, he may start digging at it. Maybe as a team of two you can manage it. One person wrap him up into a burrito and restrain him, and the other person squirt the medicine into the side of his mouth.
Good luck, I hope he heals up without incident.
And never mind the ignorant people - they don't know what they are missing. I either ignore them, or go on and on and on about how wonderful rats are until they are practically begging me to shut up. I make them look at pictures, and I coo and baby talk about the ratties... Teeheehee! It is a challenge that can be quite fun.
WE know how you feel, so you are among like-minded people here.
:hugs:

metacam tastes horrible so you need to give it by syringe into his mouth.
As others have said, he absolutely needs to get this.
I would give the other med separately, perhaps in something tastey

lilspaz68 said:

Hmmm...I am actually unsure the eye needed to be removed just yet, and they didn't need to shave his whiskers, that was probably a mistake on the shavers' part.

It sounds like his eye may have been full of blood but wasn't protruding from his head?

I generally have a rule if the rat is able to close the eye and lubricate it, then the eye can stay in the head (no enuc)...once it starts protruding or looking like its going to rupture, I have an enucleation done. Ocular bleeds can often resolve themselves or sometimes its a sign there's an issue behind the eye (Just information for the future).

Metacam is most vital right now as jorats says...you need to keep pain controlled and swelling to a minimum, and you just need to get it in for a few days.

Holding a rat to give them meds after an op on the head is very difficult but do your best. Even if you have to hurt him a little bit initially to get the metacam in, the pain will be all gone in about 20 mins.

If you run out of metacam, you can always pick up the much tastier infant ibuprofen but it will need to be given 4-5 times a day rather than just once. If you go this route, then give us a weight in grams and we can give you a dose.

Click to expand...

i had a feeling i might have been able to avoid the surgery!!!! in all honesty the vets i went to were nice they didn't seem to have much knowledge about rats (even though they said they dealt with pocket pets)&#8230; the nurse kept calling Max a girl even though you can see his massive testicles etc and I asked about alternative treatments (i had heard you can get antibiotic drops that help with the eye shrinking down) and they were just like "no we need to remove it"&#8230; i know i should trust my vet but i only just moved to Melbourne city and the nearest exotic pet vet is over a 40km journey and i have no car :redhot: &#8230; i wish i had consulted here first rather than just letting him go thru such a painful surgery.

speaking of pain&#8230; tried again this morning to give him his pain meds, mixed it in with some of my morning smoothie (his fave) and he still refused!!! wtf how can he even taste it in all that yummy stuff? everyone is out at the moment but i NEED to give him his metacam&#8230; im gonna try get it in by force myself and if that doesn't work (PLEASE WORK) i'll get one of my housemates to help when they get home.

everyone here is being so helpful and thoughtful thankyou all so much <3 nice to find some fellow ratty lovers out there



EDIT - @lilspaz&#8230; now that i think about it his eye was poking out quite a bit&#8230; he could close it but it looked very painful and a weird shape

YES!!!! right after posting that i tried again to force it and it worked&#8230; i felt so bad cause i had to hold him down (into my soft quilt though) and shove it in but it worked!!! :bow:

I'm sorry your little guy is going through this tough time. But glad you got the metacam into him - yay! Rats adapt pretty well to losing eyes since they don't have great eyesight to begin with. Hope your little one heals up soon.

i think i only have about 3 doses of metacam left :/ i should have been more frugal with my attempted doses&#8230;. but i just rang the vet and got his weight (347g) so would someone be able to help me with a baby ibuprofen dose for when i need it? thankyou!

When you pick up the Ibuprofen (I think Lilspaz recommended Infant, grape-flavoured), post the concentration of the drug that is on the label. We can't tell you how much until we know that.
I'm glad you got some medication into him!

thankyou joanne! i'm about to head into town so i'll get some when i'm there.

i've just noticed he's got some wet poo around his butt
(gross i'm sorry) but he's never had this problem before and i'm wondering could it be from the meds?

i wanna post some more pics of his face too so you can see.. there's a lump behind where his eye would have been and raw skin… looks painful… can't wait for him to be back on his feet again.




he fell asleep under my covers after i gave him the metacam, then he woke up and ate some of my toast.. i think it's helped.

Poor baby! I have to have my Mordecai get an enucleation done soon, and I'm so nervous! I hope your beautiful boy feels better soon :heart:

I bought some baby ibuprofen! the youngest age I could find was baby 3+ months.. the pharmacist asked me how old the baby was and freaked when I said a rat haha.. almost didn't sell it to me!! also warned me that some animals can't metabolise ibuprofen but I assume rats can if you guys give if to your lil ones?
anyways it's 200mg/500mL I'm happy knowing if I run out of metacam I have this on hand!!! and it's strawberry flavour as well so he'll love it hehehehe

Seeing that pic from above, that eye was ruptured so a removal wasn't completely unnecessary. Sometimes these eyes shrink up on their own without issue and sometimes they need to be removed.

Are u sure the ibu isn't 200 mg/5ml? This is standard 40 mg/ml infant.