elderly rat not doing so good (long thread i’m sorry)

[brenna.destafney]

i’ve never posted on here, i try to search for the answers i need and i’ve always gotten them from this site. i’m struggling on how i should approach the issues my baby has. she’s about 3 years old and her cage mate is her sister, Elizabeth is the one having issues and Daisy is perfectly healthy. they have both had tumors removed and Elizabeth was never really the same after her surgery. She ended up breaking one of her teeth and it never grew back, so i take her to the vet to get them trimmed down since she can’t do it on her own. she has a lump on her side but it doesn’t seem to bother her and she’s had a couple of UTI’s. i’m concerned she isn’t cleaning herself properly and if anyone has any suggestions on how i can help her do that i would appreciate it so much. i feed her in a separate cage and she gets a variety of baby food along with treats to help her with urinary issues. she has lost a significant amount of weight recently but with the baby food she seems to be gaining some. she’s been randomly squeaking recently which she’s never done so i’m a little worried about that as well, i’m just not sure what i can do to help her be more comfortable.

 

[Nyn]

Hi! First of all it sounds like you are super sweet to your elderly girls and you seem to care a bunch! Baby food is a good place to start and maybe adding some convalescence powder (to add strength) might be a good second. You could also soak some of her dry food in warm water a day in advance to make it softer for her to chew. If she doesn't have pain on her tumor then it might be more cruel to put her through surgery and it might be better to leave it for now. The squeeking could be a lot of things though.. it might be that due to everything she has just gotten a little more easily frightened