Injured Young Rat

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sonnyvincent said:
so should the pain med with antiinflammatory effect be instead of the steroid
this vet seemed final about there being no pain med option,
should i try a different vet?
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You definitely need pain meds. I'm not sure why she is getting the dex perhaps someone else can answer that one.

EDIT: I think the vet is using it to reduce swelling
http://ratguide.com/meds/endocrine_hormones/dexamethasone.php

You CANNOT give metacam for at least 72 hours since your rattie has gotten dexamethasone!!! You have to stop the dex for 72 hours before metacam they do not mix almost forgot that.
 
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Yes, the pain med with anti-inflammatory effect is given instead of the steroid

As previously mentioned, you have to wait 72 hours after giving dex before you can give metacam.
I believe that the vet can give metacam by injection (which is good as it tastes horrible).
It helps to control pain and it also reduces swelling.
Metacam is what vets given our rats after surgery.

Lilspaz68 may be able to suggest a pain med you could use while waiting for the 72 hours to pass.

The baby might also take fluids such as organic soy infant formula, or ensure if you let her lick it off the end of a new, never used paint brush or suck the corner of a piece of cloth dipped in the fluid.

Another method is to use a tiny piece of rag and form a nipple from one corner. Start by dipping the cloth in the liquid
 
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sonnyvincent said:
so would it hurt her to have no antiinflammatory med for those 72 hrs?
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The problem with mixing the dex and metacam is you can give her a bleeding ulcer with most probably would kill her. Tramadol might be an option but I'm not sure. Need to wait for lizspaz68 to log on or Jorats they will know more about the meds.
 
I am honestly not sure why this particular vet said NO pain meds but gave her steroid injections instead? Dex can last up to 3 days so once a day is not a good idea.

I have given 2.5 week old babies baytril with no issues, they are just horror stories not absolute truths. In a situation like this I would definitely use baytril for your wee one, its broad spectrum and would be best to prevent any infection or help with a URI if she did aspirate some blood. I think of pediatric drugs in mild cases not in urgent cases, saving the rat is much better than "following the rules".

I would tell the vet you are honestly not comfortable giving your baby a steroid injection every day. I use the 48 hour rule for dex and metacam personally. For those 48 hours you can go out and buy infant Tylenol, which can be given with steroids. After that make sure to have a bottle of infant ibuprofen (Advil) on hand as its wonderful for emergencies. You might not need it after the tylenol but its good to have just in case. Advil is not as good as metacam but close as they are both NSAIDs or non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs.
 
I called to clarify... its actually the baytril they're having me bring her in for daily. So far no side effects from the injection today but they want to give her 2-3 more injections (1 per day).
 
Yes just one. What would the dosage be of Tylenol? She's 3 oz (100 grams)

I put my phone in by her to record her breathing, this is what it sounds like most of the time that she's breathing unless she's in a deep sleep (the noise in background is my loud dryer).

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucp-fdVL1KM[/ame]
 
In this one you can't see her too well, but it shows how fast she's breathing and she is preoccupied with her mouth (which you see towards the end)

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lH02vWUzKOE[/ame]
 
The preoccupation is actually with her nose...rats panic when they cannot breathe through their nose and will groom over it to clear it up. She doesn't sound that great, but we can hope it clears up.

When you get infant Tylenol you will have to tell me the mg/ml on the bottle, as some are more concentrated than others. I am waiting to hear once you have the bottle in your hand then will work out a dose for your 100 gram sweetie. :)
 
The tylenol is 32 mg/ml but you have to give a lot to get the required pain suppression effect.

The recommended dosage is 100-300 mg/kg

her dose would be .3 - .63 cc every 4-6 hours if possible. Try putting it in soft food.

for the ibuprofen, which is 40 mg/ml and you dose at 10-30 mg/kg

Her dose would be .05 cc every 4-6 hours.
 
she's not eating so i'll have to try to use a syringe. i'm not sure how this will work but i'll give it a try. thank you so much
 
sonnyvincent said:
she's not eating so i'll have to try to use a syringe. i'm not sure how this will work but i'll give it a try. thank you so much
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Going to show you a crummy youtube video of how I medicate a squirmy girl...it might help you figure out how to do it for your girl.

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-_bFMkutKk&feature=kp[/ame]
 
we were able to get most of it in her mouth, i had my sister's help so it wasn't as difficult. she wasn't too happy but i do think she got most of it :)
 
lilspaz68 said:
I hope she's more comfortable now. Is she sneezing at all? if there's any dried blood in her nose she may sneeze as it irritates her.
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No, she hasn't sneezed at all.

Her breathing is calmer now but the sound comes and goes. The vet did say that the sound isn't from her lungs, it's from her nose, and that that's better than it could be.
 
So do you think going for the baytril injections is a good idea? I have to assume she chose that for areason and there haven't been side effects yet. I just want to give her the best chance and not screw up again
 
sonnyvincent said:
So do you think going for the baytril injections is a good idea? I have to assume she chose that for areason and there haven't been side effects yet. I just want to give her the best chance and not screw up again
Click to expand...

Did you see them giving it to her? Was it just a little bit of clear fluid in a syringe, or was there a LOT of fluid in the syringe? Baytril undiluted can cause terrible things to happen with the injection site as its caustic when injected.
 
No, they took her out to do it. But I don't see any sores or areas on her skin that seem irritated, or would that show up later? She's also moving around fine, so no paralysis or anything.
 

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