SqueakingJellybean
Mission Control -- All is ratness
On May 5th, Clint had a mass removed from the base of his tail. It appeared suddenly, then over the course of about two or three weeks, went from a possible rat-zit the size of half a pencil eraser to the size of a dime, skin taut and irritated. He had his stitches out on Friday, and the vet says his healing has been fantastic-- until today.
Today, he started dragging his feet. Hind-end paralysis appears to be setting in. When we were at the vet for his stitch removal, I noticed that the base of his tail (body-side) was looking lumpy. The vet examined the lumps and was fairly sure it was just his bones, but that we should keep an eye on the area. Today, the area seems lumpier and a bit reddened. He's gotten slightly worse since this morning.
Hind-end paralysis on its own isn't a death sentence; we've had enough elderly ratties to know that. What we're thinking is that the mass (we're looking at sending it in for biopsy depending on what the vet says this week) may have spread further under the skin and may be moving up his spine. We could be off, I have no idea-- we're not vets, and of course this would happen on Sunday. Our vet is pretty outstanding, though, and she should be able to see him tomorrow or the day after; she'd know better than we would.
I don't know what else we can do apart from making him comfortable for as long as he's still experiencing a decent quality of life. He's still eating, still snuggling with Agent J, and, though it takes some effort, still makes it out for treats.
Agent J has not shown any signs of illness but is visibly concerned for his brother.
Has there been any evidence of Harlan-Teklad blocks or other foods causing that kind of rapidly-moving mass in rats? They've had no citrus, and we wash our hands before handling them if we've had any. They get fresh fruits and vegetables, yogies, plain Cheerios every so often, fresh water (of course), and, as a treat or with medicine, a little bit of peanut butter.
This could be just algae in the gene pool, but like any rat-parents, we're trying to figure out if there's something we could have done differently.
Today, he started dragging his feet. Hind-end paralysis appears to be setting in. When we were at the vet for his stitch removal, I noticed that the base of his tail (body-side) was looking lumpy. The vet examined the lumps and was fairly sure it was just his bones, but that we should keep an eye on the area. Today, the area seems lumpier and a bit reddened. He's gotten slightly worse since this morning.
Hind-end paralysis on its own isn't a death sentence; we've had enough elderly ratties to know that. What we're thinking is that the mass (we're looking at sending it in for biopsy depending on what the vet says this week) may have spread further under the skin and may be moving up his spine. We could be off, I have no idea-- we're not vets, and of course this would happen on Sunday. Our vet is pretty outstanding, though, and she should be able to see him tomorrow or the day after; she'd know better than we would.
I don't know what else we can do apart from making him comfortable for as long as he's still experiencing a decent quality of life. He's still eating, still snuggling with Agent J, and, though it takes some effort, still makes it out for treats.
Agent J has not shown any signs of illness but is visibly concerned for his brother.
Has there been any evidence of Harlan-Teklad blocks or other foods causing that kind of rapidly-moving mass in rats? They've had no citrus, and we wash our hands before handling them if we've had any. They get fresh fruits and vegetables, yogies, plain Cheerios every so often, fresh water (of course), and, as a treat or with medicine, a little bit of peanut butter.
This could be just algae in the gene pool, but like any rat-parents, we're trying to figure out if there's something we could have done differently.