Tucker lump on belly - NOT AN EMERGENCY

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dspch911

dspch911

Senior Member
Joined
Dec 30, 2012
Messages
7,963
Location
Chicago, IL
I noticed Tucker (nakie) had a small lump in the middle of his belly about 2-3 weeks ago. Its probably in the spot a belly button would be if he had one. Its maybe pea sized or smaller and doesn't seem to be growing. It looks bigger when we stretch him (make him stand up). He has a vet appointment next Thursday. Any ideas what this could be??? The skin is smooth no scratches or anything around it.
 
Yep, that would be Thursday. ugh I need a new brain. lol
One thing about nakies, they get a lot of bumps and lumps. I'm sure the furries get them too but we just don't see them.
 
jorats said:
Yep, that would be Thursday. ugh I need a new brain. lol
One thing about nakies, they get a lot of bumps and lumps. I'm sure the furries get them too but we just don't see them.
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Wally seems to be just fine except for his head tilt, but poor Tucker has the lump which is all nice and smooth and perfect shaped, but is the one that always looks scratched up. I'm going to put a shirt on the poor boy!
 
dspch911 said:
His appointment is tomorrow
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Yes it is an umbilical hernia and he is scheduled for repair next Thursday. She thinks right now its just fatty tissue coming out since we caught it early. We got to push on it and feel the hole. Good thing he's a nakie I guess since its only pea size and squishy. :ambulance:
 
The vet had a family emergency so surgery has been put off until April 1st. We're checking into how much extra it would be to snip snip the huge gonads at the same time. First they quoted us the same price as a regular snip snip which seemed ridiculous since he's already on the table!! So we're waiting for them to get back to us on if that is correct or not... :bored:
Do you guys think that is too much for one small rattie to handle at the same time? Hernia repair and the loss of his "rathood"?
 
I think it would depend on the skill of the vet, the health of the rat, and how long it takes to do the hernia repair. the neuter should be pretty quick but a hernia repair *seems* like it'd take longer... of course, I have no clue how they do that on a rat! do they use little mesh inserts, or just stitch up the inner hole? I cant even imagine. lol

I think I'd ask the vet how long he'd be under and how much blood loss might be involved etc.
Actually just ask the vet if he thinks it's a good idea to do both at the same time, if you trust the vet enough to know he's not going to try to get you to pay for 2 surgeries etc for the $
Sadly so much is about the $$ these days.
 
Its seemed like a pretty simple surgery since its just a tiny hole at the moment, but it does involve some laser repair too. We were advised the hernia could occur again, but hopefully it won't. We just need to repair it before intestines or something come through. Glad he's a nakie or I probably wouldn't have noticed the little bump!
 
Tomorrow Tucker goes in for his hernia repair. It has gotten a little bigger. Hopefully he will do just fine, but I have a bad feeling about this and I don't know why. Maybe it has something to do with the bad reaction Snickers seemed to have after his snip snip. I will mention no buprenorphine!
 
Tucker did very well. He is home and actually quite active even though he is not suppose to be. He is much more alert and "normal" looking and acting than Snickers/Grumpy were. I did tell them not to use buprenorphine and apparently that is one of the drugs they use so they were going to have to figure out something to replace it with. Apparently they did since he's acting much better. He's eating - quite the hungry boy. There is not a mesh - just sewed the hole closed. His incision site just looks like a scratch on his tummy. He is in a small cage for the night - he's not suppose to stretch, but he's not listening to post op instructions - takes after his mommy I guess.
 
The gas sedates them for surgery, but offers no pain management after that is why they use that med. Tramadol and metacam can be used instead of that buprenorphine. The buprenorphine covers the pain aspect. We only use gas during surgeries and we use metacam after. The girls will have some owie stretches during the first night but even with them they are active and alert. Usually the metacam helps that. I have been thinking about adding tramadol since they can be used with metacam and seeing if that helps with the spays owie stretches but it is really only that first night. The next day nothing. Even after ace's leg amputation he has metacam one day and that is it. The other that get tumor removals rarely get it passed 2 days.
 

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