Tumour removal surgery tomorrow: what should I ask the vet beforehand and how to prepare for surger?

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Olympia✨

New Member
Joined
May 14, 2018
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2
Location
England
Hi all,

My rat Obi is going in for a tumour removal finally, it was supposed to be on the 25th but since it’s grown so rapidly he’s going in tomorrow. In about two weeks it’s gone from the size of a marble to a ping pong ball.

I wanted to ask you all for some tips on what to ask the vets, I know I need to ask about what anaesthetic will be used, how to care for wounds, antibiotics and if I should separate him from his brother- but other then those I don’t know what else to ask. He’ll be getting dropped off in the morning and kept until the evening to make sure he’s okay if that helps.

Also, what can I do to help him heal? I’m going to make him a little sweater out of a sock today to keep him from possibly biting sutures and I have syringes to feed him sugar water and also bought these items:

>http://www.ratwarehouse.com/product/wub_it_to_pieces (easy to eat nutritious ‘mush’)

>http://www.ratwarehouse.com/product/drs_tiny_animals_essentials (vitamins to help his immune system) and http://www.ratwarehouse.com/product/drs_calcivet (calcium supplements.)

Any help is much appreciated! :)
 
For aftercare, I would just do the usual. I would give my rats a small dish of soy milk immediately after surgery to encourage eating. But I wouldn't give any supplements or waste my money on those extras that you linked. Make sure he eats his block which contains all his nutrients. If he need encouragement, avocados are good a fat and it's mushy enough, give as an extra treat.
Also, for separation, only do it as short a time you can. The minute he is eating well, I'd have him back in with his buddies. Not being in their home is stressful and we want the less amount of stress as possible.
 
For aftercare, I would just do the usual. I would give my rats a small dish of soy milk immediately after surgery to encourage eating. But I wouldn't give any supplements or waste my money on those extras that you linked. Make sure he eats his block which contains all his nutrients. If he need encouragement, avocados are good a fat and it's mushy enough, give as an extra treat.
Also, for separation, only do it as short a time you can. The minute he is eating well, I'd have him back in with his buddies. Not being in their home is stressful and we want the less amount of stress as possible.

Great, thanks so much for your reply :) I have tonnes of soya milk at home so will definitely give him some!
 
make sure to get oral pain medication to give for a few days post-op. If they refuse make sure to have infant liquid ibuprofen on hand ready to go. Pain management is very important post op, they don't pick at the incision as often and heal faster. If you have to use the ibuprofen, get us a weight on your lad and we can give you a dose ASAP.
 
your vet should give an injection of Metacam after surgery that will last for 24 hours.
After that you will need to give oral pain meds such as metacam from the vet.
Ask the vet about pain meds, if he was given an injection and how long before you need to start oral pain meds

Rats do not fast prior to surgery.
this thread (re link in the Reference Thread) may be useful https://www.ratshackforum.com/threads/things-to-discuss-before-surgery.7691/
 
make sure to get oral pain medication to give for a few days post-op. If they refuse make sure to have infant liquid ibuprofen on hand ready to go. Pain management is very important post op, they don't pick at the incision as often and heal faster. If you have to use the ibuprofen, get us a weight on your lad and we can give you a dose ASAP.

Vet did say I will be given pain meds for him, if he doesn’t take it I have a corner store that sells baby ibuprofen so can get some there. He weighs about 850g.
 
your vet should give an injection of Metacam after surgery that will last for 24 hours.
After that you will need to give oral pain meds such as metacam from the vet.
Ask the vet about pain meds, if he was given an injection and how long before you need to start oral pain meds

Rats do not fast prior to surgery.
this thread (re link in the Reference Thread) may be useful https://www.ratshackforum.com/threads/things-to-discuss-before-surgery.7691/

Yes I was told he was going to be given an injection of pain meds. Thank you, I will screenshot this and ask these questions :)
 
Just in case you have to use the infant ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin or generic and make sure NOT to get Childrens) I took his current weight of 850 grams and removed 30 grams for the tumour being removed and with a weight of 820 grams his dose would be 0.41 ml every 4-6 hours.
 
Just in case you have to use the infant ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin or generic and make sure NOT to get Childrens) I took his current weight of 850 grams and removed 30 grams for the tumour being removed and with a weight of 820 grams his dose would be 0.41 ml every 4-6 hours.

Hi, thanks for that. We just got home and he’s being veeeery sleepy, I gave him some soya milk and he drank that up fast! I got Metacam for pain and got told to administer 0.5mls once a day starting from tomorrow. Does that seem about right?
 
if the metacam is 1.5 mg/ml that's a good dose :)

Okay thank you. Sorry to be a bother but do you know how I can get him to take the meds and encourage eating? He managed to bite open a small area of the wound the other day so we went back to vet who wrapped Obi up in like a mesh sock. He’s lethargic but drinking water and eating only soya yoghurt and cucumber. I can’t get the meds into his mouth as he spits it out and can’t seem to hide it in the yoghurt, we don’t have ensure here either. Any tips?
 
You will have to syringe it into his mouth...metacam tastes nasty.

Here is a video I did a long time ago showing how I syringe meds into my rats. Hopefully it helps you figure out a way you can do it yourself.

 
PLEASE READ BEFORE THE SURGERY!!!!!!!
Personally? If you don't know what he is using to sedate and for anethesia, I would absolutely find out beforehand! I recommend you strongly suggest he use gas, and NOT injection drugs. No.... I recommend be you DEMAND he not use an injected form of anethesia. If you very little, lightweight rattie is given just a little too much in the injection, he will have a difficult time coming out of it, and his recovery could become an emergency which has no treatment! They can try the reversal drug but it doesn't always work, especially with overdosed rats. I'm my guys case, they told me to take him home and keep jostling him around to help bring him out of it. I repeat... They SENT HIM HOME with me!!!! I'm not saying your vet would do that, as it is VERY unprofessional and outright WRONG to discharge a patient that is still under sedation, but they just kept my guy all day until it was 5pm and they wanted to close up and go home. To be fair, the owner of the vet office was not present that day. But anyway, so I was told to take him home and keep helping him to come out of it. After staying up all night with him, by morning it was obvious he was in trouble, so I took him to MY vet (the surgery was done on a foster who was not my personal rat, and so he went to where the rescue sent him, and that ended up with some very upset rescue administrators making angry phone calls) and my vet informed me that since he was administered the reversal drug and it had been many hours, there was nothing they could do and it was up to the rat to pull through. Or not. Again I took him home where, not 20 minutes after I arrived, he took his final breath, shuddered and passed away right in my hands. I was devastated. And very, VERY angry. Oh, and did I say that the never even closed him up!?!? He was only there for a neuter, and came home in a complete fog which he never came back from.
So, I can't stress this enough, please make sure, in fact, DEMAND that they use gas, and NOT injectable drugs. If I understand correctly, they first have to sedate using a syringe, then put him under and keep him under with a anesthetic, which can be another injection, or....gas. Choose the latter, for you ratties sake.
 
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