Kona - RIP 5/24/14

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So I spoke too soon, poor boy had a huge plug when I checked after work and he needed another "shower" I'm not quite sure what he's dragging himself through - could just be pee I guess. No more poops and it took almost 2 hours to get him to eat about 4 mls of food - I had no choice he had to eat it it had the bromo in it. Next time I won't put it in so much food. I just don't know if its because he's eating more on his own and doesn't want the extra food or he just doesn't want to eat. He seems to be more active with his front paws - not using them, but closing and opening them more. His left paw seems to have more strength in it than the right when I push on it and he is circling to his right (has been for a few days or more). He seems to hate having me rub the top of his head - I think it hurts him.
I'm sorry. :(
I remember reading somewhere that PT itself isn't painful, if that's comforting. Brain matter doesn't actually have pain receptors... you could do brain surgery on a fully awake person, and they wouldn't feel a thing(except for the skin/skull tissue)...

I really hope your baby gets better soon and the prednisolone kicks in. It's supposed to cut down the swelling and pressure on his brain, and thus do wonders in terms of symptoms. Hang in there, Kona boy!!!
 
I'm sorry. :(
I remember reading somewhere that PT itself isn't painful, if that's comforting. Brain matter doesn't actually have pain receptors... you could do brain surgery on a fully awake person, and they wouldn't feel a thing(except for the skin/skull tissue)...

I really hope your baby gets better soon and the prednisolone kicks in. It's supposed to cut down the swelling and pressure on his brain, and thus do wonders in terms of symptoms. Hang in there, Kona boy!!!

I know about the brain thing, but if its swollen and creating pressure in his head that could be painful. Unfortunately, I just lost a friend to brain cancer and his symptoms were headaches and neck pain. He actually was in extreme pain at the end and had to be kept comfortable with strong narcotics do to the pain in his head.
 
I know about the brain thing, but if its swollen and creating pressure in his head that could be painful. Unfortunately, I just lost a friend to brain cancer and his symptoms were headaches and neck pain. He actually was in extreme pain at the end and had to be kept comfortable with strong narcotics do to the pain in his head.
Yeah, that is what unfortunately happens. :(
 
Kona we will stop pred Sunday night and he will get a dexy shot Monday morning. After this we will have tried everything. I just don't think we got everything to him fast enough.
 
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Just caught up on Kona's thread ......he is a fighter !!!!

I have read that PTs are rarely cancerous. I know your friend had brain cancer. My brother died from cancer 7 years ago. Cancer in itself is very painful. Who really knows - but I feel that PTs would not be anything compared to cancer. It may create some pressure feeling in the head if the tumor has gotten to a certain size. Prednisone I know along with others meds can keep the growing of the PT at bay for a while.

Keep trying all your options until you have no more, then you know you have done all you can. Might wanna ask the vet for some pain meds. Doodles' vet gave me some Torbugesic for pain as vet could not tell me 100% that she was not feeling some sort of discomfort. When Doodles got REALLY bad at times, I would give her the pain meds. My best wishes & positive thoughts are headed your way.
I tell you - having a nakkie that had PT made is so easy to bath & clean up......no fur to worry about drying!
 
Just caught up on Kona's thread ......he is a fighter !!!!

I have read that PTs are rarely cancerous. I know your friend had brain cancer. My brother died from cancer 7 years ago. Cancer in itself is very painful. Who really knows - but I feel that PTs would not be anything compared to cancer. It may create some pressure feeling in the head if the tumor has gotten to a certain size. Prednisone I know along with others meds can keep the growing of the PT at bay for a while.

Keep trying all your options until you have no more, then you know you have done all you can. Might wanna ask the vet for some pain meds. Doodles' vet gave me some Torbugesic for pain as vet could not tell me 100% that she was not feeling some sort of discomfort. When Doodles got REALLY bad at times, I would give her the pain meds. My best wishes & positive thoughts are headed your way.
I tell you - having a nakkie that had PT made is so easy to bath & clean up......no fur to worry about drying!

I never thought of it that way - just assumed brain tumor = cancer. I will ask about that pain med since he shakes his head, but not as much as before. He seems to like when a massage him, but when I rub his head he seems to get upset and tries to get away. That's why I think something in his head must hurt. I have chronic migraines so I can sympathize with him. Its not too bad to wash him up, but he hates when I check for the plugs (which he usually has). Yes, a nakie would be so easy to wipe down. He lost another 24 grams despite our syringe feeding him 3 times a day. I feel like I'm doing all I can - just wish I had been able to do it early.
 
Oh I know you are doing all you can sweetie:balloons2: -- I tell ya - these little rodents are SO easy to get attached to & it just sucks when they are not feeling well. Hang in there Kona!
 
Oh I know you are doing all you can sweetie:balloons2: -- I tell ya - these little rodents are SO easy to get attached to & it just sucks when they are not feeling well. Hang in there Kona!

Their personalities just make them so unique and lovable!:tumkiss:
 
I wasn't going to mention anything, but since things aren't looking good I'll take a moment to update. Sunday night seemed to look like things might be changing for our boy he had very tiny signs of improvement - he stopped circling and was walking forward and he had more strength in his front paws. He had a dex shot yesterday and actually pushed a syringe of water away with his paws. However, last night he seems to have lost everything in his back end. He's not using his rear paws except on a very rare occasion and doesn't have much use of the front ones. We have a 5pm appointment tonight for his second dex shot, but I do believe we will be saying good bye to our boy and freeing him of the body that has failed him.
 
So here's the deal, after thinking hard for awhile the light bulb in my head went on and something clicked - stinky winky = not moving hind end = probably pain ... so I checked with vet prior to our appointment and gave him some tramadol. Within two hours he was moving his hind end again. Now I have been mentioning the stinky winky/urine since this started, but no one has actually listened to me or that is what I'm thinking.

So at the vet, my boy who I haven't seen poop out of in days - craps on me! A nice gooey one! Then he grooms himself - sitting up - like a rattie, we haven't seen that in weeks. Now it wasn't the most graceful, but that's progress. He did however, lose 40 something grams in one day - how does that happen? I know he's not eating, but we're syringe feeding him. He also has a swollen kidney that she can feel. So we had a hard decision to make regarding the steroids vs the antibiotics. This whole situation just SUCKS!
If we don't keep going with the dex there is no point in treating the infection since he'll have no chance at any quality of life. If we don't treat the infection he cannot get better either. So I held my little boy up to my face and asked him what he wanted and he hit me in the nose - I took that to mean he still wanted to fight. So, we are continuing the dex shot for three more days - which means he will have had five total and we're changing the antibiotics to clavamox and doxy (he was on baytril/doxy) then we will reevaluate. We have LR for fluids to give SQ - we're just hoping to give him a chance. It just doesn't seem fair that he has to fight against PT and an infection..

Any other suggestions are welcome.
 
dspch, I saw your reply yesterday, but didn't really know what to say. :(
I have no idea what to do in this situation, and I'm not even exactly sure what is going on....

I'm sorry your baby is going through this.
 
Aida that's alright we're not sure what to do at this point either. We're just hoping the antibiotics will work over the steroids and the steroids will make him better. We just figured since he was showing a few small signs of improvement we would keep trying and hope for the best although we know he's terminal and we're not expecting a miracle although that would be nice!
 
:bunnydance: Happy dance!! Kona has strength in his front paws and is grabbing on to things like fingers, syringes and definitely putting up a fight now when its medication time. Bonus, we just found him drinking from the water bottle!!! Haven't seen him do that in weeks!! He even went up a ramp and into a hammock!!! That is progress, but still a long way to go.. :dancingbunny:
 
:cheering::poop::dancingbunny: :dancingbunny: :dancingbunny: YaY !!!

Looks like to me that Kona has recovered from a crash :dancingbunny: - a million happy dances for him !!! So it's been about 2 weeks since this PT crap started huh? I think your first post was May 1. I am so happy for you & him & daddy of course. Actually you DID get a miracle cuz he was pretty bad there for a long while.
I hope he goes a loooong time on this great come-back Hugs from all my ratties to you & yours !!!:grouphug:
 
My boy just feed himself for the first time since this started - USING HIS FRONT PAWS!!! This is the first solid food he has eaten (actually eaten) lettuce and watermelon!! Guess who was the first to the bowl too - and guess who fought off one of his brothers to keep his piece of lettuce! That's right - Kona man!!! Guess he's tired of syringe feeding - that or he doesn't want any more SQ fluids.... I'll take it, plus he was at the cage door tonight just standing there with his brother. I never know where I'll find him in the cage the past to days.. I see him on the bottom, leave the room, come right back in and he's on the top.... He's a fighter...

Thanks guys for the support you all kept me hanging in there especially when I was ready to throw the towel in. Now we have more time with him - maybe days, weeks, months who knows, but its time....

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[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKbMLYQ62kI&feature=youtu.be"][/ame]
 
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