Hi
I have a two year old rat with a pituitary tumor. The symptoms started appearing 3 weeks ago. He was doing really well with the symptoms he had until a few days ago when he stopped holding his food and his balance turned for the worse.
I think the reason he even got these PT symptoms three weeks ago was because he had a hormone implant (suprelorine) put in two weeks before that. Before he got the implant put in, I had read about the same drug (which is in this implant) had caused an already present human pituitary tumor to start growing a few weeks after administration of the drug and therefore it is suspected that the implant may make already present PTs grow. I didn't expect my rat to have a pituitary tumor so I let him have the implant put in but it seems to me what happened to him is exactly like that human incident. Imagine the guilt I feel now for having that implant put in. And more than 6 months ago I actually had a small suspicion about him maybe having a PT because he would sometimes start eating his treat while still in my arms before being put back in the cage instead of waiting until he could run away with it. A subtle symptom I've seen in my previous rats with PTs first thing, followed by more severe symptoms shortly after but since no other symptoms showed up for so long I just didn't expect him to have it.
My vet has prescribed us cabergoline. He is supposed to have one whole pill (0.5 mg) every three days. My rat is 545 grams and as far as I can tell from the rat guide his dosage is a bit high. Wouldn't he need only 3/4 of a pill? It would of course be easier to just crush up a whole pill and it'd be easier making sure he got enough if he drools out some but is it overdosing?
Do any of you have advice about an easy way to give cabergoline? I have had one rat on cabergoline before with very good effect but unfortunately when he felt back to his normal self he started refusing to take it and started spitting it out and shortly after he went downhill very fast. I'm wondering if any of you have figured out smart ways to give this horrendous tasting drug without the risk of them spitting it out again?
With my previous rat we saw major improvement after 3 days on cabergoline and on day 4 he was pretty much back to normal. Is this the norm or have some of you experienced it taking longer than 3-4 days to see improvement?
Thank you so much
I have a two year old rat with a pituitary tumor. The symptoms started appearing 3 weeks ago. He was doing really well with the symptoms he had until a few days ago when he stopped holding his food and his balance turned for the worse.
I think the reason he even got these PT symptoms three weeks ago was because he had a hormone implant (suprelorine) put in two weeks before that. Before he got the implant put in, I had read about the same drug (which is in this implant) had caused an already present human pituitary tumor to start growing a few weeks after administration of the drug and therefore it is suspected that the implant may make already present PTs grow. I didn't expect my rat to have a pituitary tumor so I let him have the implant put in but it seems to me what happened to him is exactly like that human incident. Imagine the guilt I feel now for having that implant put in. And more than 6 months ago I actually had a small suspicion about him maybe having a PT because he would sometimes start eating his treat while still in my arms before being put back in the cage instead of waiting until he could run away with it. A subtle symptom I've seen in my previous rats with PTs first thing, followed by more severe symptoms shortly after but since no other symptoms showed up for so long I just didn't expect him to have it.
My vet has prescribed us cabergoline. He is supposed to have one whole pill (0.5 mg) every three days. My rat is 545 grams and as far as I can tell from the rat guide his dosage is a bit high. Wouldn't he need only 3/4 of a pill? It would of course be easier to just crush up a whole pill and it'd be easier making sure he got enough if he drools out some but is it overdosing?
Do any of you have advice about an easy way to give cabergoline? I have had one rat on cabergoline before with very good effect but unfortunately when he felt back to his normal self he started refusing to take it and started spitting it out and shortly after he went downhill very fast. I'm wondering if any of you have figured out smart ways to give this horrendous tasting drug without the risk of them spitting it out again?
With my previous rat we saw major improvement after 3 days on cabergoline and on day 4 he was pretty much back to normal. Is this the norm or have some of you experienced it taking longer than 3-4 days to see improvement?
Thank you so much
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Prednisone plus an antibiotic can reduce inflammation and give rats good quality tie if the PT is growing slowly
