Caring for a sick rat

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From what I've read if it is a PT, steroids can work even if it's quite progressed, and even if not you're doing everything you can so try not to blame yourself.
Yes, I have only heard of a few rats living to be 4 years old so that is a great sign.
 
So sorry you are going through this :( my thoughts are with you and Mishi, I hope she has a turn around very soon. She is very lucky to have you.
 
The new vet was shocked how she was treated... He also confirmed that it is impossible to diagnose heart disease in rats with only stethoscope. He was shocked how unprofessionally her Baytril was injected... He was afraid to make blood tests because she is very weak and little dehydrated. In his first opinion it isn't the heart, he thinks it may be something neurological, which from what I know suits with PT :( But he don't want to start any treatment until he makes some tests. He told us to stop the Vetmedin and all other drugs that were previously prescribed.

Today they put he on oxygen for 2 hours. He and give her food (Fresubin Original Vanilla) and tell us to try feding her 6 to 10 times per day about 1ml of the food. He also give us some antibiotics "Amoksiklav" 0,2ml to be given every 12 hours. For her eyes he give us antiseptic: Hibiscrub.

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The vet wants to try to stabilize her a little with food and drugs and then to make blood tests.
 
Blood tests and x-rays can help diagnose, but clinical signs are usually a pretty good indicator of PT. If your vet wants to do one test first, I'd say an x-ray would probably be best.
 
Wheel barrow test for clinical signs are what most vets use. An xray won't help. the tumor is nestled against the brain when symptoms show up. I have necropsy pics of PT but I won't share them here. They can try the standard neuro test of curling a foot/ toes under and a normal rat/dog/cat will promptly stand up properly. A neuro animal will stay knuckled over. You might want to mention bromocriptine as a possible PT treatment but bromo only works on prolactinoma's though which is why its always paired with steroids initially. How much has your rat regressed?

DO NOT use Hibiscrub on the eyes!! They all warn not to get it INTO the eye. Try water or if you must isotonic (same saline content as body) to wipe the mucky eyes.
 
How much does your lass weigh now? I am trying to double check your Clavamox dosage. Your Clav is 31.25 mg/ml but I need a weight to make sure her dose is correct. Unfortunately clavamox is not effective on mycoplasmosis but is good for most other structural infections and secondary respiratory infections.
 
A steroid (such as prednisone) + an antibiotic (such as baytril given orally) are usually given for neurological issues. With pt, as lilspaz68 mentioned, bromocriptine or cabergoline can help in addition to the steroid + antibiotic if the pt is prolactinoma. Cabergoline is more expensive but is taken less frequently, and is a bit more effective and seems to be better tolerated by rats. Info is on the ratguide.
 
I don't have time to read responses so sorry if this is a repeat. My girl who just passed this week was diagnosed with a PT in December. She was put on bromocriptine, prednisone, and baytril. She lived another four months and gained balance and wights. She would have these episodes where I thought I'd loose her but then she'd bounce back after three days and would be fine.

Regarding her neck, my gosh, no vet should inject baytril if that was what was injected (you mentioned 'black spots').
 
I'm sorry you've been thru such an awful time with both your girl's problems and the vet 'care' she's received.
I can't give better advice than you've received here, I just want to say you've been amazing parents all thru this, tenacious in doing Everything you can for her, even with a daunting lack of personal experience & proper vet care. She's a lucky girl, you're in my prayers.
 
Mishi is still alive. She was better for a day or two, but now for the last two day she is regressing again. She is still very weak so they were unable to take blood out of her to make the test. I am afraid she may not survive the night. I have talked with the vets to check this tread and read what all you guys have suggested. Thank you, everyone, for your support and ideas.
 
Hi all and thank you again for your support and ideas.

Mishi is still alive and getting a bit better. The vet read this tread but don't recommend steroids. He don't want to diagnose her only on symptoms and behavior. He prefers to first do tests, before giving her something with strong side effects and this sounds very reasonable for us. We bought Mishi from their pet shop/clinic, so as the one who bread her, he knows her family history. He managed to do an echography on her and most of her organs looked good except some small problem with her digestive system. The vet prescribed her antiparasitic drugs, just in case, until we wait for some progress.

Mishi improved a lot last several days. (I didn't want to write here in case if this was temporary). This is her first visible improvement since we started treating her few weeks ago, so we are quite hopeful at the moment. She is now trying to walk around (pretty fast sometimes) and she also can sometimes stay on her feet. She is also biting much stronger. The vets said that in last 3-4 days her mussel tone improved, but she still have some neurological problem witch we will try to diagnose and tread when she gets better. At the moment he wants us to continue the antibiotic treatment and watch her condition. Her baytril burns are also slowly improving and from what we see, the dead tissue will fall soon. Today I give her an yogurt treat and she tried chewing it. She broke it to small peaces and eat some of it, so hopefully she can eat some solid foods soon.


From what you know is it possible for her to have suffered from a stroke?
From what I am observing, one of her sides is recovering faster than the other.
 
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The little idiot managed to pierce her leg and lost some blood. Now she is bandaged, and looking kind of funny. Lets hope this doesn't slow her recovery. Even bandaged, she is walking around... she also managed to eat some the blanket of my bed :D
 

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You said she was biting? Was this normal for her before the symptoms? PTs can cause changes in behaviour as well as strokes so it’s possible that she had a stroke in the first place, although I’m not sure it looks like it based on the videos, or it’s possible that she has a PT that gave her a stroke. Has she always fallen to one side more than the other? There are different types of stokes and I am only really familiar with ones that cause limb paralysis, which they can certainly recover from! When she does eat, does she use either of her front paws at all?
 

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