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crumbilina said:
I'm have got to be one of the happiest people on the planet right now :D
Here we are thinking it is this inoperable metastatic tumor of some sort... but no! Antibiotics (in the correct dosage) is all she needed :nod: !!!
I'm so happy :dance:
:awe: Thank you Dr. Gerald!!!!!
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Terrific news! You must be on Santa's 'nice' list ;)
 
Back from the vet (well the day before last, but Christmas kept me on my toes)

So, everyone is on antibiotics. They all seem to have URI's but nothing in the lungs, so thats good :)

I tell you though! I have to have the best rats! They all take their meds right from the syringe! No force medicating or anything. Abby puts up a little bit of a fight though. I just stick her in the travel cage with the meds on a spoon in a bit of strawberry nesquick, and she laps it up. And thats the most difficult?!? I am so lucky!!!!

I was really surprised by Cocoa. She didn't have an appointment but I figured I should take her in to show Dr. Gerald my little Christmas miracle! She is down to 468g! She used to be 505g or something like that! Can you imagine?! I was worried about it but Dr. Gerald said that that is most likely from the loss of that mass!!! THAT'S A HUGE MASS!!!! So I have been watching her eating habits to make sure that she is in fact eating. It looks like she still is so thats good at least. Her wheel has been back in the cage for a while but it was hitting the top of the cage so I rearranged her cage. She didn't like that. When I got up, it was rearranged again :giggle: I wont change it on her. As long as the wheel is quiet she can have her cage however she wants :p

So all around good news. They have URI's but it isn't in their lungs, so thats a blessing. Things seem to be going my way lately :D
 
Thanks Zooy, but I may have spoke a bit to soon :?

Looks like Cocoa really isn't eating (she was cleverly stashing below the liner to make me think she was eating). I just put ground up lab blocks mixed with pea baby food in there with her though and she is currently gobbling it up. Looks like she is going to be on baby food/ensure/ground up lab blocks for a bit to make sure that she eats :(. I'm pretty sure the antibiotics are upsetting her stomach. It has been a number of weeks on a very high dose to see if we could get rid of the lump. It will be worth it for the poor girl in a couple of weeks. Then we can see what we can do with that other lump of hers :nod:

Good that she is eating the baby food though... thats a blessing :)
 
If Cocoa is on antibiotics, make sure to replace her gut flora on a regular basis with something like yogurt with active bacterial cultures. I will often give my ratties yogurt a couple of hours after they have their evening meds. Helps keep things plugging along...
 
Joanne said:
If Cocoa is on antibiotics, make sure to replace her gut flora on a regular basis with something like yogurt with active bacterial cultures. I will often give my ratties yogurt a couple of hours after they have their evening meds. Helps keep things plugging along...
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I thought of this too and asked my vet. He said (and this makes sense IMO) that the GIT flora that humans have is different from those that rats have. While the yogurt would work for a human on antibiotics, it would not do the same thing for a rat. I asked him if there was some special probiotics/prebiotics that I could get from him for my rats and he told me that they have not isolated anything for rats. He also told me that if I don't give Cocoa yogurt on a regular basis it could potentially upset her stomach more due to the lactose in the yogurt. I have never given Cocoa yogurt or dairy in the past, and as a result I feel that giving her yogurt now may not be a good idea. I could begin giving it to her after the antibiotics, when her stomach has settled a bit so that next time she would be able to have it, but at the moment I think it may not be a great idea. She is eating the baby food so I don't want to push my luck.

Besides, I know how it feels to be lactose intolerant and fed dairy... its horrible! I don't think I could do that to my little Cocoa knowing how horrible I felt. I'll just feed baby food and such until she is feeling better...

Although I should check and see if Ensure is lactose free. I would imagine that it is, but if it isn't maybe I could give her yogurt without her getting upset from it as she has ensure about once a month.

I don't know. At this point I almost feel like the risks outweigh the benefits for her when it comes to yogurt... But other thoughts would be appreciated. I not be correct in thinking this.
 
Tim Horton's was open this morning!!!! So I got to have my tea.

Usually I don't share with the rattums, dairy isn't good for them BUT this morning I couldn't resist Cocoa's pure happiness to see me when I walked in with that cup. So I gave in and gave the cup to her when I was finished.

Posing with the cup


Just a bit further


And just a bit left around the rim


After Cocoa was done, I gave it to Lily and Abby. Currently it is in tiny little shreds strewn about the bottom of the cage. I wonder what Tim Horton would think :giggle:


AND Cocoa's "tumor" which I will now officially call an abscess has decreased in size so much!!!

I really wish that I had a picture when it was at it's largest, but I don't. I guess you can guesstimate how big it was knowing she lost about 30 grams due to that mass, it was actually curving around to begin growing up her back. I'm so overjoyed that it is now diminished to what seems to be a lump of scar tissue. I will have to do something about that mammary tumor (her right hind leg) as well... but only once the other mass has gone. I can't believe we went through all of this because the vet didn't know the correct dosage to medicate a rat with *sigh*. O well SHE IS BETTER :)

All in all a good learning experience:
1. Make sure your vet ALWAYS puts the concentration of the medicine on the bottle
2. ALWAYS double check to make sure they are given the correct concentration AND dosage

PS: Happy New Year Everyone!!!
 
So I have been spending quite a bit of time with Lily and Abby
Thought that I would share a cute pic I caught of Lily :)


She is so passive in comparison to her sister Abby who typically remains in her cage when the door is opened. BUT today I got this:

Lookit!!!! She is CLOSER to the door (usually she is huddled in the back behind her wheel)!!

Either way, they have both come a long way. Abby still needs some work, but honestly, I have no idea how to approach it from here. I think she may just be a skittish rat. At this point, since I have tried almost everything I will stop thinking about it. I may just see some improvement in time. I will still have her out with me in my sweater (which is great, she is happy there). I just can't have her out anywhere else as she will BOLT for the nearest bit of shelter, even if it is just enough paper towel to cover her eyes. In time she will come around. Maybe soon she will trust me :)

Anyway thats all, just wanted to show that ADORABLE pic of Lily... and didn't want to leave Abby out!
 
mamarat said:
Aww they are both such cuties. Don't give up on Abby, some ratties take longer to trust us.
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Don't worry I won't! I will still keep on doing the stuff I'm doing (you know - the 2-3 hours of sweater time each day etc, etc) but I won't dwell on it. She will come around! I give it more time.

Its so strange, when she is in the cage she is playful and happy and popcorning around. As soon as you take her out of there though, she either tries to claw her way back or she gets scared and hides. Its awful, I feel bad. But she will get used to it :D Even Liliy is like this... but not to the same extent. If I am on my computer in the same room and am quiet for a while, then make a movemebt they BOTH bolt so... I guess I need to find a radio to put in there for some noise... That mighthelp since it is always SO quiet in my place, even when I am home.
 
mamarat said:
Aww they are both such cuties. Don't give up on Abby, some ratties take longer to trust us.
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I know exactly what you mean. Bif took quite some time to come around. She used to be very edgy all of the time and bite a good deal. After having her for so long and working little by little to get her to trust me, she finally stopped biting. Now she licks, even though she's still a very cautious rat. I was stroking her little nose this morning and she closed her eyes and bruxed =3
 
I had such a great evening tonight :)

Last night Chelle brought Delilah and Glinda to me (I need nick names for these 2, I can barely spell their names >_<). I left them alone last night so that they could adjust to their surroundings and settle in a bit.

Tonight I had them out for their very first out time with me :). Wow! Talk about energetic! Delilah popcorned for the full hour, then got far too excited (and needed a time out :giggle:). Glinda is taking a bit of time to adjust but she was popcorning around too!!! It took her a good 45 minutes to come out from hiding, then she got startled again, not sure how, and she went back under the blanket. It was so enjoyable to just play with playful ratties again. Yoshi and Trixie haven't been interested in playing during out time, and Lily and Abby are too skittish still. Cocoa is my old lady, and since I wouldnt ask an old lady to popcorn around, I don't expect it of her :giggle: Although she does play...

Anyway, I found out 2 things: Delilah does not like glasses and will try to chew them off of you and she also does not like toes... cuz she got mine a couple times haha

Either way, I am hoping that they will give my crew a bit of energy... once I work up the courage to do some intros >_< I am SUCH a chicken, but I will do it... I can deal with cat barf, so I can deal with anything!!! hahaha

I will start them close to the end of the week... perhaps Wednesday and Thursday night to start would be ideal :) Since I'll be gone tomorrow night.... awww :(
 
Lovely girls :)

Btw I asked my vet about lactose intolerance with rats and he said that some might be but the majority are fine with limited dairy.
I personally have never had a problem with regular yogurt.

I think that humans have more types of gut flora/bacteria then most animals but I believe they are the same gut flora not species specific

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2666378

There is good evidence that the complex microbial flora present in the gastrointestinal tract of all warm-blooded animals is effective in providing resistance to disease. However, the composition of this protective flora can be altered by dietary and environmental influences, making the host animal susceptible to disease and/or reducing its efficiency of food utilization. What we are doing with the probiotic treatments is re-establishing the natural condition which exists in the wild animal but which has been disrupted by modern trends in conditions used for rearing young animals, including human babies, and in modern approaches to nutrition and disease therapy. These are all areas where the gut flora can be altered for the worse and where, by the administration of probiotics, the natural balance of the gut microflora can be restored and the animal returned to its normal nutrition, growth and health status.
 
Thanks for the info!!!

I was just a bit concerned with Cocoa because, besides the small amount of milk in my tea, she has NEVER had any dairy (unless there is some in Harlan lab blocks). I knew her stomach was upset, and I didn't really want to upset it more by adding yogurt in case she couldn't tolerate it. She is eating now, there was just a short patch there where she wasn't, but pigged out on ensure when I gave it to her. When she is done with the antibiotics, I could try and give her yogurt... IF she is ever going to be done with them.

I thought that it made sense about the gut flora. I'll have to look into it more, and read that link you posted. But not now, cuz I an FINALLY off to work... and there until late tonight
 

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