Dax Neutering

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EDK

EDK

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jan 8, 2012
Messages
1,720
Location
Texas
For those of you who know of my small little group, Dax, my three month old nakie, has been having problems settling down with me, and his cagemates a bit, ever since he was 4 weeks old.

Here he is at 4weeks, very young to be away from mommy rat
Dax1.jpg


And now he's 3 months old!
DaxPad.jpg


Basically he keeps trying to hump my poor 4month old dumbo, Nes, or box with him, and pull at his fur.

This is Nes currently enjoying his time on the floor, where he can get away from Dax, cause Dax isn't old enough nor brave enough to leave my bed unless I move him to it, for instance my desk heh.
CuteNes.jpg


Dax is also very skitish of me still, near all the time, he runs away when I approach, he hides in the rat tower during play time and won't attempt to play as much with the others cause he seems a bit scared, unless of course if they come to him, then he gets really rowdy and tries to hump. He won't even come when I have treats out and i have to show it to his face cause he's just flat out too skitish to come to me unlike the others. At night though is really the main concern I have with him. At night, Nes doesn't get any rest, cause Dax is always pestering him, chasing him around the cage, humping, roughly grooming, boxing him, humping again. Nes hates all this dominant attention and tries to get away, but he can't, and so alot of squeaking occurs at night. Dax on the other hand every other day will have a new scratch on him, and though he doesn't seem bothered by it, they are caused by Nes trying to get him away.

I'm hoping that...despite the risk, this neuter will benefit the both of them, as well as more easier bonding time between me and Dax as well. But I'm nervous of this neutering just the same, soemthing could go wrong, he's a hairless after all. His appointment is on Tuesday morning at 7:30am. I know my vet will go over the procedure with me and try to eliminate concerns, but surgery is surgery and I'm very nervous about this guys :( Support and comforting words during our 2 day way will be most appreciated and any early healing vibes. Thanks everyone.
 
The risk of not neutering them is higher than doing it. Some have already shown that they are a bit on the grumpy side. Fabian was a terror bite marks through my finger and other rats. Even though I was terrified he would die during surgery since his brother did you have to draw the line to risk them continuing on with the attitude which gets worse with age or doing something that can and will make them happy. Dying is super low during surgery it is a higher risk to deal with bites.
 
*paces* thanks guys the support is much appreciate. I know this will be good for him, but im a worried mommy!! You think this will help him to settle down with me too if possible? He's been with me for nearly 3months, i've tried the shirt trick with him, i gave him extra hours with me, food, handling, yet he still is skittish of me...what else can i do? :( i'm not even sure this will solve that particular issue, but I hope it solves the issue with him pestering my other boys.
 
The neuter may help. But some rats are naturally skittish, and may be like that their whole lives. I had a few like that, I respected their space and loved them from afar.
But you could try extra socializing with him, which is hard with slippery nakies. lol
 
Thanks Jorats, i'll try to keep at it with him :p

Well...tomrrow is his surgery, directions are not to feed him after midnight, otherwise he'll turn into an evil nakie rattie and spawn more evil nakies! lol joking :laugh4: but he can't have food or water after midnight, so before I go to bed I'll have to seperate him from the others food bowls. Hopefully this surgery will be fast and I can take him home the same day? Not sure how long the process is for neutering, but my vet will cover that with me.
 
are you sure? Cause they specifically said he shouldn't have 'water' in his system or very little food before the surgery for safety measures.
 
Well I let him eat adn drink what he wanted last night but soon as I got up I didn't give him any food but sent food with him to the vet on his droup off. I should hear back from them today in the afternoon.

Edit: Sorry just to flat out say, Dax is now at the vet and his surgery should begin between now and this afternoon for us...very nervous about it, but hope it all goes to plan :(
 
:hugs:
Waiting is hard.

Good that you did not fast Dax.
Rats are never fasted - they don't need to because they can not vomit, and they need to eat to keep their strength up because of their high metabolism
 
Well Dax came home with me the same day after his operation. The doctor was able to get to him first since he was the earliest in lol. I was waiting anxiously all day for them to call back, wasnt' till during class around 3pm they gave me a call and this is basically what she said: He did ok in the surgery though we ran into a very unusal problem with him. While I was going through, I did my usual incision like I would on his right testicle, very healthy and developed, no problems there. I move on to his left, and...it's not there! I got another expert in gloves to help me on the issue, and from what we could determine, there were the vessels for the sperm to go through, but no sack, which leaves us to believe it never fully developed properly or at all. However since the vessels were still there, we decided to cut those off too, to eliminate his testosterone. An odd theroy I had was if his left testicle wasn't fully developed, his right one was over compensating for it possibly? I wanted to do a test on the tissue to make sure there was no real issues going on, but unfortunetly one of our newest techs threw it away and I wasn't able to find it. But I dont forsee any problems. He's now sealed up, I gave him some pain medicine, and he ate his food you gave us and was moving around some, though he'll be a bit drowsy from the event. If there is any large ammounts of swelling give us a call back ASAP, there will be some oozing from the operated area, but if theres bright dark blood, then again give us a call ASAP. It's possible though that due to this unsual case, I've not seen in rats lately, it's quite possible that not all the tissue for his testicle was removed, and he could remain how he was previously, but we won't know that for sure till he's healed and re-introduced back with his cagemates. If the problems are still there we'll may have to look into another surgery, but hopefully that won't come to that. Keep an eye on him and check back with us in a couple weeks.

:shock: So...ya here we are, I never heard anything like this. I suspect his undeveloped testicle is due to bad breeding in genearl, and may i never buy from a breeder AGAIN!!! :redhot: But Dax appears to be doing ok, he's still a little groggy, but he's been eating his food and drinking his water eagerly. There is some oozing from the operated spot, I'm keeping a close eye on that. He really wants to stay in his cozy enclosed hammock though which I don't blame him. I also gave him some pain killer this morning as when I inspected him he squeaked in discomfort some. I'd say he got through the important stage, but I'm not gonna settle till another 24hrs has passed without problems.

I've also not put him back in with his cage mates as he was still oozing, he was very sensitive there, and so I didn't want him to be poltentially pestered by the others, so i've moved him into the temp cage for him to recover. If he shows he's doing even better tomrrow, I think I'll put him back in with his brothers. If not I'll wait a week till. If ya'll have any advice or tips on what else I could be doing to help his recover let me know. Thanks!
 
I would keep an eye out to make sure his testicle was not pulled into his body. Tart was missing a testicle and it was very clear to the naked eye. Lacking a testicle isnt something that goes unnoticed. they are lop-sided. His was actually up under his skin above his penis you could tell it was there. His sack was empty on the right side. The pictures I seen of dax he did not look like he was missing anything. I almost bet that is how my boys testicles were left inside them when they were neutered because that was the only thing that could make sense.
 
If thats the case then I can't tell for sure yet, she made it sound clear even with an extra pair of hands and eyes on scene, helping her to locate the testicle, they couldn't find it. They've operated on rats before with neutering and she said she never saw anything like this. But ya we'll have to see, and if i have to schedual a second surgery again i'm gonna request they cut the price in half then for not doing the job properly in the first place if that were the issue. But I dont want to put him through another surgery again. I'll just have to wait and see what happends
 
As long as he won't be in with girls, he may be OK. The scrotum in rats is continuous with their abdominal cavity, so it is possible it is still there. I'm glad to hear he made it through the surgery OK, and hope he heals up quickly. I would keep him separated until he looks like he's on the mend and feeling better. Unless you've got a nursemaid to put in with him...
 
No no I have no girls, all boys strictly. I gave him some pain medicine today, but he looks to be very uncomfortable, or just very drowsy from the day before. I had to inspect the operated area earlier, all seems to be doing ok, but he squeaked a bit when I gently moved his tail for a better view. So he's clearly not fit enough to join the others yet. We'll about it tomrrow, but I'm suspecting he won't be ready to join the others for a few more days
 
My only concern would be if it was left in there and the blood supply cut off it could be necrotic after some time. Did his testicle are feel like it was missing one? Or did you feel two?
 

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