HELP! Post SPAY, PANTING, Pain, Wont Eat

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thegoldenrat

thegoldenrat

Well-Known Member
Joined
Nov 3, 2012
Messages
177
Location
Los Angeles
Hey guys-
I just got my female 1year 4 months old rat spayed yesterday morning. When I first got her home after surgery, she was drinking a bit and eating a little. Now she won't eat or drink and she is having shallow breathing. I'm not sure why her breathing has been compromised. She hasn't had respiratory issues before this spay.

My vet did NOT put her on pain medication immediately. I'm wondering if she is in a lot of pain or dehydrated which is what is causing the shallow breath? I reached out to the vet and she said to force syringe water and ibuprofen and some high calorie foods. But I worry the force feeding would cause more anxiety for her.

The vet also mentioned that maybe she had a tumor in her lungs a while ago that went undetected.... and is now causing a problem.

Do you think I should take her back in for an injection of buprenorphine and fluids to hold her over and get her on Metacam? Does anyone have any ideas or suggestions?

Thank you so much-
M.
 
Some people have had issues with pica when buprenorphine was used. Have you given her some Metacam yet? How much? And her weight?
The shallow breathing is probably not a respiratory issue, but rather from distress.
 
@joanne - I just called in for Metacam. She is refusing fluids, so I will have to force syringe it to her? I should be able to pick it up by noon today. She weighs about 1.375 LBS....so about 623 grams.

I just got some banana and added bene bac....she took a few licks of that. It's weird she is sleeping on her back....which is what she typically does when she is relaxed. So, she is on her back, with shallow breath...and then when I feed her the banana, she doesn't get up. She just does a few licks from my finger, while lying on her back. It's kind of cute but concerning at the same time, as I don't know what's going on....

I was thinking of force feeding some bene bac with water in about a half an hour since she just had a little banana. I worry about the stress of syringing....but do you think bene bac would help in the interim? I also have nutri-cal...but I don't think that would be hydrating?

I also have ibuprofen I could give her....but I worry about the Metacam I give her later will conflict?

You mentioned distress....if the breathing is not a lung problem, but just distress....does this mean with some pain meds it should in theory pass? Should I request some fluids be injected too?

I'm at a loss...
 
If she is dehydrated, she may need sub-Q fluids if she is unable to drink
(Vet can do this and can also teach you how to do it and sell you siupplies so you can do it yourself)

The vet should have given her a metacam injection for pain after the surgery that should be good for 24 hours
If so, after 24 hours she needs to be on oral metacam for several days to a week for pain ..... if it does not control pain lilspaz68 can suggest other meds

Signs of pain: http://www.ratshackforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=14736

poor baby, hope she is soon feeling much better
 
Thank you @SQ!

I just got her injected with fluids from the vet.
They also gave her a metacam injection.

Hopefully this gives her a little more energy to eat and drink tonight.

I'll keep you guys posted. Thank you again!
-M.
 
I hope your girls feels better soon. Was she stretching and sucking her sides in? That's what we call owie stretches. I let my vet give one shot of buprenorphine and then at home we use metacam and/or tramadol for pain. You might need to add another pain med. If her symptoms were do to pain she should start eating and drinking again once her pain is managed.
 
@joanne @dspch911

Heya! So she is eating a little more today which is a good sign, but still not drinking much. I started her on Metacam last night and I think it's helping a bit, but her sides are still sunken in and her breathing still a bit fast.

My concern right now is:

1. getting more fluids into her.
2. She is starting to pull on her stitches. They are metal wires. One is out already. Any suggestions on how to prevent this? eeks!

-M.
 
What is the concentration and dose of the metacam. She is still in pain. Once you get it under control she will stop sucking in her side and leave the wound alone. Poor baby - your vet should be ashamed of leaving an animal without proper pain management after surgery.
 
@joanne I was told by the vet to give .05 mL of 15ml / .05mg/ml metacam.

However I heard from someone else that this was wayyyyy too low of a dose. And to give .8 mL

So much conflicting info online...it gets confusing!

PS- She is now 566 grams.

:heart:
 
See http://ratguide.com/meds/nsaids/meloxicam.php
So according to the different dosages given on this site, she should get away where from 0.11 mg (0.2 mg/kg) to 2.5 mg (2 mg/kg) a day

0.2 mg/kg would be 0.11 mg for your girl if it is 0.05 mg/ml
which would be 2.2 ml ......

are you sure the med is 0.05 mg/ml? that is extremely weak ..... It is often sold as 1.5 mg/ml in strength
At that strength, 0.8 ml would only be 0.04 mg - still way too low

Edit: According to the rat health care book, this is often under dosed because vets base dosage on dogs
It suggests that rats be given 0.9 mg/Ib to 22.5 mg/Ib twice a day

Anyway, she is being extremely under dosed, poor girl
 
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hi @SQ !

It's not MG it's ML...not sure if that makes a difference.

But I am positive it's .05 mL. NOT .5mL :(

I just took her to the vet and she said that my rat is REALLY constipated. I know she hasn't been drinking much, but the doc said she wasn't dehydrated...which is confusing to me since her poops are rock hard.

The vet just gave her an enema which should be kicking in soon...which worries me as I feel that might make her more dehydrated. But I guess she needs to get the block out. This vet is very good with rats, so I'm sure she knows what she is doing....but she said she never saw such a bad reaction to a spay like this. My rat got spayed last Friday and is still in pain and having a hard time moving. :(

I'm going to just keep syringing her fluids every hour to avoid dehydration?

:mouse1np1::mouse1np1::mouse1np1:-M.
 
What is the strength of the metacam (mg/ml)?

You might try feeding her organic soy infant formula thickened with baby cereal,
and other foods containing a lot of fluid to help her stay hydrated and get nutrition

Her pain meds need to be straightened out so that she is not in pain asap
Once she is not in pain she will stop picking at her incision and will feel like eating etc

I do not think much of your vet, allowing her to suffer like this
With proper pain control, rats are up running around, eating climbing etc within hours of a spay

If you can not get the metacam straightened out asap.
Lilspaz68 can give you info on over the counter meds you can give her
 
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@SQ

Hi! I have been in communication with @Lilspaz68 :D

Here is the update:
Ella's pain seems better! :) Her sides are still sunken in, but she is more alert, eating more and drinking more!

So ....here is where I'm a little worried.
Her incision looks great! BUT, I worry that something else is going on internally.
I took her to the vet yesterday because her belly looked a little bloated. I wasn't sure if it was because she was overweight and the belly was showing more right now because of her sunken sides OR if she had an infection inside OR constipated.

The doc felt her up and said she felt two lumps on each side of her stomach and thought it was poop. It's not a tumor since we felt her up before surgery which was only 5 days ago, so I can't imagine it growing THAT fast. She also took an xray. She said she thinks it feces, so she gave her an enema and we came home. I asked if it was possible the lump was an infection or Megacolon...but she doesn't seem to think so.

The lump on both sides made me think Megacolon....but I will say her feces, although hard still since she IS constipated, are not oddly shaped or unusually big. I hear with megacolon the poops tend to be bigger than usual, etc.

So I'm at a loss. I looked at her just now. Her sides are still sunken in, I feel a lump on the left side of her body the size of nickel. I don't feel anything on the right, even though the doc said yesterday it was on both sides.

Have you heard of this before? I read somewhere on ratshack of someone feeling a lump after a spay....but I can't find that post.

:tumkiss:
 
@SQ by the way, here is a photo of her distended belly. You could see at the top of her spin, her stomach is sunken in but her belly is large. Left and right side...but at this time, it looks more prominent (stomach drags) on the right more. She is still pooping, small dark hard pellets....which I think weeds out Megacolon right?

photo 2(1).jpg
 
She looks really bloated - might want to make sure she doesn't have an infection. By dark poops, you don't mean blood do you?
 
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Hm, if it disappeared on one side then perhaps it is just poop.
Maybe try some pumpkin and see if that helps with digestion.
I hope she feels better soon!
 
@dspch911 Hiya!

No, her poops are dark black. Kind of like what it looks like when our ratties poop have been in the litter for a while. :) I don't see blood. They definitely look like constipated poopers.
 

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