Little Miss ..RIP

Update:

She is a bit more active today, still not eating a whole lot ..I was only able to get her to take some baby puffs this AM and some oatmeal.
But she's pooping lot's so she must be eating while she's in her cage while i'm not home??

She refused her meds again this morning (apple sause/Pb/olive oil mix) and I had to get to work so I have to force it in witha syringe .


Fingers, Toes & Paws crossed that she continues to get better :heart:

ETA: I tried feeding her & doing her meds before I flushed her eye ...but as soon as I did flush her eye she gobbled 3 baby puffs and some dry oatmeal.

so when I get home from work I will flush her eye first and then try feeding her (I figured flushing her eye would make her annoyed and she would not eat ..guess flushing makes her feel better?

 

[ChrisK]

Sounds like it! I think you're doing a great job! Go Little Miss :dance:

 

Sounds like it! I think you're doing a great job! Go Little Miss :dance:

I hope so!

If we could just get this bad belly sorted out ..she only started the probiotics yesterday so I know it's going to take a little while before she feels 10 percent.

Her eye is still looking good, it smells less and less each day, still not 100 percent smell free yet ..


I'm so nervous, esp where my vet is off for 11 days anic:

 

[jennifervb]

What do you mean by good quality probioitic ?

My boys only got organic Soy yogurt from Whole Foods. You do not want to feed them any crap with a ton of preservatives in it. With the soy yogurt, you won't need to wait 2 hours before giving her the meds.

Every last one of my rats HATED "Silk" soy yogurt. They liked the yogurt from "Whole Soy&Company"

http://www.wholesoyco.com/our-products/ ... soy-yogurt

I hope this helps. Poor Little Miss. :sad3:

It sucks when they aren't feeling well. :cry4:

If it has probiotics you DO have to wait. Giving probiotics and antibiotics together is more harmful than not giving anything at all because you don't know how much antibiotics they end up getting and you actually risk antibiotic resistance. The other mineral interactions vary by antibiotic but the issue with probiotics is the same.

As for quality probiotics - not all strains are equal. There are some strains that have a lot of research that support their efficacy and others that don't. Probiotics help replace healthy digestive flora killed by antibiotics, which in turn helps digestion, nutrient absorption, and to crowd out opportunistic bacteria that may take advantage of the "empty" digestive tract to reproduce. Even though rats are lactose intolerant, milk based probiotic products may still be fairly easy to digest because of the aid of the bacteria in digestion. (Humans that are lactose intolerant often report yogurt is a lot less likely to cause discomfort.)

As previously stated, soy mock-dairy products are almost always fortified so they would have the same potential of interaction as dairy products.

I followed the advice from my exotic animal vet. I am very famililar with Probiotics and their role in replacing digestive flora in the intestinal tract. Thanks very much though for the info!

I was never told about the fortification of the soy yogurt and its effect on medications. Now I have to wonder if my boys died because the meds were not optimally working. :sad3:

 

Just got home ...just found a very fluidy lump (pea sized) on the top of her breast bone area ..it moves a lot ..like from one side to the other ...

help!

 

[jorats]

Is it between the breastbone? I've noticed that in some of my rats, I could feel a small lump between the breastbone, movable. But it didn't seem to be anything at all.

 

I'm going to have to watch it ..maybe something to do with flushing her eye??

The abscess was right in he noise as well ..when she smells you can hear air going right through to her eye ..when I flush the flfuid comes out her noise sometimes and I think she has no sense or smell ..because when I put food in front of her..there is no response ..if I give her strange food sshe wont take it ..but she will take extrusion cubes, cheerios and puffs (things that are common to her)

 

[lilspaz68]

There's a lot of connections inside a rat's head but I have never heard of this. Your vet must've messed up with the sinuses, but as long as there's no infection there's nothing you can do. The fluid filled lump could be the start of a mammary tumour.

I think the next time you have to do a more serious surgery, I would travel to a more experienced vet.

 

Sure I'll drive 12 hours and hope on a boat for another 5 hours.

The abscess was in her nasal cavity, deep deep inside.

He is learning like I already told you ..sorry he is not perfect like your vet!

Everyone learns ..you NEED experience to learn ..not everyone can be perfect from a book!

 

I know a better idea ..I'll just stop having rats..

 

[jorats]

Oh boy...
We are trying to help you as best we can. You come to us yelling for help but you don't like our advice.
What are we suppose to say... And how should we know how far away you are from other vets. You really need to stop coming down on us. Soon we won't want to say anything at all.
Yes your vet is learning and trying but at some point you have to ask yourself when do you stop.

 

Do you know what its like to have someone shut your vet to the ground?


I come here asking for advice on what to do for my rats ..not what to do about my vet.

Just forget it.

 

[jorats]

Oh I know how it feels. My vet won't treat heart issues and... If my rat would have a bad eye, my vet wouldn't remove it. So I know where you are coming from. I love my vet but I do admit that she has her shortcomings.

 

I'm doing what I can ..I can't drive 12 hours then get on a boat for 5 hours everytime I need something done ..so it's either I leave them sick or give my vet the exprience to learn.

If I had left her eye, god knows what she would be like now ..at least he tries.

He has come a long way from 2.5 years ago ..

 

[jorats]

You are right Renee, but we forget that some people have no where to turn. It's good that the vet tries but be ready for complications because the vet might not have done it perfect. So if at some point there's no more you can do or for us to help... We just dont know what to say.

 

[lilspaz68]

It sucks that your vet isn't that experienced but he's doing things that he shouldn't be obviously. He should be researching more, getting onto the forums that other vets are on and asking for advice. If he didn't know how to remove an eye he should've looked into it first, its a complicated surgery, but with a bit of foreknowledge can be accomplished. The removal of the "scar tissue" was just wrong for any species...scar tissue unless it impedes or interferes with an animal is not a bad thing. Cutting it out caused a lot of issues for your poor little girl and you. Keep going to him for all the other stuff, but when you have a big deal surgery coming up you might have to think very carefully whether you should even attempt it with your vet, as it might just end up with suffering for your rat and no happy result. I still have a lot of hope and my fingers tightly crossed that Little Miss can get past all this with time.

 

Him doing this surgery let him know that he needs to do more research.

Experience is the way of learning ..I'll say it, he screwed up big time on this surgery ..but now he knows.

But if I never had to do let him do this surgey my only other option would have been to get her PTS.

& honestly I think he really screwed up on this one because his daughter got admitted to hospital 4 days before her surgery ..he should have taken time off ..but he never ..It's a screwed up situation.

This is the only time he has really screwed up ..Bruno had a heart attack after his neuter (Jo if I remeber correctly you told me one of your rats passed like that too?) ..and Tucker had a neuter complication 7 days after and during ER surgery when Tucker was in pain and lbeeding he never made it through..and he sent him away for pathology to find out what he did wrong (after doing at least 20 + other rat neuters) ..and to be honest he still has no idea what happened ..he followed the neuter procedure like he should (he is after even explaing the situation on fourms and telephone confrences).

& Ryder ..he made out percet his first tumor removal which was HUGE ..the second one was small but everything went fine after surgery ..he had what we believe a blood clot or allergic reaction 2 days later ..but we have no idea why ..he was a high white and full of cancer.

But he is after doing 10 successful neuters, 1 spay, 4 tumor removals for me with no problems ..

I have no one else to turn to ..so I have to try when I must ..thats why I did it with Little Miss ..because we had no other choice ..now bella has a ? mammary tumor ..and if its slow growing I won't be removing it ..I'll only be doing things when they are needed.

 

Anyways back to the topic of the post ..Little Miss

She is doing quiet well tonight, eating lots of extrusion and she even took her meds ..but on popcorn :giggle:

Her eye today:
[spoiler:1il8u254]

[/spoiler:1il8u254]

Still a pretty little girl on the other side :heart:

Having a Clean

 

[jorats]

She's acting back to normal now? If we can just get that infection under controlled she'll be good as new!
She's looking great... she is lucky though... if she were my rat, I'd have to have her pts or drive to TO to get the eye done.

 

Yup shes on the tract to getting back to normal, still not 100% but shes improving a lot.