I have a Feeder rat named Venus.. She's had recurring problems since I got her.. Today she's lethargic, Squeaks whenever she's touched, and is just puffed up..Her breathing has become shallow and the vet is closed today.. I don't know what to do.. I don't know if she'll make it through to tomorrow.. I'm holding her right now is hopes of giving her some comfort.. Please.. Any advice is welcome..
Losing a rat? Help..
- Thread starter Kye
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Rocket99
Well-Known Member
Is she able to drink? If not, give her Ensure or any similar fluids to keep her hydrated. Other than than, do exactly as youreydoing. Hold her, calm her, and love her. Keep her as relaxed and calm and comfortable as you can. Frightened rats are in distress, and fear makes them much worse if it's a URI and she can't breathe. It will be tedious, but if you can gently stroke her head or back to keep her relaxed and able to breathe, then you are winning the battle. Even if she is in a bad way, until tomorrow morning it's all about her remaining calm, hydrated, and hopefully able to sleep. Oh, give any thick, desirable fluid served in a rounded bowl. No flat bottomed, straight sided cup like bowl, but a tiny sloped sided bowl. I use new ashtrays as small as I can find. If nothing around, use a tablespoon. But she needs to drink. Offer her anything shell like, even creamer and sugar, and she should drink it. Just enough to keep her going until tomorrow. I don't need to tell you the horrific demise that suffocation will be. You can do it. Cuz you love her. So you have to. Good luck. I'm thinking positive thoughts for her.
Thank you so much.. She did want to go back in the cage so I let her.. Should I take her back out.? She was drinking on her own and if I try to touch her she screams even if I don't make contact.. She ate a little bit of food. Should I get her some dark chocolate for her breathing.?
Rocket99
Well-Known Member
As
As long as she is breathing ok and is calm, then don't take her back out, especially if she stresses more when out. Whatever is best for her. So glad to hear she's eating and drinking. That signals that she is breathing well enough for tonight and will be ok there. As for her squealing when touched, she is either protesting your touching her and wants to be left alone, or, has an issue you can't see, possibly a tumor. Does she look bloated in the abdomen? And, has she been defecating regularly? I'm thinking either tumor or a bowel problem, and I won't even say it, cuz it is an untreatable disease. Usually manifests while they are still young. So if she's an adult, that would probably eliminate that possibility. Hope so. Anyway, let's hope she's just protesting your attention.
Rocket99
Well-Known Member
Oh, so she
Oh, so she screams before you even touch her? That's actually better, sounds like she just doesn't want to be touched. How long have you had her?
Yeah its mainly protest.. I've had her for around.. Maybe 6 months ?.. She is always a cuddle bug so its hard seeing her like this..
And I don't want to think she has MC .. And I don't think she does. She has a cage mate so its hard to tell whos poop is whos.. She always tenses when you touch her stomach so its hard to tell.. I took her back out because she came back up to me and now we are cuddling..
lilspaz68
Well-Known Member
A she still squealing when you touch her?
Yeah she is but I think she's in pain from her feet.. I've posted about it before and it fixed for a while but this is one of the recurring problems I was talking about. I tried to give her some pain meds but she wanted nothing to do with it. I can get her to take big drinks and she gave me a lil heart attack.. I gave her a small bit of chocolate (dark) and she was eating it.. so I looked back down and she was covered in this brown.. Stuff. I though she had explosive diarrhea or something but nope ! Melted chocolate..
Rocket99
Well-Known Member
Lol. Have you felt for mammary growths. And I'm so glad it's not MC
Rocket99
Well-Known Member
I have 9 fosters, most permanent. And 3 personals, one of which is getting HLD. So he has become a cuddle bug himself, sweet but tiring. Lol
where would I check for that ? I'd assume near her genitals but I just want to make sure. Also she has stopped protesting (for now) so she's getting scritchies
Rocket99
Well-Known Member
Perfect time then. Just like most mammals, she has teets from her neck to her genitals on bother left and right sides of her underbelly. You can scritch closely and feel and see them, they will look like little pimples if shes never had a litter. But tumors can grow anywhere from her neck to her genitals and on her sides up to her shoulders and between her hind legs. Basically just feel around. Any little anomaly is definitely suspect. And if you find one don't stop looking, there's ofter more. Hopefully it's not the case since mammary tumors rarely stop developing even after surgical removal. SurguSu usually just gives them an extension on life, but hey, every little bit of time helps when you only have a few years at best.
Rocket99
Well-Known Member
Ok, Bruins game is on! Ttyl
No growths I'll send a video of her soon(just don't mind the chocolate !) She is very cuddly and wants to be held so I will grant her wish !
Rocket99
Well-Known Member
Hello again. Saw the video. First off, her fur does look disheveled, so something isn't quite right. Secindly, most ratties do NOT like when you touch them from their lower back to the base of their tail. It's the main general region in which they attack each other and also is how they defend their more vulnerable areas, by presenting that lower posterior area to the for in battle. . So there's no surprise that she protests your touching her there. OK, what happened to her toes!?!??? They are all bloody and inflamed looking. And if I'm not mistaken, she has no toenails! So that is where I would begin. Does she have any issues with her cage mate? How is her mate btw? Any issues with her? And has she been in any antibiotics lately? If not you might want to consider it. She might have an infection, possibly even a generalized, non -localized type, such as a blood infection. And that would be very bad, septic is a diagnosis that comes to mind. But this is all very much guesswork since I have nothing to base it on. So dont take my word for it, take her to a good specialized rattie vet. If you only know of a non-rattie specific vet, then do your homework and have all your ducks in a row so that YOU can steer the ship, so to speak, because your vet will probably be clueless. You may need some very specialized tests done, which are probably costly, so the more you can eliminate and the more you can isolate as symptoms will help you find a cause, or possible causes, to her lethargy. A vet can do some feeling around and poking and prodding to check various internal organs and the like, to see if there is an obvious problem you cant just see. An exotics vet, or a rat specializing vet, will be better with the information that they get from the exam, but if the vet is not an exotics vet, you (and they) can still relay the info obtained to an expert to get a better diagnosis. So, do as much as you can yourself,cto aid your vet, and question anything that strikes you as, well, questionable, and get the vets observations written down on paper so that you don't forget anything when you are getting expert advice. Hopefully your non-exotics vet knows of an expert in his/her field to call, like a personal friend, a "go to" associate that can be called with no notice in order to help diagnose you ratties malady. Good luck and hopefully you are at the vet as I write this.
Thank you again for the help.. She normally doesn't mind me touching her back near the tail so it is odd for her. Her cage mate is healthy and she barbers my lil Venus.. Remember those recurring problems I was talking about.? The feet are one of them.. Her toes are missing from the last foot battle we had and it cleared up but it clearly is back.. *sigh* I have an exotics vet that I will try and go to. I managed to get some pain medication in her and she is now going crazy with running and jumping.. So thankfully she wasn't dying but in pain.. Not that pain is a good thing..
