Mr. Curley, RIP sweet boy 10/7/13 The End of Curley's story

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dspch911

dspch911

Senior Member
Joined
Dec 30, 2012
Messages
7,963
Location
Chicago, IL
I didn't make the connection earlier today when Curley had me hold his medicine balls so he could eat them, that he didn't pick up the pumpkin seeds while he was out walking around, or that he wasn't pushing pasta out of his way to get to the peas/corn he obviously wanted. I thought he was being lazy or just not interested - until a little bit ago when again he refused a treat. Then he took the treat and pushed it up against himself (his tummy) and curled over to nibble it. So I tried a few other things - handed him different treats! DAMN IT - he's not using his front paws for anything - its like he doesn't even have them !!!!!! :gaah: :rant: :gaah: :rant: :gaah: :rant: :gaah: :rant: :gaah: :rant: :gaah: :rant: :gaah: :rant: :gaah: :rant: :gaah: :rant: :gaah: :rant: :gaah: :rant: :gaah: :rant: :gaah: :rant: :gaah: :rant: :gaah: :rant: :gaah: :rant: :gaah: :rant: :gaah: :rant: :gaah: :rant: :gaah: :rant:
WHAT CAN POSSIBLY HAPPEN NEXT ?! What is going on it that freakin' cage? Someone please tell me this is just possibly a reaction to his medication - yea, that sounds good !! I'm going to go scream and yell now for awhile and :wallbang: !

This is his current thread

viewtopic.php?f=22&t=35176
 
Sharlees rattakisses said:
It sounds like it could be a pituitary tumour. :(
It usually starts with the inability to hold/ grasp food properly.
How old is he? :heart:
Click to expand...

That's what I was afraid of. He is about 19 months old. We have an appt for Friday at the vet...
 
Yeah... I too am afraid you are facing PT... sorry! :hugs:

Any chance you can see the vet sooner? Starting treatment faster wouldn't hurt...
 
Unepuce said:
Yeah... I too am afraid you are facing PT... sorry! :hugs:

Any chance you can see the vet sooner? Starting treatment faster wouldn't hurt...
Click to expand...

Unfortunately not with our work schedules and they are squeezing us in to see him then. I'm afraid he's already a week or two into this and my thinking he was depressed was actually the beginning. We let our :heart: rat down !
 
I called around and got Curley an appointment in an hour. He's still not grasping food although he is attempting to groom his head and hold food in one paw... I'll bring Finn along too --- Pray for good news... :heart:
 
My vet said they never treats a pt case. I had to ask shelagh what med I need and he is usually wlling to try it. He gave me the bromo it worked super fast with Athena.
 
hopefloats said:
My vet said they never treats a pt case. I had to ask shelagh what med I need and he is usually wlling to try it. He gave me the bromo it worked super fast with Athena.
Click to expand...


yeh my vet said that once you know it's PT it's too late to do anything. she's wrong and we've been able to educate her but a lot of vets don't know how to treat PT because they just never have.
 
Well, I'm pretty sure I may have wasted my time, but not completely sure. I liked the guy and he does see rats regularly, BUT he doesn't think its PT and/or doesn't want to call it PT yet. Says Curley's lungs still sound really junky. Here is where I have a problem, he wants me to keep giving him the baytril for another five days and take him off the doxy. He doesn't like to treat them with both since he thinks that if they get both then there is nothing to fall back on if they don't work, but he did mention clam-something (I think). Poor Mr. Curley had his temperature taken - he feels violated! He also started to tell me that I needed to separate him - at this point, I'm thinking, great this guy knows nothing about rat colonies, but then he continued on and what he wanted, was for me to separate him so I could monitor how much he is eating. Since we have been home he has eaten quite a few peas, but he isn't using his paws to grab them - he rests them on the bowl and grabs with his mouth and/or is eating in the bowl. I'd like to think he is just so sick that he really just wants to be left alone and doesn't feel much like moving, eating, etc and that is why he is so lethargic and not using his limbs properly. He did lower the dose of his baytril since that place on Saturday had his weight at 900g and he was some where around 728g today. He didn't lose that much weight in 4 days so I have no idea how they weighed him since I wasn't there. He did seem to cheer up some when he saw daddy who has been at work since Sunday. I will still take him on Friday for another opinion.

Finn went with us to the appointment and he has lost another 18g since the 19th :rant: , but he too was eating peas when I left him last. The vet also suggested the fish oil and daily SQ fluids so I will give it shot. I will have to tell myself to "suck it up buttercup" and take the syringe out and help your baby! I'm just so afraid to hurt him or do it incorrectly! Finn did release his bladder all over the front of my shirt while at the vet - that's my baby! I'm just the human liter box as Curley pooped on me!

So for now I'm just going to keep them both on the baytril and doxy until Friday and see what their regular vet says. I did not know that vets don't like to treat PT until afraid I got home so I will be more forceful on Friday.
 
This morning he isn't any better - not using his front paws again. Gave him cheerios and he just seemed confused as to what they were and what he was suppose to do with them. Basically he just pushed them around with his nose and on occassion I heard a crunch like he may have taken a bite, but he was really just laying his head on them. Last night I noticed he was grooming his nose when trying to eat a treat and did club paw his front feet a bit when trying to grab a treat. Gave him a bowl of peas and he never grabbed them with a paw and basically just ate them in the bowl instead of taking them out - I'm not entirely sure he ate that much either or just pushed them around. He also does a lot of teeth grinding.

WHAT DRUGS AM I ASKING FOR TOMORROW!!!
 
Oh wow! I'm so sorry about Curley!!! Poor guy unfortunately have never dealt with Pt yet so I can't offer any advice but hopefloats did say something about bromo hopefully someone replies before his appointment with more useful advice then I can offer I will keep my fingers crossed for both of them and sending lots of healing vibes :heart:
 
I usually play it this way with PT : my vet gives my rat a shot of Dexamethasone (might get the spelling wrong) and we start Bromocriptine right away (I usually start on a lower dose and build up gradually as it upsets some rats' tummy and they then refuse to take it). 48 hours after the Dex shot, we add Prednisone.

Usually, you see improvement with the Dex within the same day. What I found with my rats is that the Bromo actually stabilized the tumors, but it was the steroid that kept them going. But other people here have had rats to wonders only on Bromo. Good luck!!!!
 
I would do as Unepuce says (and yes dex was spelled correctly)

The bromocriptine comes in 2.5 mg scored tablets and you can use half a day given with food. I usually ask for a script, then call around the pharmacies to see which one is cheapest and go there.
 
Thanks everyone, just wanted to make sure I knew exactly which ones since I read bromo and dex a lot. Will these be ok with his baytril/doxy for his URI? Any idea on his longevity? We're only thinking a month or so if this even helps him right? Possibly only weeks?
 
Sorry that he is unwell :(

With PT I always treat them with Prednisalone (if they get an injection to start treatment though it's Dex).

I don't know enough about Bromo to comment on using it alongside the antibiotics, but I've not seen anything saying that would be an issue. As for the steroid, most of my respiratory ratties get treated with steroid alongside baytril, that won't be an issue.
 
Dex and bromo can be given with Bayrtil and doxy. It gave my Gloom 3 months though I do think it would have given her longer if she didn't have so much more going on.

I don't agree with adding prednisone after the shot of dex. You will not know if the bromo is helping if you keep them on a steroid. Advised by Jenny, I gave Gloom dex when needed and the bromo took care of the rest.
 
Thanks, and I'm glad to see everyone is pretty much on the same page. So Dex is an injection the vet will give him - at this point, the vet better be willing or she may have a psychotic person on her hands! Then the bromo is a medication I will be giving him. Now this is where I get a bit confused. He will get Dex again when he shows more symptoms or the old ones return - how often will the be and do I ask for the Dex or bring him back to the vet for another injection?
 

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