Oh Dear... PT again?

The Rat Shack Forum

Help Support The Rat Shack Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

crumbilina

Well-Known Member
Joined
Feb 22, 2009
Messages
3,512
Location
Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
Ok, so I think that there is something wrong with Eve. My gut says that there is and since my gut was right last time I'm going to go with it.
First some background: Eve came to me from Chelle after the SV outbreak. She has some lung damage and she sneezes quite a lot but this is just because of the aftereffects of the virus. She also has a giant mammary tumor that Chelle and I agree probably cannot be removed on account of her lung damage. She is a sweetie that took some time to win over after a home change and the loss of a cage mate. I haven't been nipped (on "purpose") for almost 3ish weeks now (Yay!). I think that she was born late 2008 making her approx. 1.5 years old. Now she is an absolute SWEETIE!

So here is the problem. I gave her a couple of cheerios the other day and I noticed her propping the cheerio on the ground and trying to eat it that way. I watched her for a bit and wasn't sure if this was just balance compensation due to the mammary tumor or if it was something else. I decided I needed to test her co-ordination/movement. I then put her on the ground in my room to see what she would do. Not much - her legs separated so she was kinda lieing on her belly (my flooring is carpet and not slippery) and so I put her in the cage and grabbed my playpen type surround thing that I let them all play in, opened that up and let her run around there since it is familiar ground. She ended up walking around but really didn't do much. I put her back in her cage and decided that I needed to wait it out and watch her VERY closely.

Over the next little wile I noticed that she only came out of her little house when I came to get her. She didn't come out to do her "business" or anything except to get some food (not too often but she still does eat) and to get water (she actually does this quite frequently). This morning I put her in her hammock and was able to get a really good picture of how she eats:



Now, what she does is she will stick both of her paws out like that and sort of shove her face into her food and hope that it catches on the ground (haha or hand) so she can take a bite. Its really ingenious! She does something similar with her food dish. She leans over the side of the dish and puts her paws in and holds the food there to get a bite. Sometimes she does grab it but others she just pulls it towards her with her forepaws.

Now, I really don't know what to think. I AM going to make a vet appointment for her no matter what, but some early thoughts before going in would be nice. I just really hope it isn't what I am thinking it is... Any thoughts are appreciated. I don't know... I may be overreacting, but still - its nice to be sure.

Edited: changing the title
 
She's at the primo age for PT to show up.... it really sounds like PT. BUT you're catching it early and with treatment she could have a lot of good time left :D
 
I think it sadly is a brain tumour :( And from that picture... definitely. A steroid injection and then oral steroid and baytril at home should hopefully buy some time with her.

:heart:
 
Looks like Chelle and I aren't the only ones that think so :(

Here we go again - At least this time I know what to expect and what I need to do. I will be making a vet appointment for as soon as I can get it tomorrow, and we will go from there. Sucks that the pred. that I have from my last rattie isn't still good, I would start her now but alas - I will have to wait for the vet appointment. Hopefully I can get in on Wednesday. Poor Girl *shakes head* Ill modify her cage today so that she can be comfy.

Gut feeling is right again! *sigh*
 
So, Eve has a vet appointment on Friday now. That was the absolute earliest that I could get. All other appointments were at times that I REALLY could not make it to. But Friday isn't too far away and she is doing OK today. If she gets worse I will take her in sooner.

Good news though - She was out of her little house and running around her cage today (NOT in circles). I was so happy to see that. I really couldn't watch her long due to illness on my part, but I think I can still hear her running/moving around :D. I wish I could have her out for some out time - but I don't trust my ability to supervise today, so it will have to wait until tomorrow when I'm feeling a bit better, I just hope she is feeling good too.
 
Thanks mamarat and everyone else too!

It is most definitely PT, I see too many similarities between Eve and my last rattie, Pop. So hopefully we can put her on some meds and she will be doing a bit better for a bit of time anyway... Pred. can work wonders!!!

Look at this sweet face - SUCH a cutie!!!


And 2 more because she is just THAT irresistible :wink2: !



 
Uhm.. I might be stupid, but what is PT?
Struggling with all this shortening when I probably won't know what it is in my own language:p
 
she is such a pretty girl, she reminds me of my Sakura. I will send healing energies your way. Hoping all goes well at the vet.
Thanks for explaining PT, was going to ask as well, bit someone beat me to it.
 
Looks like we have confirmation :( It is PT

It was kinda funny at the vet though - he ran out of strawberry suspension so he wondered if liver would work. He put some on his finger to see if she would lick it off. I warned him but he didn't listen and got a little nip before he (or I) knew it! Looks like liver would work :p

So I have prednisone for her to take. I hope to see some improvement over the weekend. Her first dose will be at about 8:00 tonight so I can make sure that it is every 12 hours.

I asked for an antibiotic as well but he said he didn't want to give me one just yet. He said to wait and see how the prednisone works and then go from there. I wasn't in the mood for arguing, so I just took the pred. and went with it. I will keep VERY close watch over her for any signs of infection. I guess he thought with the all the meds she had for SV, that maybe she had been on enough antibiotics for the past little while. I may agree with him - but Ill reserve judgment until I see how she does.

So here's hoping she will do better! I have her on baby cereal and ensure right now so that she won't give up eating (she has for a day there), and we will have to see where it takes us.

At least this time, I know what to expect (ok well sorta, every case is different).

Thanks everyone for your well wishes. It helps :nod:
 
Quick question for those of you that have had rats on baby cereal/ensure - do they pee a lot? I can't tell if she is urinating more because of the liquidy food, or for a different reason. She now just stays in her litter box unless she wants to eat (at least she is coming out to eat). I hope the prednisone will kick in soon... She just had her second dose.
 
Good news!!!! She can eat a cheerio - OK well, only half, but still! That's a far cry from the baby cereal I've had her on for the past week because she couldn't grasp her food. YAY!!!
 

Latest posts

Back
Top