Oh no, I am not feeling that lol at all!
anic:
Oreo's Inguinal Tumor- Open and Infected?
- Thread starter Aida
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anic:
Ha! That truly is what it's like, clearly the rats are in charge here!Poor little thing. Stay strong Oreo and Aida!! This will be over before long and you can go back to living a normal rattie life with your human pet
Right now Oreo is snuggled under the blanket with me, and I am searching for my first job to pay off the $500 vet debt I owe to my mom!
fftopic:(Thank you mom, by the way, for trusting me to pay you back and only lecturing me a bit about how insane/abnormal/wrong/stupid/cruel it is to do this with my rats! :awe: )
your mom rocks!
she must know how important this is to you, even if she may not totally agree
that's awesome, most parents would just say no
hope your girl heals fast
she must know how important this is to you, even if she may not totally agree
that's awesome, most parents would just say no
hope your girl heals fast
It is 3:35 am and I just awoke to the all-terrifying sound of chewing cardboard. Yup, nothing to make you feel better than a nice PICA session at dawn.
I can't even be mad, because all of a sudden it's my Oreo again. Except for the collar, she is running around and doing rat things like a normal rat again.
I'm uploading a video and pictures that will hopefully load before I wake up again.
I should add, of course I removed all the cardboard, now, but I let her keep those pretty, extra thick fleece pads. Hopefully she won't try to chew through them(dear secret Santa: still don't know who you are, but you"re super helpful right now! <3)
4am edit: MY BABY IS DRINKING FROM THE WATER BOTTLE ALL ON HER OWN!!!!! :clapping: :clapping: :ratwave: :clapping: :clapping:
Alarm clock goes off in one hour, boy will school be fun.
I can't even be mad, because all of a sudden it's my Oreo again. Except for the collar, she is running around and doing rat things like a normal rat again.
I'm uploading a video and pictures that will hopefully load before I wake up again.
I should add, of course I removed all the cardboard, now, but I let her keep those pretty, extra thick fleece pads. Hopefully she won't try to chew through them(dear secret Santa: still don't know who you are, but you"re super helpful right now! <3)
4am edit: MY BABY IS DRINKING FROM THE WATER BOTTLE ALL ON HER OWN!!!!! :clapping: :clapping: :ratwave: :clapping: :clapping:
Alarm clock goes off in one hour, boy will school be fun.
Last edited:
so glad your girl is drinking from the water bottle. <3
lilspaz68
Well-Known Member
I doubt she's got pica, but she's probably bored and frustrated so she's chewing the cardboard..as long as she doesn't try to eat it she can have her cardboard back.
Maybe it was just a bit, but I did see her eating it, not just chewing and spitting it out.
The pattern is that for about 5 hours after I give her a dose she is very sleepy and will just wanna snuggle or eat a tiny bit, and then for the 3 hours left the meds wear off and she becomes more active. I'll try to give her back her boxes for when she is just sleeping and when I'm at home, but I'm at school now and I didn't want to risk it, even though I imagine hiding in them and chewing them comforts her some.
This morning she ate all on her own from the bowl!
mamarat
Well-Known Member
Great news to wake up to! Way to go little one.
lilspaz68
Well-Known Member
the e-collar is best for her at this point. She'll learn how to eat and drink and lie down with it on...the body wrap is much harder on them and its tricky to know if its too tight or too loose until they squirm out or lose circulation. If you wrap a cat around the torso, they seem to lose the ability to walk. I have seen this with rats as well, so the e-collar would be best at this point.
Thanks lilspaz. It gets a bit better everyday. She can eat and drink on her own now from a raised dish and the water bottle, and I've seen her lay down a few times in what looked like a comfortable position. It just sucks that she has to be in this thing 24/7, but you saying that it is better than some wraps is very comforting. I was under the impression that these cones of shame are a satanic invention only the worst of people would force upon their babies.
I just let her into the upper part of the cage where her cagemates are, and she tried numerous times to get in the sputnik.
Obviously, that didn't work. She then got into a box with Matilda, who very gladly cuddled her, but she instead insisted on squirming around and having another collar-vs-rat battle, all over poor, sleeping Matilda. This went on for a good 5 minutes, with Matilda constantly shifting around and trying to find a new way to snuggle up to her, before I just took Oreo out or she would have poked someone's eye out, I swear! It almost seems like these playdates make her even more eager and frustrated with ripping it off, and I'm questioning whether they are even helping her out in terms of happiness, because she appears to be more stressed out than anything. (These girls have never had any dominance issues, so I seriously doubt that she feels afraid. Matilda has PT, and Ratatouille is one of the most submissive rats I've had.)
Speaking of Ratatouille, her sister and the one she was closest to, is acting very strange. I don't know if she is freaked out by the whole situation or what, but she has been completely avoiding poor Oreo through all of their playdates, to the point of dashing/jumping away whenever Oreo tried to come near. Just a second ago, when she saw Oreo trying to join her in the sputnik, she sped out like on fire and jumped in the highest, most inaccessible hammock she could find. It's so sad, because Oreo always tries to go to Ratatouille and it just doesn't work.
Would it be a good idea to possibly house them together for the nights or days?
Oreo IS Picaing on that cardboard, gosh dang it, every chance she gets. So if I want them to be together longer than a few minutes, I'd have to put them all in one half of the CN on one level(I don't want Oreo going up and down ramps/levels in this thing), without many nesting opportunities or toys...
lilspaz68
Well-Known Member
are you still giving her buprenex?
Yeah, she has three more doses of it. Tonight, tomorrow morning, and tomorrow at noon.
lilspaz68
Well-Known Member
I honestly would advise stopping the buprenex (keep it for another emergency) and just use nice big doses of metacam. She might stop picking and going for her incision...then the cone can come off sooner.
Wow, you really think so?
She has only been on it since Wednesday night. How do I know that she still isn't in bad pain?
How come the metacam would make her stop, does it work differently? :!:
lilspaz68
Well-Known Member
Wow, you really think so?
She has only been on it since Wednesday night. How do I know that she still isn't in bad pain?
How come the metacam would make her stop, does it work differently? :!:
Buprenex is similar to buprenorphine, so it can cause pica in rats although buprenex is not as likely to. Metacam will not cause pica. Metacam alone has been what I used for whole limb amputations, enucleations, other crazy surgeries.
All right, I will try it.
Could you tell me how much to dose her? The concentration is 1.5mg/ml, and the dose I have been giving her once a day, along with buprenex 3 times a day, is 0.04ml. I imagine she will need a bigger dose, or more frequently?
lilspaz68
Well-Known Member
How much does she weigh?
Oh, that's right, I'm sorry I forgot to mention that.
Last time she was weighed was on April 22nd, and she was 265grams, but that was before the removal and all this stress, so I imagine she might way a bit less now. I could weigh her but my kitchen scale is one of those not-digital ones, so it isn't very accurate unless you're measuring salt and you can keep it 100% still for 20 minutes.
I would go with 260-265grams. Is the only reason she should get off the strong meds because it causes pica?
Thank you for all of this, by the way! :hugs:
