Rian - she left us... :(

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Rachael

Rachael

Well-Known Member
Joined
Sep 19, 2009
Messages
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Location
United Kingdom
Yesterday my sister told me she thought Rians mouth looked 'weird'.

She is holding it open at one side. I can't get a good enough look, it looks like one took is maybe broken (but looks okay), the other one is about the same size as the other one but one side of it has kept growing and looks like it's going to the side. Really hard to describe....

She has a small hard lump on her top lip/beside her nose as well.

The problem is, her breathing is horrendous. She's been on steroid and baytril for her breathing but her lungs are so damaged now that it doesn't really make any difference anymore. I think that if her breathing was okay, getting her teeth clipped into shape would be best, but that involves anesthetic which surely she can't go through.

I am taking her to the vets at 5.50pm today, which is only 50 minutes away now.
I'm so worried the vet is going to suggest put to sleep/
She's eating, she's fairly bright but is sitting a bit hunched because of how bad her breathing is.
What do you think??? :(
 
These were not easy to get.

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DSCF1795.jpg
 
It doesn't necesarrily require anesthesia either, and if it does, they don't have to give as much as they would for a surgery so it is a bit safer. I agree that she needs the vet ASAP, good luck!
 
Back from the vets..... yes, that tooth is acting like a "knife" and is going into the top lip, which has caused the lump (abscess I suppose).
She clipped her teeth, but even doing that was enough to make her starting going a bit blue with stress. Her breathing is awful and the vet said she is too frail for anesthetic. She's to continue on Baytril and Metacam, but the vet said we might just have another week or two, then we really just have one option for her.....poor baby :(
 
One of my rats was near the end, her breathing was terrible and I was considering euthanasia. My vet suggested Prednisone as a last resort - sometimes breathing problems can be driven by inflammation (eg: asthma). I put her on Prednisone, and she lived a WHOLE YEAR longer!!! So before you give up altogether, try it. Worst case is she won't have any improvement. Best case - many more months with you...
I'm glad you got her tooth trimmed. When she gets stressed like that and is turning blue, oxygen will make her feel better and help her calm down. Good luck with whatever you decide.
 
Thank you for your replies :)

Joanne, sadly she doesn't really respond to prednisalone anymore :( She was one of the healthiest girls but now she's the oppisote. She's been on and off prednisalone tablets, she's had injections of prednisalone and dexmethasone :( She had a steroid injection about 2 weeks ago and it made her a bit brighter, but for less then a day. :( Sigh.
 
With the Prednisone, Lily was put on oral pred once a day until her symptoms subsided - that was at least 3 weeks. Then she went on a maintenance dose every other day. For asthma you use a steriod puffer every day. Have you tried her on it daily for any length of time? An injection of pred will help for 24 - 48 hours, but she needs it constantly in her system for a while before the inflammation subsides. If she did brighten up with the injection, maybe that is showing that it does have a positive effect.
 
Thanks Joanne. :)

Bad news is Rian now also has an ear infection :( She's had steroid for that now. Her mouth looks a lot better and we are going to try get a proper look today.
 
Have you tried baytril + zithro (10 - 15 mg/454.4 g twice a day), or baytril + doxy ?

Have you tried a test dose with enalapril (0.25 mg/454.4g twice a day) to see if she has a heart problem?
 
She has been living with her sister Raven for the past week (and recently has had a couple of days or overnight spent with her, both have went through respiratory problems together for a while now). Raven was the worst by far, but last night Rian took a turn for the worst and she didn't look too good at all. She did manage to eat and drink some though. Today she had a big drink then about an hour or less later, I went to check them both and she was gone..... we were considering taking her and Raven tomorrow morning to the vets (to be PTS), a tough decision and we weren't sure... I am almost glad she left herself...I'll miss this special girl.
 

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