Spay Aftercare

[elricsgirl]

Hello Everyone,

I'm new here. I have a 1.5 year old rat named Mulan and she was just spayed on Tuesday. The hope is that by spaying her, her mammary growths will stop growing.

She is a stubborn girl and is very unhappy in her smaller cage. She's pretty pouty because she doesn't have her hammock or other levels to explore. She keeps climbing the sides of the smaller cage and falling (on purpose...she just gets to the top and lets go. Then she gives me side eye and does it again).

Her incision looks fine. No weeping, swelling or redness. I took her e-collar off this morning (horrible, horrible thing) and she isn't bothering it at all.

I've been putting her smaller cage next to my bed at night so that I can keep an eye on her, but her larger cage won't fit.

My question is this - when can I move her back to her multi-level cage in the other room?

Thanks in advance and I'm looking forward to being a part of this community!

 

[lilspaz68]

you can move her back now

For spays especially if they used surgical glue as the closure (and internal sutures for the inside layers) I put them right back in with their friends. Unless they are having issues coming out of the anesthetic, are feeling more pain than they should (owwie stretches and being uncomfortable) or they have annoying little bratty babies in their group pouncing on them when they are tryign to sleep, I rarely separate out surgical patients after they come home. They do much better in a familiar environment with their friends then separated and stressed after a day at the vets.

Of course this is always on a case by case basis.

 

[SQ]

Once rats recover from the anesthetic they are fine to return to their cage and their friends.
They will be more comfortable, less stressed and heal better that way

Of course you need to keep an eye on them to make sure they are getting enough pain control, eating and drinking, and not developing any issues

 

[elricsgirl]

you can move her back now

For spays especially if they used surgical glue as the closure (and internal sutures for the inside layers) I put them right back in with their friends. Unless they are having issues coming out of the anesthetic, are feeling more pain than they should (owwie stretches and being uncomfortable) or they have annoying little bratty babies in their group pouncing on them when they are tryign to sleep, I rarely separate out surgical patients after they come home. They do much better in a familiar environment with their friends then separated and stressed after a day at the vets.

Of course this is always on a case by case basis.

Thank you! She doesn't have any cage mates. I was mostly concerned with her climbing the ramps, etc.

 

[elricsgirl]

Once rats recover from the anesthetic they are fine to return to their cage and their friends.
They will be more comfortable, less stressed and heal better that way

Of course you need to keep an eye on them to make sure they are getting enough pain control, eating and drinking, and not developing any issues

Thanks for your reply! She doesn't have any cage mates. I was mostly concerned about her climbing her ramps to the upper levels. She doesn't seem to be experiencing any pain (we're giving meloxicam for the next few days anyway).

 

[SQ]

This info might be helpful http://ratguide.com/health/reproductive/spay.php

I hope you will get her at least one friend … rats need to live with other rats
btw it is important to gradually intro new rats https://www.ratshackforum.com/threads/introducing-new-rats.34842/#post-491257 and joinrats.com

 

[elricsgirl]

This info might be helpful http://ratguide.com/health/reproductive/spay.php

I hope you will get her at least one friend … rats need to live with other rats
btw it is important to gradually intro new rats https://www.ratshackforum.com/threads/introducing-new-rats.34842/#post-491257 and joinrats.com

Thank you! Mulan is a rescued lab rat and her cage mate, also a lab rat, died last summer. They weren't the best of friends and we've been a little apprehensive about getting another rat. Mulan has had some residual issues (emotional and physical) from her time in the lab and we have been concentrating on getting her healthy. I spoke with her vet about getting her some friends and we're planning to just take things slowly and let her heal from this surgery and monitor her mammary tumors to make sure they stop growing. We are lucky to be able to work from home and she lives in our office, so we're with her at least 8 hours per day and she gets lots of snuggles and play time.

 

[SQ]

I hope it works
You will likely need to have her mammary tumours surgically removed
and hope it slows down or prevents future tumours

People also use meds to try to slow their growth and I think some people are also using CBD oil
you might want to discuss it with your vet