Stretching & sunken sides but NOT post op. Gas? Tumor? Help!

Shop with us on Ebay
Advertise with us
Fins us on Amazon
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.
thegoldenrat

thegoldenrat

Well-Known Member
Joined
Nov 3, 2012
Messages
177
Location
Los Angeles
Hi everyone,
So I just noticed today that my rat has been stretching a lot and the sides of her stomach are sunken in. I read online about Rat Owies, but noticed, that rat owies are typically after surgery. My rat did NOT have surgery, so I'm not sure why she is behaving this way. I read on the internet it could be gas or a tumor or myco? Any thoughts or experience? She is almost 2 years old and her behavior seems over all fine. She sleeps a little more than usual, but other than that, she is pretty attentive and eats and bruxes.

Any help would be appreciated! Thank you so much!

-Mindy.
 
Are you able to get a picture? I wonder if maybe she has managed to injure herself and is just being overly reactive to it. The owwie stretches are not at all subtle when they do it, and when they move they kind of do a curvey stretch thing.

Owwie stretches are usually after surgery but I guess could stem from any level of pain that they're just not dealing with well. Is she eating comfortably?
 
Hi Moon-
I don't have pics, but it's definitely not the "normal" stretches they do ie: yawning, stretching,,,etc. She stretches, then twists her body and the sides of her stomach are definitely very sunken in.

However, she appears to be eating okay and giving me lots of kisses.

She doesn't look injured.
And when I squeeze her little tummy, she doesn't squeak in pain or anything and I don't feel any lumps. I'm baffled. :(

By the way, it's so great this forum exists. :) :heart:

-M.
 
Owwies are just a reaction to pain, usually abdominal but not always, but you often do see it after spays. How often does she do it and how long has she been doing it?
 
Hi lilspaz68 :)

She does it pretty often - maybe every few minutes? But I only noticed it today. Yesterday she seemed fine.

-Mindy.
 
The only time I have ever had them be apparent was when my girl who had an intestinal growth. It was not apparent to me but the vet could feel it very quickly. She was obstructing quite badly by that point, I was able to help her by supplementing her diet with fish oil and olive oil for a few days.... any idea how her bowel movements and urination are doing? I don't want to freak you out with my story but that's the only experience I've had with them.
 
Oh my poor little girl. :(

I don't know about her bowl movements and urination. I will try to keep an eye out for that. What should I look for?

I guess I should take her to the vets on Monday. I was worried it might be an obstruction...

Fingers crossed it's gas or a stomach ache.
 
Well Moony that was where I was going to start, so it was a good call :thumbup: ...is she peeing and pooping normally? If you arten't sure you might need to separate her out into a carrier or hospital cage and put her on something pale like white paper towel. You are looking for either normal pee, or discoloured smell, possibly bloody urine (UTI), either normal poops, or funnily shaped, smelling or lack of poop entirely.
 
Okay, perhaps when we all go to bed tonight, I will have her sleep in her mini-cage. that way, I'll be able to see her poop or lack there of in the morn. She is typically a ferocious pooper. ;) And maybe I'll line the bottom with white paper towel to check for urine.

IF she happens to be pooping and peeing okay, should I wait on going to the vet?

It's so expensive to go. At the same time, I want what is best for her. :)

Also, Moon mentioned Olive oil ... in the mean time, should I feed that to her? I've never heard of feeding olive oil...
 
I don't know if you should supplement her tonight, you want to make sure you're getting an accurate idea of what her output is. I would say that if she doesn't have any weirdness overnight, but is still doing owwie stretches on Sunday night, it's going to be vet time. If she doesnt have wierdness and stretches stop, then she was probably dealing with some sort of isolated incident. If she doesn't defecate overnight, giving her oils and massaging her abdomen might help to pass things along and you can assess again from those results.
 
Hey Mindy,

Don't worry too much. I'm sure rats just get run-of-the-mill stomach aches for no reason like we do, too. If she's only been doing it for a while and is eating/drinking and being her normal self, I wouldn't worry yet. My Matilda did really apparent owie stretches a few weeks ago, and didn't want to come out or eat, but in about 10 or so minutes she was perfectly fine.

Wait until she goes to the bathroom and see if that looks okay, and as long as she isn't in any severe pain(you'll know), give her another couple days. Relax for now. I have the same issue, I see one sign, and I panic. x]
 
Hey guys-
Thank you so much for your suggestions on this topic. Soooo helpful. :)
good news , Bad news.
Good news - She didn't have an obtrusion internally, so that was a relief.
Bad news - However, the vet said my rattie is in pain because her spine is degenerating...which was causing her to do the owie stretches.

But she is still eating and loving and kissing...so that is always good to see!

-M
 
thegoldenrat said:
Hey guys-
Thank you so much for your suggestions on this topic. Soooo helpful. :)
good news , Bad news.
Good news - She didn't have an obtrusion internally, so that was a relief.
Bad news - However, the vet said my rattie is in pain because her spine is degenerating...which was causing her to do the owie stretches.

But she is still eating and loving and kissing...so that is always good to see!

-M
Click to expand...

Did they say spinal nerve degeneration? if so, then its not painful, and shouldn't cause owwies.
Did the vet send her home with pain meds at least?
 
Hm....then I wonder why she is having owie stretches. :(
Yes, I just called and she put in a prescription to help her with the pain. I will be picking that up tomorrow.

I also noticed she is no longer eating her lab blocks and cherrios, although other foods ...ie: bananas, broccoli, etc....she eats with no problem. She is also not drinking as much. Not sure if it's because she is 2 years old now and getting older or something else? So frustrating not to know. I want to make sure she is hydrated and have a balanced diet. I just got some Nutri-Cal for the time being, but I don't know how to make her drink more. I'm also trying to give her oranges, etc...to hydrate her.

I don't know. I'm at a loss.

-M
 
Yes, so far she is holding things properly with her front paws.

She used to eat her lab blocks no problem and she would hide them often. But now, it seems she has no interest in hoarding them or eating them. So weird. But she is hungry. She is eating veggies and fruits and toast, etc. She has never been a crazy water drinker...but this morning she took a few little sips of water, but that was it. I don't think she is hydrating herself as much as she should be.
She is hunched over a little and walks delicately, but can still jump and climb. There are days her owie stretches are throughout the day and other days when I hardly notice them. Not sure what that means.
 
OK I am gong to have to go over your thread tonight when I get home. Owwies are not good, she's probably not eating/drinking because of pain. When are you getting the new pain meds for her?
 

Latest posts

Back
Top