Wicket's thread - I'm sad.

[trillium]

I'm sad. Wicket won't come out of his rolly ball tonight. Seagram and Hobbes are hanging out on the bed right now, but Wicket's just wedged into the rolly ball. He's all poofy and his ears are sort of flattened out sideways. He looks so unhappy.

We're going to cook up some treats to see if we can lure him out. :sad3:

He did, however, snatch up a little corner of bread that I offered him, so maybe he's just so comfortable that he doesn't want to move. Very un-Wicket-like behaviour from my little monkey though.

Dang tumour.

 

[trillium]

Yay for Chicken Korma with rice and peas... when he smelled that he was out like a flash! Well, more like an overweight hippo with tiny legs and feet; nonetheless, he's now happily wandering the bed with Hobbes and Seagram. This is good. Every day is a treat. :heart:

Shivers, on the other hand, just got me on the wrist while I wasn't watching. Sigh. He liked the chicken Korma too. Just wanted the wrist as dessert I suppose.

 

[lilratsy43]

when he smelled that he was out like a flash! Well, more like an overweight hippo with tiny legs and feet; nonetheless

LMAO!! :laugh4:

Im happy to hear he's up and running ( :giggle: ) again!

 

[mamarat]

That's what I do when one of them is feeling "down", get their fav treat. :joy: Wicket.

 

[Moon]

Mmmmm.... korma....

 

[trillium]

LOL -- From a bottle of course! Neither of us can cook worth beans - I'm supposed to try to make a soup for a luncheon tomorrow. It's gonna be rough.

Happily, the boys seem in good spirits tonight.

 

[jorats]

Some rats have off days... but not for long. I checked the time difference from your first post and your second, didn't take him long! lol

 

[trillium]

So. I know there's nothing I can do for him. But I need to express stuff somewhere, so I thought maybe I could update this thread once in awhile until Wicket passes? It'll be sad, but I need an outlet 'cause it's so hard to watch him go... My baby monkey rat is slowly losing his fight against his tumour. Just over the last few days it's started sucking all the energy and life out of his eyes. He just looks sad and painful.

He's still with me today, but I think our time together is getting short. I heard someone gasping this morning and hauled butt into the room to pull up the house. Both Hobbes and Wicket were cuddled up in the house together, but they both just stared at me with no gasping, so I'm not sure who it was. I'm guessing it was Wicket, but with Hobbes' breathing issues I'm never totally sure. Wicket's been breathing really quickly and shallowly. There's no more room for both lungs and tumour.

Wicket's having trouble getting around so I've covered all the ramps with cloth to try to give him a grip to get up because he's hauling such a huge load up them. When he moves his hind legs are all parked out sideways to accommodate the bulk of the tumour in his belly.

If it seems necessary I might move him to the one level cage, but I'd like to keep him in the other cage as long as I can since he's comfortable in it.

I'm also trying to make sure the other boys are treating him okay. I have this horrible fear that one of them might smell the wrongness of that massive tumour and try to chew it out or something. Hobbes is occasionally being a bit rough. I think he's figured out Wicket can't push him back anymore, but they're still all cuddling and sleeping together so I think all's okay for now, and Wicket would really be lost without his buddies so I'm putting off separating him as long as I can. I know I could leave Seagram with him no problem, but Hobbes would hate to be alone too.

I don't know. He's still eating and pooping and peeing. He snarfed down a great banana mash with oatmeal this morning, though he's turning his nose up at some less exciting things like a piece of dog food. I have seen him crunching on the lab blocks still though. He eats really slowly now.

I just don't know if/when I should let him go, or if I should try to let him pass at home given his fear at the vet's. I think his organs must be starting to go? His breath is starting to smell a bit odd to me. Nothing really noticeable, it just has a scent to it, and usually it doesn't?

I'm just sad I guess.

 

[lilspaz68]

Try not to worry about the fear at the vet thing. I got 2 Wildlings to Dr Munn to be pts and they were practically docile and fear-free. It might have helped that I rubbed some Animal Rescue on their ears before the journey, but normally that type of thing on my part would earn a bite. Releasing them from their discomfort is most important. You could try pain meds at home just for him to be more comfortable, since pain can make a lot of animals seem so unhappy.

You need to take it day by day, you will know when he's had enough, when his eyes are dull and unhappy and not for just a "bad day". Then its time to take him in, since they often take too long to pass with tumours.

 

[jorats]

When the day comes and we must make our little guys more comfortable is always a sad day and it seems to put a heavy weight on our hearts. But I learned a long time ago that this is the time to cherish.

 

[trillium]

Thanks for the advice. I really am trying to make the most of this time. It's just sometimes I get down about the cloud hanging over us. My camera is filling up with pictures I can't download (grr). I think, as you noted, it's the ups and downs that are getting me. One day he seems happy and perky, though huge, and the next day, he doesn't want to move or interact much.

I thought about pain meds, but I'm aware that all of this is likely affecting all his organs too, so I worry about giving him something that his kidneys or liver would have to metabolize. I guess, if he looks to be in that much pain for more than an evening, I'll likely have him PTS.

The last two days have been "good" days, so I'm holdin' on! He's such a character. I've taken to soaking and smooshing cereal and cheerios and peas and things for him, and he's still adamant that he MUST have it. To the point that he'll scoop up great mouthfuls and haul it away if Hobbes starts to try to push him off of it.

Since I noticed how slowly Wicket's eating, I've been separating Hobbes away once in awhile so Wicket can get some special treats undisturbed. Poor Hobbes is quite confused, wondering why he can't just have double since Wicket OBVIOUSLY can't eat all of his portion...

The one wonderful thing is how much time Seagram's been spending hanging out with Wicket. Wicket doesn't do too much when he's out at night, so Seagram has taken to curling up with him in the Ark to hang out. Seagram's a bit older, so I guess it's understandable, but I also like to think he's offering some comfort too.

 

[lj]

I gave the ladies muscles tonight. Yum yum. They love them.

 

[trillium]

Mussels, eh? Hmm... I didn't have any on hand, but that did remind me that the boys like fish, so I cracked open a can of salmon and gave them a bit. It didn't last long. At all. Like three seconds. Thanks Lindy

AND I stole from lilspaz and used my little hand blender to mix up a larger batch of the veggies 'n stuff that I've been heating up. These boys should be grooming Wicket for hours to thank him for all the crazy treats they've been getting lately!

I think it has helped him just so that he's not having to waste so much energy slowly chewing up the lab blocks. It makes me feel better to know he's getting at least one nice warm meal a day anyways.

 

[trillium]

Hubby transferred some pictures to me today! So I've uploaded a few of monkey Wicket and his buddies!

Wicket, Seagram, and Hobbes - Seagram's actually saying "hi thar!" - quite unusual for him! == Back when Wicket's lump was first diagnosed.

mmmm.... Green Mush... move over!

Wicket's belly starts to grow. I thought this was big, at the time. I took this pic the first week in January.

Wicket 'n his horrid tummy about a week ago.

Seagram says "Don't worry. I stay with you."

Wicket peeking out at the world beyond his window.

I need to update a little more too, because the boys have now taken over half the bed! :doh: Hubby has been evicted to the spare room and Wicket, Hobbes, and Seagram have their own space beside me for the next little bit (this was hubby's suggestion BTW...!)

This way I don't have to worry about whether Wicket's making it up and down the ramps in the cage anymore and I can keep a closer eye on how much he's eating and his breathing. I was going to set up the old guinea pig cage, but it just looked too small for the three of them and I don't want to make Hobbes live alone.

Wicket's still eating with enthusiasm and waddling around to do his business, but the rest of the time he just parks himself in the Ark and rests.

 

[mamarat]

You have such a good hubby. :hugs:

 

[lj]

Oh, that's so nice of him. :heart:

 

[henry's_mum]

MAN, he's AWESOME!

 

[SQ]

:hugs:

 

[jorats]

Beautiful pics... and your hubby is a darling! Hang in there trillium. :hugs:

 

[trillium]

So I went shopping today -- just to add to the lovely vet bills I've been racking up lately. I think I'm approaching the 300$ mark for this past week.

Had to renew Hobbes' meds and took him in unexpectedly on Saturday because he started gasping last Friday and has been having some loud breathing sounds over the past week. Sounds like asthma or something. I've noticed that he actually gets quite a bit worse when he's sleeping (now that he's on the bed and I can hear it). Ongoing thing with him though.

This time the vet wanted to take xrays ($160) and I found out that his heart is good (useful to know) and he's got an area of consolidated lung, not really a surprise, but it was nice to see how much dark area is still left in his lungs - makes me hope that he'll still be around for quite awhile to come. I'm a bit frustrated though because he heard the noise Hobbes was making and simply suggested that I change the timing of his meds, from every 12 hours to giving the second dose right before bedtime (about 16 hours from the morning dose). I was kind of hoping we might be able to try something new, or try the baytril/doxy combo once more to see if the change from baytril/zithro might have a positive effect. He just ignored that suggestion though. I wish he had at least addressed it so I'd know why he didn't want to do it.

I've shifted Wicket onto as much of a liquid/soft food diet as possible, so I picked up some Ensure along with some baby food. Both he and, ahem, Hobbes (from out of nowhere like a flash) liked it very much. Wicket choked on something the other night. I think a lab block, and was drooling away for several minutes until he cleared it. His lungs are starting to sound a bit congested - heard him sneeze a few times this evening. Gotta keep things crazy clean.

I didn't think he'd make it through last week, but he did. Such a brave boy. I talked to the new vet I saw this evening for Shivers about how she does euthanasia, and I think I like what she suggested, so I might actually take him there when the time comes. I've been trying to work out where I want to take him.

The one vet uses a mask to gas down, okay, but Sprocket struggled against it which was hard to watch. The emerg. clinic has the gas box, which I used for Bailey. I thought that was good, but Bailey was so out of it he didn't react at all to being confined in it. This new vet says she puts a large dog mask right over the rat to make sure the gas is really what puts the rat out. Something about the box sometimes running out of air before the rat has actually gone under from the gas??

It makes me wonder about things happening for a reason. Maybe Shivers getting his issue with his neuter recovery was a good thing if it has led me to a vet that might make me more comfortable with Wicket's final journey.

Odd comment about the gas box though. Wasn't expecting that -- has anyone else heard of such issues?