Willow doing well 8/8 AM update

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

LA

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jul 21, 2007
Messages
5,094
Location
Midland, ON
Willow
P1020429Small.jpg


Crazy Willow, if there's adventure to be found, she will find it. This is my nutty girl who decided life was fun and you had to enjoy it. She learned every way to get out of the cardboard enclosure we made. She would jump from the top of the cage to the top of a cardboard blocker to keep her from escaping. This was 7 feet off the ground, she'd hit it with amazing accuracy. It finally got to the point where we had to take that down because I was terrifed of the day she fell off because on the other side was a 10 foot drop down the stairs. So came the time where we would let her roam in the livingroom to keep her from driving US crazy. She's a very good girl, she doesn't chew, doesn't mark, just explores. That's all she wants to do, know, see, explore.

She's only 1.5 years. I found a small pea sized, mammory tumor under her front leg, it grew to large pea sized and then shrunk and now has gone away. After getting the tumor I noticed she started to slow down a bit. She has more porpheryn, and it stains her face. I noticed that when she climbs down the side of the cage (martins) she drops half way like she always does but it less gracefully now.

Today she did that and landed with a hard thud. At first I thought she hurt her paw but it seemed that she bumped her head instead. She seemed quite dazed for a bit, a little out of sorts, we gave her a cheerio and she really couldn't hold it very well. I'm keeping an eye on her right now. She did after 5-10 min go and eat some food and now she's resting for the afternoon. Is there something I should keep an eye on? Should I be concerned at all?
 
Those crazy rats always on the go... she could have done some internal damage. Keep an eye on her behavior as well as her energy level, if she becomes lethargic, try to offer her some super yummy food.
 
If she has poor coordination, I would be on the lookout for signs of a pituitary tumor. The first sign of a PT that my Cassie had was she fell off my shoulder while I was sitting down, stationary. She just started slowing down, and got more and more uncoordinated.
Hopefully Willow just bumped her head and felt a bit off. Time will tell.
 
Yes here's hoping she just got a knock. I never noticed the signs with Kenny. He was SO painfully shy that on free run he'd hide in the pillows on the bed so we'd rarely see him and since I didn't want to push against his nature I never forced him to stop hiding. We knew something was wrong when he came out from the pillows one day and fell off the bed. Then when I put the boys on the open door of the condo he fell off of that :sad3: After having other pit tumour boys I knew the end wouldn't be long coming. I still feel bad I didn't notice sooner. But I really feel for you, trying to keep her from adventuring is going to be pretty challenging. She seems one determined young lady.
 
I've been noticing a difference in her, but it's been slight like Olivia but constant and not changing so I was thinking it wasn't PT but then sometimes I think, what do I know. Thanks for your help, I will keep a close eye on her.
 
I took a video tonight, it pretty much sums up everything. I just am at a loss for words really. She was fine this morning. So either she had the beginnings of PT which is possible and then maybe had a stroke, or she bumped her head when she fell and it caused a stroke today or.... I have no clue. But I want you guys to see this. I just gave her pred and abs, and syringe fed her ensure which she took. She's so lethargic it's depressing.

 
Really hurts to see an especially active kid get downed :(
Can't be sure what's going on from the video, can you take one when she's holding food (or trying to) in her hands?
If it's a PT can you get her prednisone?
 
It's really hard with her especially because she is such an active and crazy rat, but one thing that has not been lost is her stubborness.

I gave her a dose of pred last night and syringe fed her ensure I think she ate about 3 or so syringe fulls of ensure which made me really happy. Last night she couldn't even eat from the bowl of ensure. Today there has been a little improvement. I wasn't sure what I would wake up to however the slight improvement made me happy. Her mobility is a little better and she insisted on eating baby food with Olivia this AM from the bowl and did fairly well as long as I had hands on both sides so she wouldn't fall over if she moved. She's walking a little today instead of pushing herself around. She even stood with her front paws off the ground for a few seconds. :joy:
 
By tonight you should hopefully see a distinct improvement...if you want to , you could add another dose of pred this morning...I used the mid-range dosing for her...so you could go up and down.
 
I hope everything goes well, I'm really sending healing prayers out to you guys!
 
Actually Shelagh, because I put Olivia back up to twice a day I decided to put Willow at twice a day too. Tonight is going to be cuddling night with both of them :heart: Cuddle my girl that never let me cuddle them.

Only thing is, Willow's right eye was really itchy this AM and she kept scratching it. I think because of the attention to it she made it swell a little. I'm hoping she doesn't end up making a huge mess. I'm debating whether to make a short trip home at lunch to see if it's ok.
 
Ugh that video is heartbreaking. To me it looks as if she had a stroke. My poodle had one and she had use of her front end but not her hind end and her left side was weaker than her right and her head tilted but after about a week on abs and steroids she regained the use of her rear again and she got stronger. So my fingers are crossed the same works for your Willow. :hugs: -
 
Thanks everyone. The support really helps.

What I think really happened was when she fell on Monday she bumped her head, we kept an eye on her and she was fine, we let her out Monday night to roam around as we watched a movie and she was fine. I really think swelling has developed and caused a stroke or is pressing on something. Poor thing. I'm going home at lunch to see how she is.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top