Ratablog

Kado update

I definitely feel like there is more going on with Kado than the respiratory infection.

On Friday morning, he didn't seem right to me, although I can't quite articulate specifics. When I got home Friday afternoon I brought him out, and he wasn't walking right...his posture was hunched, and his fur was sticking up.

The hunched posture made me think kidney pain (this may be because Eanna asked about protein causing kidney problems...the answer to that is yes, too much protein can eventually harm the kidneys, but I don't think Kado has had nearly enough for that.) I rushed him to the vet.

I was grateful that he saw us...technically they were closed for the day, and he was already late for an obligation. He gave Kado a good physical exam and said that he didn't feel anything around the liver or kidneys, and Kado never squealed or acted like it hurt. The only thing the doc felt was a hardness in the colon, and he asked if Kado'd been pooping.

Since he lives with Artax, I couldn't answer that, so Friday night I set up a separate cage for Kado. When there was no poop after several hours, I starting the internet searches for how to treat a constipated rat. (Answer: canned pumpkin, which I actually had. And which Kado actually ate, thankfully.)

Saturday morning he was pooping, although the droppings were small and harder than normal. (I'm sorry about the graphic nature of this, I hope you aren't trying to eat breakfast. I do include the details in case some other desperate rat owner ever needs the information.) I've been giving him lots of fruit, which he's eating, but not with much enthusiasm.

Overall, he still isn't acting comfortable, though.

As it happened, I spent Saturday evening with my aunt, who is dying of lung cancer. By dying, I mean in the days left to live stage, and while there I read some literature left by her hospice about the physical changes as the body goes through what can be a long death process.

I hope no one finds this disrespectful, but I found myself recognizing many of these signs with the rats we have had.

I also found myself matching up some of Kado's behavior the last day or two with some of the early signs.

I stil haven't decided if I should take Kado back to the vet this week for x-rays, which might tell us more definitively if he has tumors, or if we should stress him with blood tests. Quite honestly, if he has anything beyond the lung infection we are treating, I'm not sure there's anything to do besides keep him comfortable. At some point, we switch from aggressive treatment to palliative care, it may be that time.

Posted by Abita at July 23, 2006 02:51 PM