Ratablog

Back from the vet, with a disappointment for Kanga (take 2)

We have recently switched or site to a new server, and this original post, and its comments, must have somehow ended up on the old server. Or the gremlins got it, or something...Anyway, here's what it said:

Poor girlie, Kanga did not get the stitches out today. She is just not healing up as quickly as expected, so we'll go back Friday afternoon and try again.

This is unusual. With the other rats, the incisions have really been healed up in about a week, so taking them out in 12 days was never a problem. We are wondering if Kanga is different because she's hairless; if there is something genetic that is slowing her healing progress. So, for the next week she'll be getting as much good food as she can eat, but unfortunately it means more days in the dreaded collar.

Misto also got checked out today. He's doing better than he was those first few days after the chest tap, but he's still lost 17 more grams. I know he's eating, not only the high-calorie and higher-protein treats with which I've been trying to tempt him, but Victor has seen him eating the regular dry food in the cage.

He's got some energy, I can say that. For the vet trip, I put him an a soft-sided pet carrier, the kind that looks like a gym bag. He was really being a brat, jumping out as soon as I got him inside, but I finally got him squared away.

In the car, just before we pulled out of the driveway, I looked in at him and saw...nothing. Then I realized there is a small hole in the side of the bag. In an absolute panic we raced back inside...we found him on the bedroom floor, just about to climb up the bedspead. He must have slipped out in the ten seconds between my thinking I had him trapped and actually picking up the bag to leave.

From now on they will only travel in metal cages.

Then Lynn said:
lol! Ours travel in plastic because of their "Houdini" tricks. Smart boy, Misto. Sorry he's not gaining weight, but at least he's eating and active. Sounds like he's feeling a little better at least. And that is a long time for Kanga. I've never owned a hairless, but I would *assume* that's part of the problem. Their skin may be thinner or something? Give her extra cuddles for us. xxx to you and all the vermines.

Please let us know if you notice any other weirdness with the way the site is acting. Thanks!

All the good rat vibes...

Now it is our turn to be thinking about you guys. All our good healing thoughts are going out to Cleo at Rattie Corner, Louie at Rat Tales, and Salsa and Ko Ko of the Poi Rats and Cats .

Kanga's stitches. There are a lot of 'em, and she got another one out this morning. We've been trying to give her some time out of the collar each day, in the morning and the evening. She can't really eat with the collar on except for some canned dog food and baby food that she licks up. Whenever she's out of the collar, she first grooms as if she hasn't cleaned herself in forever, then she eats like a madwoman.

Misto eating!

YAY!

He has eaten more since yesterday than he did all week. Not that he's back to a Rabskuttlesque appetite, but I am happy for any improvement.

(If you're curious, he's eating a Laura's Wholesome Junk Food X-Treme Chocolate Fudge Bite-lette.)

In Kanga news: she still hates that collar. We're trying to give her as much time as we can out of it, but it doesn't take long before she starts gnawing at the stitches, so we pretty much need to be carrying her around. Poor girl. The stitches come out at 8:30 on Saturday; if she could count, I'm sure she'd be counting the hours.

And for our 200th entry...

Publius will discuss Kanga.

As Abita said, Kanga still hates her e-collar, but she seems to be resigned to it. She's eaten some chocolate and apparently had some water while wearing it (Abita hasn't been the only one to get pee'd on), but she's not happy about it, and this PM, I think I now know another reason.

I took her out to give her her PM baytril, and after giving it to her, she ran her hands on the back of the collar, several times, as if she was grooming. I wondered if it was related to all the porphyrin from her eye, so I took a small piece of tissue, got it wet, and cleaned her eye. Kanga held as still as she could while I cleaned her eye for her, and she actually seemed a bit relieved after I had groomed her. I think she really misses grooming herself.

***

If you've been a regular reader, you know Kanga is our third rat who has recently developed mammary tumors. Arwen was helped to her final nap late last month when the tumor began to turn black; Ohana's has developed a large scab, she's been losing weight, and I know she's near her end. All three girls developed their tumors at roughly the same time (if I recall correctly, within six weeks of each other)...so why did we have Kanga's excised while the others have not been?

It was not an easy decision, by any stretch. Part of it is age: As cruel as it seems, rats frequently don't live much past 30 months. At that point, I feel they're in their 80's as measured in human years, and I wonder if they can handle anaesthesia and the recovery. Arwen and Ohana were older than Kanga.

There's also the fact mammary tumors are frequently fast growing and persistant. Arwen and Ohana's lumps grew very quickly, but Kanga's was much slower growing.

Abita's first rats, Krycek and Rizzo, both developed fast-growing mammary tumors at about the same time. Abita had them both removed; however, both girls (IIRC) started developing more tumors before the stitches were even out.

So, in a nutshell, part of the decision to not have the current girls tumors excised was a fear they'd reappear quickly, and we would *really* be worried about putting them under anaesthesia for a second time so soon after having been under.

However, Kanga also developed her eye thingy, which eventually morphed into something that looked like a spike sticking out of her eye. It didn't seem to bother her at all, though I think she has very diminished sight in that eye (if so, I'm amazed I've never seen her do a head sway as rats with diminished eyesight are wont to do). Abita and I had discussed having it trimmed; after vacation, she brought it up again, only this time she included having the tumor removed. After thinking about it, I agreed.

What went into the decision were the facts she's relatively young (about fifteen months), the tumor was slow-growing, and it didn't feel as if was attached to anything (in fact, Dr. F showed us the tumor. What was contained in a sphere that had a diameter smaller than the diameter of a quarter had spread out into something just a bit smaller than my palm. It was whole, as if it slid out in one piece.).

And, I must confess, part of it was the fact we had just lost Arwen, we're about to lose Ohana...and I feel really bad I didn't do anything to help them. I take Ohana out for playtime and I apologize to her. I apologized to Arwen when I took her out, too, and I apologized to Kanga, too, before I made the decision to have her tumor excised.

I feel awful about Arwen and Ohana, but at least I can save Kanga. She's sitting on the bed next to me, eating freeze-dried peas, happy that she's not wearing the collar I'm about to put back on her and wondering what that odd feeling in her side is...but for now, I'm grateful she's lumpless.

A bit better

Kanga still hates her collar, but when I got home, I saw that she'd been eating a bit of chocolate bar that I left in her cage. And she peed on me, so I know she's drinking. The stitches look good, no signs of infection.

Misto ate some mixed vegetables, some chocolate-oatmeal cookie, and of course avocado. He's also sounding a bit better, and he was a touch more active tonight (although he sure looks tuckered out now.)

Rat from Space (Poor Kanga)

Get. It. Off. NOW.

...although she can get ESPN now.

I shouldn't joke. The collar is really distressing her (all that porphryin on her face is from the collar struggle, not the surgery), but opening up the wound would be much worse.

Dr. F actually met us at the office at 9:30 last night to give us the collar! He'd called to check up on her, and was worried that she'd chew through our bandaging job overnight. I can't sing our vets praises enough.

Rat Update

First of all, Abita discovered a small abcess on Arthur, on his underside, just about ten minutes ago. It had already burst so we cleaned it and applied veterinary triple antibiotic. If it's not one thing, it's another...

Misto has eaten little and spends most of the time resting. He wasn't too active after the last tap, and we're hoping he'll be more active after a few days of rest. OTOH, we're slowly starting to accept it may be closer to the end than we'd like to think about.

Ohana: Her lumps are still there, as is the scab. She's still eating and is rather lively, so it's not her time yet...but we do realize every day she's still with us is a gift.

Kanga: We're concerned that she, too, hasn't had much to eat or drink. Abita thought she heard Kanga drinking last night. This morning, though, we discovered the sound of her scratching at the e-collar sounds disconcertingly like the sound of a rat drinking from a bottle.

Abita came home early from work today, and says Kanga pretty much slept most of the day.

When I returned home, Kanga was out of the collar and on Abita's shoulder, tangled up in her hair while she made dinner. I took Kanga and gave her some Baytril, then put her back in the collar so I could eat dinner. She didn't like the collar one bit.

After dinner, Abita took the collar off of her and held her, then we wrapped her in a bandage and gauze. She flops around like a fish out of water, but she can and did hold a piece of broccoli while she ate it, then she groomed herself, then she fell asleep, which I think might be good therapy for her. She woke up just a few minutes ago, so I'll sign off and try to get her to drink some Pediasure.

(That was great! She ate a bean and drank some Pediasure! It may not seem like much, but it means a *ton* to us!)

Kanga and Misto home

Kanga's surgery went well, and by the time I got to the vet to pick her up she was perky and eating treats. By the time we'd been home 30 minutes, she'd decided she didn't like her stitches anymore.

I think she only got one out before I caught her. I phoned the vet, and he suggested either making her a collar or wrapping her up like a mummy. When Victor got home (either being a 2-man job) we opted for a modified mummy look. It's causing her a bit of difficulty moving around, and I just noticed (now that it's been about two hours) that she's a little porphyrin-y, so I think it is stressing her out. However, opening up the 2-inch incision would be more stress for us all.

As for Misto...we are not gaining any ground with Misto. While he was sedated, Dr. F was able to really listen to his chest, and there are just no lung sounds at all on the left, and he's lost another 10 g since Wednesday. I got him a can of the A/D food, which he ignored, and Ensure, which he ignored. He did eat a bit of avocado and cheese, and I'll try some risotto when his brothers aren't looking.

I actually said it out loud today, though...I asked Dr. F "Do you think we're nearing the end?" and after a long pause, he just nodded.

I'm not sure what else to say. :(

This week...

Here is the Saturday vet update:

Kanga is going to have surgey Monday to have the tumor removed and to have the "thing" (for lack of a better term) on her eye removed.

Misto is also going in Monday for another chest tap. He hasn't gotten any better since Wednesday, so I don't think the Zithromax was the magic bullet when he seemed better last time. Even though the lung did not reinflate after the last chest tap, he did seem to be breathing easier and he perked up for a couple of weeks after it. Right now, my heart is breaking for him...he's listless but not completely lethargic; he eats but not with gusto (even for treats like scrambled egg and cottage cheese), and there's just something in his eyes that looks old and tired. But he's only 15 months, he shouldn't be old and tired...Dr. F is doing everything he can, but I'm really worried.

On the good news side, as Victor mentioned, we put Leather and Oliver into the old rat condo yesterday. That seems to be working out fine. I do feel bad taking away Oliver's space, but I think the companionship is better for them both.

And just because it is so unusual to get a rat group shot, here are Arthur, Rabby, and Misto from today's playtime.

Leather and Oliver, sittin' in a...uh, cage!

Quick update, pictures to follow.

The morning, Abita moved Leather and Oliver in together into a small cage with one solid balcony and one solid ramp. Technically it may be too small for two rats, but we feel it's more important they have each other. They do seem happier when the other is around.

Later in the morning, they were asleep in different parts of the cage: Leather in the good room (a little wooden house) and Oliver in the guest bedroom, underneath the ramp :)

Happy 35th Monthday, Leather!

Today is Leather's 35th monthday!

First, a bit of carrot cake.

Her friend Oliver joined her for cake and to keep her company.

Vet updates

I took Misto and Leather in today for rechecks (and is it a bad sign if you don't need to identify yourself when you phone the vet?). Misto is backsliding a little from how he sounded before I went away, so we are putting him back on the azithromycin. We didn't do any more x-rays today, but if he doesn't sound better after another two weeks, we might try another chest tap...since we can't tell if his improvement last time was the Zithromax, the chest tap, or the combination. I'm most concerned that he's lost about 90 grams over the last month or so. I have been seeing him eat, but I guess it isn't as much, so I'll be bumping him up to higher calorie, higher protein food.

Leather's broken leg is, in the words of Dr. F, "healing the way it wants to heal"...stuck out at a funny angle. She has a scab that had us worried (it felt like the bone was protruding), but it is just a callus. One thing she has not been doing is keeping still...I have caught her literally climbing the walls. The vet has given us the ok to cautiously let her back with Oliver (as long as he isn't rough with her, and doesn't seem to be wanting to groom off her scab). Only trouble with that is knocking Oliver's accomodation back to the one-level old rat cage, but I think he'd rather be with his girl that climb ramps...he seems really depressed by himself. I'll keep a close eye on them for awhile to be sure, though.

Kanga will be going in on Saturday to check on her eye. She is still on the drops, and the swelling varies from almost nothing to a moderate bulge. We are also going to get the doctor's opinion on removing the lump on her chest. It first appeared when her eye was really bad, so we held off while waiting to see if she was going to need the eye removal surgery. For the most part the lump stayed the size of a grape, but in the last two weeks it's been growing again.

As I mentioned before, Ohana's lump has started growing faster, and she's also losing weight...except for the @#$% lump (actually I think I feel two separate tumors), she's getting bony. She's still pretty active and has a great appetite, though.

Poor guys. I have been doling out lots of chocolate and carrot cake.

Lest anyone think it's all stress here: Roo, Zoe, Neiko, Arthur, Rabskuttle, Jim, Jack, and George are all in great shape, although I think they resent the fact that they get much smaller pieces of cake.

Thanks again for the good wishes. We really appreciate it!

Quick updates

We're back, but the modem is still on vacation...until the repair technican can get here, updates will be light. (More time to play with us, say the rats.)

Leather's leg is looking odd (her foot sticks out at an angle), but she's getting along on it (maybe too well...just try to keep a rat, even an old one, from moving very much.) Oliver misses her. Misto is still grunty and breathing heavily, but eating and playing. Ohana's lump has grown, I'm afraid it will be like Arwen's fairly soon.

We have vet appointments on Wednesday. Til then, or til our connection is fixed...