Ratablog

Rufus's new cast

I got a few pictures of Rufus and his new purple cast this AM. It's been hot and I think he pulled the blanket up so he could rest on the cooler metal. Abita thought he looked a little sad, which he may. I mean, his leg is in a cast!

It's a pretty large picture, so you'll have to click to see it.

Rufus & his purple cast

Leg degeneration

I mentioned that George is starting to drag his back legs. This is something that we've seen as a few of the old boys have gotten up there in age, and in one of the girls (Leather, but she was almost 3 years old.) There are a few things that can cause a rat to lose the use of the back legs; in our rats I believe all have been from spinal cord compression. Here are some good articles about it:

• Degenerative Osteoarthritis from the Rat Health Guide
• Elderly Rats and Hind Leg Degeneration from Pet Web Site
• Weakness in Older Rats: A Paralysis Primer from the Rat & Mouse Club of America

Generally when our rats have started having trouble with their back legs we have moved them into a flat cage (as I mentioned, I waited too long to do that with Leather, resulting in the accident and her broken leg.) Since George is only just starting to have problems (he's using his back feet, it's just an obvious effort for him to make them go where he wants them to go) I found a cage with solid plastic balconies and ramps...he can still go up and down, but there's no wire mesh for him to get caught. When the rats have gotten to the stage where they truly are dragging their legs, I replace the bedding with fleece blankets so it's softer, and I make sure they get the shallow food dishes so they don't have trouble eating.

Bandit--Before

They're not long for this world. He's always been so proud of his doo-dads.

A Decision for Bandit

We haven't posted anything about Bandit lately, so first things first. Today's Bandit picture:

Little does he know he'll soon be singing soprano. We've decided to have him neutered, and The Big Snip is this Thursday. He's been a good boy, mostly, and right now he's being downright delightful, but he's still biting me. He got me three times last week, drawing blood twice. I admit one of the times I was teasing him a bit, but the other two were completely uncalled for.

UPDATED: I forgot to mention the other reason for getting him neutered--we want to introduce him to other rats, both boys and girls.

Bruxing and Boggling

Our friend Eanna asked us about bruxing and boggling. If you're a rat owner, you've almost certainly heard and seen your rat brux, but you necessarily might not have seen him boggle...and the first time you saw it you might have thought something was wrong.

Basically, bruxing is an emotional release for your rats, like purring for a cat or laughing or crying to us humans. It's *usually* a good sign, but just as a cat might purr when in pain (or a human cry when they're happy), a rat might also brux when in pain or under stress. The rat will grind his incisors together and a sort of chittering sound will come out of him.

When a rat is really, really into a brux, you might see his eyes bulge in and out rapidly, and you'll think his eyes are ready to pop out of his head. That's a boggle and it's admittedly freaky looking. Boggling occurs because one of the jaw muscles (medial masseter muscle) loops through the eye socket, and as the muscle relaxes and contracts during severe bruxing, the eye is pushed in and out of the socket. It's usually a good thing when a rat boggles, but, as with bruxing, it's just a mirror of your rat's mood.

So, when Jimmy bruxed and boggled while the vet student was holding him, either he really liked the way she was scratching his ears, or he was really freaked out. Only Jimmy knows for sure.

There's a great video of a rat bruxing and boggling here.

Girl Report

Took the girls to see Dr F on Saturday. He confirmed they are tumors and he feels they're mammary. He also feels they're too small to remove right now. Of course, Abita and I will probably not have them removed, due to their age and the fact the tumors will probably return if we do remove them.

We've had a wonderful year with them, as did their first human. We'll spend the rest of our time with them, making them feel comfortable, happy, and loved.

Spoke too soon

Two weeks ago I mentioned how some of our other rats were doing well. Things have changed.

Bandit has developed diarrhea. A trip to the vet showed lots of bacteria in his (liquified) poops; he's on three medicines. Fortunately, I can mix them in yogurt, so giving them to him is not a problem.

Kanga is still very skinny, but she's still eating.

Roo and Neiko have developed some lumps; they are almost certainly tumors. Neiko's is right below a nipple and is probably the inevitable mammary tumor. Roo's is probably a mammary tumor, but something about it suggests, personally to me, that maybe it isn't. Nothing scientific to go on, but something about it is just not right. It's in her lower abdomen (as is Neiko's) and...ah, heck, I'm no vet. They both will go to the vet this Saturday for a checkup.

If they are mammary tumors, we probably will *not* have surgery. It's been our experience they will just come back.

Zoe

Zoe is not well.

A quick description of her problems is that she is slow, off-balance, and lethargic. Not only is that quick, it's accurate. I took her to the vet on Monday, and he started his discussion with me by saying, "It's an interesting case." He agreed she's slow and off-balance; she didn't get lethargic until the last couple of days. She's not blind, nor is there anything wrong that an x-ray would reveal.

Dr. G doesn't feel she has a pituitary tumor, based on the symptoms above, so it's probably neurological. The two most likely canditates are a stroke or a bad reaction to mite treatment.

She had been scratching pretty heavily about a month ago, so I treated her with something given to us (off-label) by Dr. G, and we had succesfully treated at least ten rats with it: a solution of 0.29% fipronil.

There's a risk with any treatment for parasites: the product is designed to kill (There's a rule in toxicology: The dose makes the poison. In other words, that which is non-toxic can also be toxic in large doses--see digitalis.). You want to use a dose large enough to kill the parasites but not harm the rat. This was the smallest and most controlled application I've ever done when treating for parasites (a bit on a q-tip rubbed into the area between her shoulder blades, versus the couple of squirts we had applied before), she still got sick. We were also treating Oliver for parasites, using the same strategy...so I wonder...why Zoe?

My beautiful licky girl is no longer licky; she's no longer as active as she used to be. During playtime she more often than not wants to go to sleep (in fact, sleeping is now one of her favorite things to do). We can't leave her unsupervised during playtime as she falls off the bed when she's not sleeping.

It's not like she walks off the edge; it's more like she remembers them, but her balance is off and she loses it at the edge of the bed, or almost like she doesn't remember exactly how to deal with the edge. As a result, she's now living by herself in a single-level cage, eating baby food because she no longer holds her food in her hands.

I'd give anything to have her lick my nose once more.

UPDATE: Thank you all for your well-wishes. I forgot to mention we are treating her, with Baytril for any possible infection, and Prednisone for any possible inflammation. At best they'll help her; at worst, they won't make her any worse.

Whew!

That sigh of relief you heard at about 4:40 Eastern was me receiving the good news about Kanga's abcess. She's looking better already, and we'll post a pic of the site later on...maybe.

Oliver's neutering stitches came out today, and after Dr. G extracted a promise from Abita to not sue him if he's wrong, we had an OK to let Oliver mingle with the girls. He had about an hour of playtime with them and it went beautifully!

Unlike the last time we tried an intro with him, we followed all the guidelines. Everyone got a big dab of almond extract on them so they'd all smell alike (that is, like cookies). The bed was neutralized with no toys and fresh blankets. We brought them all out at the same time and I had a dustpan in hand so I could separate them if I had to.

Fortunately, I didn't have to. The girls all sniffed Oliver immediately, then started ignoring him. Oliver climbed into the tray I used to carry the girls to playtime in; realizing what a distraction girl smell is, I dumped him out of the tray and got it out of the way. He was very nervous at first, not moving much, but after about fifteen minutes he started grooming, which I took as a sign of his relaxing. Then he started pooping, which I took as a sign that he's a slob. Typical male.

He did start to mingle with the girls, and they with him. He spent some time smelling their under-bits, and even crawled under the blanket with Neiko (broken up by us). They all had snacks together--well, as together as rats do when they split to different places to keep other rats from stealing their bit of ginger bread. Abita put it best: After thirty minutes, they were ignoring each other like old friends.

Today I dipped my finger in the almond extract and I put a good amount on them. Tomorrow, we'll use a q-tip to put a small, measured amount on them, and on Thursday or Friday we'll try no extra scent. If everything goes really well, we'll put them underneath a cage topper during playtime over the weekend to see how they get along in an enclosed space...and hopefully, next week we'll be able to give the girl's cage (the biggest one) a good scrubbing so we can move Oliver in with them.

Misto update

Misto went to Dr. F today...not that he's had any real changes, but I want to let the vet see the progress, or lackthereof. He's lost another 20 grams, which was disappointing...his appetite has seemed a little better, but I guess I need to find higher calorie/protein things he'll eat. (Hmm, maybe that stuff at GNC that the weight lifters use?)

Dr. F also took x-rays, because with the stethoscope Misto's breathing sounded a little worse. Before he took the films, though, he did say that he didn't expect to change our treatment course...I told him to go ahead with the x-rays essentially for research purposes. At this point we are trying to keep Misto happy and comfortable, but along the way I'll support doing anything that will help Dr. F learn things that may help other rats later.

Anyway, the x-rays show more clouding of the good lung, which is bad news.

Poor Misto...he is way too young for this. I will admit, though, that in July I didn't expect him to make it through the summer, so he is a little fighter.

Oliver's surgery

Oliver is back to normal, eating and drinking as he usually does. He seems as happy as he usually is.

A couple of notes on the surgery: We requested the incision be closed with internal stitches. Dr. G did that, but he also recommended staples. I told him to go ahead if he felt they were necessary and apparently, he did. I don't think Oliver has tried to remove them hisself, and I'm really grateful for that--Abita had concerns about Kanga's collar fitting him.

Second, he removed each testicle singly--notice he has an incision on each side of his scrotum. When I had my first four boys neutered three years ago, Dr. G made only one incision, down the middle of the scrotum. I admit this seems to be alot tidier than the incisions the Rink Rats had.

Updates

First of all, Oliver came thru his neutering OK, though it's possible what happened still hasn't hit him. Poor guy...all he wants to do is sleep:

(Sorry he's out of focus--I didn't want to disturb him too much.)

Next, Kanga's scar is healing nicely:

And finally...Kanga and Zoe spent some time hanging out together during playtime:

And what about some of the other rats?

Nope, we haven't forgotten about the other rats. Let's take a clockwise trip 'round the rat room, starting with...

SPARROW'S BOYS (Arthur, Rabskuttle, and Misto): Misto still has a collapsed lung, and sadly, he has slowed down a bit in the last couple of days. His appetite is down a bit, but he's still active, and he now loves taking his medicine. He must've gotten to the sugar layer in it, although we do shake the bejeebers out of it before we give it to him. Abita fears he may be ready for another chest tap, but is debating whether or not to put him thru that again. Rabby is wheezy every now and then, but when we take him to the vet, he checks out OK. Arthur hasn't given us any problems, save from being scared silly of Rabby--when Rabskuttle approaches him, Arthur gets very defensive and he cries out.

OLIVER: I'm starting to see why Abita thought he looked lonely--he acts lonely. As soon as I enter the rat room he's at the door to his cage, practically begging to be let out. I think we should try to schedule a neutering for him soon, but right now we're more concerned about Abita's hand. One headache at a time, you know? He did have some very supervised time with the girls the other day, and I'm hopeful he'll get along with them once he's neutered.

THE FRAT BOYS (George, Jack, and Jim): After biting Abita, George was good enough to turn over the igloo and climb into it, so I picked that up and put him in Kanga's isolation cage. When we got back from the emergency clinic, he had calmed down...but I still wore my welding gloves to put him in the Frat Boys cage. The next night during playtime, we used blankets that had already had other rats on it, and he got very puffy and agitated, so I broke out the welding gloves again. Since then, however, he's been the same old mama's boy he was before he bit her. Jack and Jim are still healthy and cute, though Jim spends a lot of time tucked away in the bench sleeper.

THE GIRLS (Kanga, Roo, Zoe, Niko, and Ohana): Aren't as active as they used to be when they used to be almost bionic. I figure they're just getting a little slower as they age. During playtime (over one hour), they're not as active, and they're all pretty much sacked out at the end of playtime. Niko and Roo are still the most active, and I'm glad Niko hasn't shown as much interest in trying to climb into Harley the Guinea Pig's cage anymore. Kanga is still healing well, and Zoe has slowed down a bit. Ohana's tumor seems to have stopped growing, but she, like Zoe, has also slowed down. During playtime she eats a few treats then camps out.

No stitches!

Kanga's (remaining) stitches came out today! She spent most of the afternoon in the girls cage with her friends, asleep in the hammock. Right now, she's enjoying freeze-dried peas and playtime.

Already she looks a lot happier. OTOH, she's gonna have a seriously funky-lookin' scar.

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!

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.

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!)

Misto this evening

Misto still seems to be in some pain. We gave him some children's Motrin--approximately 0.13cc (from the Ratguide Drug Chart). He'll cry out in pain for no apparent reason; Abita pointed out with a chest injury (in his case, a collapsed lung) sometimes just breathing in too sharply can cause you to cry out in pain. However, he is grooming, as you can see in the picture. If you look carefully you can see where some of his fur was shaved away, just under his arm.

Fingers crossed for Misto

Our little guy is still having respiratory issues, and it seemed to get worse over the weekend. An x-ray at the vet today shows why: a collapsed lung. (Why he has that is a mystery.)

He'll be back at the vet Thursday to have his chest tapped. We appreciate all your good wishes.

(Also we apologize for the lack of posts and responses...we owe several of you links and e-mails. If only the rats really could type and help us out with web-page-keeping!)

How old is your rat?

In human years, that is. Because rats have such short lived lives (2.5 to three years is about average), it's hard to come up with something similar to "one dog year is equal to seven human years." I, personally, have said a five-week old rat is equal to about fifteen human years, a one year old rat is about 30 or 35 in human years, a two-year old rat is about eighty, and a three-year old rat is about 100. Bob and Curly, our two boys who lived more than forty months, would be about 110.

In Volume 21, Issue Six of the journal Nutrition, Dr. Robert Quinn D.V.M. addresses this issue in a non-scientific editorial. In scientific studies, the question is more than academic; as Dr. Quinn explains in his opening paragraph such questions as, "Is an 8-week old rat comparable to a teenager?" and, "Is a newborn mouse a good model for a newborn human?" are often asked after a study has been completed.

Writing in an informal style, Dr. Quinn compares six major lifestages (birth, weaning, puberty, musculoskeletal maturity, reproductive senescence [no longer able to reproduce], and the postsenescence period [average amount of lifespan from senescence to death]) between rats and humans. Even though he lists 13 citations at the end of his editorial, it's obvious to me Dr. Quinn is engaging in a thought experiment rather than a formal scientific study, and his conclusion should be taken with a small grain of salt.

Without going into too much detail, Dr. Quinn's break down of the lifestages is as follows:
Newborn: 13.8 rat days=1 human year
Weaning: 42.4 rat days=1 human year
Puberty: 3.3 rat days=1 human year
Musculoskeletal maturity: 10.5 rat days=1 human year
Reproductive senescence: 11.8 rat days=1 human year
Postsenescence: 17.1 rat days=1 human year

...and at the end, Dr. Quinn averages out the above numbers to determine...
Average: 16.7 rat days=1 human year

The only logical conclusion I can reach from this is we should have a rat birthday party every sixteen or seventeen days. I'm sure the rats would not argue.

Ohana's lump

Victor felt a lump on Ohana today.

It appreared practically overnight...it may have been there yesterday, but earlier in the week, when I was holding the girls twice a day for their Baytril, I never felt a thing.

Based on our experience with Rizzo and Krycek, I'm fairly sure this is a mammary tumor, not at all uncomon in females of a certain age...and Ohana, who is at least 16 months, has hit that age.

The question now is whether to have surgery. The reason to remove it, of course, is to keep it from speading if it isn't benign, and to keep it from growing so large it messes up her quality of life. On the other hand, surgery itself is a risk. And with Riz and Krycek both, once they started getting lumps, the lumps kept coming...in Krycek's case, before she'd even had her stitches removed from her first surgery.

And the stitches...all our rats have been bad about chewing stitches.

Quality of life is the most important thing...these guys have such a short time here that I don't want them suffering through any of it, if I can help that. So which is a better quality of life, constantly dealing with surgery and recovery, or dragging around a growing lump?

We have decided to wait a bit and watch to see what Ohana's lump does, to see if it grows very aggressively, or if more lumps spring up, at which point she'll likely go in for removal. If this one is slow to change and doesn't bother her, we may let it go.

Here is our sweet berk girl:

You can see the lump under her left arm.

And what about the old rats?

After Kono's passing, a new alpha emerged in the boy's cage: Metro. Little quiet Metro has groomed his way to the top. I always thought it would have been Calle, because he was always challenging Kono. As far as I can tell, he hasn't challenged Metro at all.

However, Metro may not be with us that much longer. He has developed a lump on his side; it's similar to Witter's in that it's hard and cannot be moved too much. Due to his age, I'm going to let nature take its course.

Olie, it seems, may have hemorrhoids. A few weeks after his apparent leg injury, I noticed some bloody poops while the rats were out for playtime. Olie was the first rat I picked up and turned over, and his anus was bright red with blood. All of the other rats were fine. It was two days before I could get him to the vet, and of course, his anus and poops were fine. The vet did do a test on his poops and nothing untoward was found. We filed it under the it's-cleared-up-so-monitor-the-situation file.

Last week, Abita and I purchased a large five-foot tall cage and moved the Original Six rats into it, so we could free up a couple of cages for the new arrivals. After returning from Pennsylvania on Saturday, I noticed some very soft poops in the big cage, and an inspection of bottoms showed Olie had diarrhea. We decided to treat him with yogurt for a couple of days and if he was still having problems, we'd start him on some Dri-Tail the third day.

Last night, during playtime, Olie sat down on a piece of cardboard to groom himself, and when he moved, I noticed a smear on the cardboard that looked like blood. I flipped him over again, and sure enough, there was bright-red blood on his tail. I set him down, and he pooped--some blood was on the poopie.

Abita held him while I cleaned his anus with a damp cotton ball, and we could see no injury. While discussing what might be the problem, I had a flashback to a fourteen year-old personal experience, and I realized he may have had a ruptured hemorrhoid.

Because the blood is bright red, I'm not too concerned it's a serious problem, but I'll discuss it with a vet this week, when I take Calle in for an apparent sneezing problem.

As far as the girls are concerned, they're in much better shape, overall, than my boys. Leather is fine, if a little overweight, and Schwartzie, too, is fine, except for her obesity.

Pinky, on the other hand, is being treated with a diuretic, Lasix, for possible congestive heart failure. She had been having the 'hiccups' for quite awhile, but some trips to the vet showed no apparent problem. Eventually, though, she began to get grunty and slightly lethargic (for her, that means she slowed down during playtime). A careful listen to her lungs by Dr. G revealed some fluid in her lungs, so we treated her with Baytril for any infection, and we're continuing to give her lasix to keep her from retaining fluids. She now flings herself out of the cage whenever we open a door, so we're glad she's feeling better.

Crippled rats.

Right now, I've got two injured rats.

A few weeks ago, I noticed Olie was holding up one of his legs, as if it was bothering him. There are darn few things a vet can do so I decided to monitor the situation--if it didn't clear up in a few days, I'd take him to the vet. It did clear up, and he didn't go to the vet.

Late last week, I noticed he was holding the same leg up. He was putting a little weight on it, but as the week progressed, he was putting less and less. On Monday I made a vet appointment for him (and Kono--we'll get to him soon) for this morning.

He was out for playtime last night, and he wasn't putting any weight on his foot. It also was a bit tender; he squeeked when I squeezed it gently.

This morning it was swollen; right now it's really swollen. I took him to Dr. G's practice, but Dr. G didn't look at him--the new guy, Dr. J did.

Dr. J handled him very well; he was comfortable around rats. He didn't even mind when Olie pee'd all over the place. He examined his leg and noticed a lot of swelling around his knee, and said he'd have to do some x-rays.

The x-rays showed no fracture nor a dislocation (which was my greatest fear), which is good news, on one hand. On the other hand, we don't know what's wrong. Dr. J is guessing he either has an inflammation or an infection of some sort, so I'm treating him with two different antibiotics, and I also have some pain killer I can give him.

Right now, he's lying on his side, and trying to sleep--though I think his swollen foot is making sleep a fleeting thing for him.

Kono probably has the worse injury. At about the same time I noticed Olie having problems, I noticed Kono was dragging his back legs somewhat. Hind-leg paralysis is not uncommon--in older rats. In rats that are not yet two years old, though, it's rare, but not unheard of. I originally thought he was getting a bit old before his time.

During playtime Sunday night, he started making monkey noises, indicative of a respiratory infection. It sounded slight, though, so on Monday I tried to make an appointment for him. The earliest I could get was Thursday.

Monday night, Abita and I volunteered in DC, so we got home later than usual. Kono was *very* lethargic, and his wheezing had graduated to guinea-pig like wheeking. He was not a a well rat, and we began looking for an emergency clinic.

The closest one was honest--they said the wouldn't see him as their rodent guy was not on duty. The second one said they were inexperienced but they would try. I printed out the RMCA Drug Chart, since we figured we'd be walking out with antibiotic for his respiratory infection, and we could follow up with Dr. G. We headed out, but tried to stop at a drive-thru--it was late, and neither one of us had eaten. In the parking lot of the drive-thru, Kono had a seizure.

We skipped the drive thru.

The clinic was about forty minutes away; Kono had a second seizure on the way. When we got there, though, he had stabilized.

I don't have a lot of good things to say about that clinic. Abita put it best--if we had brought in a dog or a cat that had respiratory symptoms and had had two seizures in less than an hour, the vet probably wouldn't have walked out on us three times. We eventually got some baytril, and got to bed before midnight. Barely.

When I made the appointment for the boys for Thursday, they told me if Kono got bad I could take him up there on a drop-off basis. Suffice it to say, I dropped him off the next day.

To make this already long story shorter, x-rays revealed Kono has suffered a spinal injury. We don't know how serious it is; he might improve or he might not. He gets baytril for the respiratory problems, and a steroid to try to help his legs get a little better.

He's by himself, in a single-level cage, and he'll probably be in a single-level cage for the rest of his life. There's already some improvement; he's not lethargic like he was Monday night. He skoots around pretty good, and he's eating well.

Right now, I'll take all the good news I can.

Witter's last day.

This morning, Witter was pretty grunty, and it seemed to get worse in just the short time I had before I left for work. After some discussion, Abita decided to work at home, and I made the difficult decision to take him to the vet so he could be helped to his final nap. I wanted to get tomorrow morning; sadly, the vet would not be in until mid-morning...so I will leave work early today so that we can take him to the vet tonight.

I know it's the right decision, but it's never the easy one to make. What went into the decision is the fact that these little guys can go downhill very fast--on one of my rat discussion boards, there've been stories of relatively young rats being out for playtime, then dying a few hours later.

I'll get a picture or two before then, then both me and Abita can be there when he starts his last nap.

Pinky update

Pinky got a clean bill of health. Like I did with the frat boys, I probably over-reacted by taking her in to the vet, but since Bob's bout with pneumonia I have been very conservative when it comes to respiratory symptoms.

Anyway, her lungs didn't sound bad to the vet's trained ears, she's got no porphyrin, she's eating, and she's active, so I decided not to do the antibiotics. If she still sounds wheezy I may try out Witter's sauna, if she'll sit still long enough.

Another bit of good news: she's down to 640 g from a high of 650. I'm not alarmed by weight loss since I've been trying to get the girls to shed some grams...their diet isn't as strict as the fat boys', but the only treats they get now are dried peas, Regal Rat, and the occasional leftover vegetables from dinner.

Leather is looking pretty good too; all I need to do is get Schwartzy on program.

Rat Weights & Other News

Boy, am I behind on these. The good news is the Fat Rats are losing weight, while Witter isn't. The Fat Rat diet is working!

Witter--970g +70
Calle--1000g -75
Olie--880g -40
Metro--800g -20
Kono--780g -40

In other news, Witter had a gash on the back of his neck, and we have no idea how it got there. I felt a scab that was more than half hanging off this morning; I pulled it completely off, and when I examined where it came from, the wound it had been covering looked fresh. Hydrogen peroxide foamed up nicely when I put some on it; later in the morning, I dabbed some neosporin on it. This PM it looks much better. Hydrogen peroxide did not foam when I put some on it.

Pinky is also making some very minor respiratory sounds. If we hold her up to our ears, there's definitely a whistle to her breathing, rather than the rapid puffpuffpuff one would normally hear. If there's a problem, a round of antibiotics should clear it up.

Fratboys to the vet

This picture has nothing to do with the vet visit, but it's cute.

Anyway, boys went to the vet Wednesday. Jack had been sneezing quite a bit on Monday, and the vet had never met him or George, and I didn't want Jim to feel left out.

Actually, I figured if Jack had a respiratory infection, all three probably had a respiratory infection.

Luckily that was not the case; all three check out just fine. They hated the vet experience, though, and made the biggest, smelliest fear-poop mess I've ever had to clean in the travel cage.

Witter weight

About 900 grams, which is good. That's what he weighed when he saw Dr. K ten days ago, and I'm glad he hasn't lost any weight. He's still an active, happy little rat, who has started chewing a second shirt of mine...and I've just discovered a small hole in the one I'm wearing now.

Make that three shirts.

Latest Witter Update

Witter is still with us, contrary to my rather gloomy previous report. Abita and I had a birthday party for him the night after that post, and he ate a bit of his cake (a blueberry muffin top frosted with yogurt) and he ate even more the next night. By the weekend, he was eating just like old times.

I'm beginning to think he just wanted two birthday parties.

His birthday party on the twenty-first:

His lump--picture taken during his birthday party on the twenty-seventh:

This actually looks a little worse than it is. Dr. K shaved away hair from the lump surface, where he had been scratching it bloody, so that we could apply an ointment to the skin. Stuff that looks like dried stuff is dried ointment. There is a bare spot in the middle where some of his skin has flaked off, though. He still scratches at it frequently; I can only imagine how much it must itch to have your skin stretched unnaturally like that.

The beginning of the end.

I think it may be the beginning of the end for Witter. His lump is quite large, and he's scratched the skin above it bloody a couple of times. I suspect with his skin getting stretched it was itchy, and he was only doing what comes naturally. I took him to Dr K last week, and she gave us a topical ointment to spread on it twice a day. His weight was good--about 900 grams.

OTOH, lately he hasn't eating as much. In fact, I counted the food in his bowl, and all that's moved from it is one lab block that he nibbled a bit then stashed. Eggs, treats, cheese, blueberries--all stashed away. He even stashed a yogie! As you might imagine, he's hardly pooped in the last few days, and what few poops there are, are very small.

He has eaten some cous cous, and he still takes his medicine and vitamins mixed in pina colada mix. He also drink regularly.

He's still an active, bright eyed little boy! He comes out and gives me licks and chews/tugs on my shirts, and just acts like there's nothing wrong.

We will have had him for one year as of next Monday, though right now, I'm wondering if he'll last that long. I admit it's selfish of me, and I hope he'll make it...but I'll try not to let my desire cloud my judgement should he start to suffer.

My little boy:

Witter update

It's been awhile since I've done one of these, so here goes: Witter is still doing well. He's fat and happy, and still lumpy.

His lump is getting bigger, and it's now noticeable--

It's on his right side. Abita's jacket was sticking up a bit, next to his head, so this shot makes it look bigger than it really is. It's still pretty big, though.

This picture shows it as it naturally is--you can see how it bulges out just behind his arm (that's not a lump above his leg, that's just how Witter is there).

He is getting spoiled, and the dog is very jealous. Here's Witter enjoying a piece of olive-oil soaked pita bread--

As I said, the dog is jealous.

Rat Weights

I've put the Rink Rats on a diet. Basically, I've cut back on the Nutro Natural Lite dog food, and I'm putting more lab blocks and Oxbow Royal Rodent into the food dish. They don't really like the lab blocks and the Oxbow, so I that's my way of making sure they have food they won't eat a lot of. They only get fed once a day, in the morning, and even though they don't like most of what I'm giving them, their bowl is usually empty when I awaken.

Witter--900g +20
Calle--1075g -25 The diet must be working!
Olie--920g -30
Metro--820 no change
Kono--820 no change

Rat Weights

I'm about a month behind on these...sheesh. The rats are getting better about holding still, so I should be able to update these weekly the way I'm supposed to.

Metro 820 g +20
Kono 820 g no change
Calle 1100 g +80 Jeebers, that's a fat rat!
Olie 950 g +70 He gets a "Jeebers!" too.
Witter 880 g +60
Jim 450 g

Witter update

I'm about a month behind on these updates, so I have some catching up to do. First of all: Weight. He's up to 880 grams. I attribute that to the fact he's been getting spoiled rotten since.

It's medically approved spoiling, though. I wrote a note to Dr. K, informing her of our decision to let nature take its course, and she replied It is my medical opinion that the more he is spoiled the better.:). I can't argue with her.

So he gets yogies, Toasties, Raviolos, Cheez Wedges, and other junk food for animals. Not every day--it's probably every day for one of the last three, and a couple of yogies a day. In fact, he's come to expect yogies after his nebulizer treatments.

The very first time I tried to nebulize him, I tried stuffing him into a 2-liter bottle that had the bottom cut off. It didn't work as well as I had hoped (and it was the reason I put on my thinking cap and got the chinchilla bath house, but I've written about that before) and in order to placate him, I tried to give him yogurt drops a very dear friend sent us--we call them Wiley Treats, after her favorite pet rat.

Witter wouldn't take one. I shoved it in his mouth, and it just stayed there, Witter not chewing. Great I thought. I've got a catatonic rat. It wasn't until he was safely in his cage that he finally started eating the Wiley Treat.

After I started using the chinchilla house Witter calmed down, and, I feel, he started to actually enjoy the nebulizer treatments. A few days ago, Abita had to nebulize him as I was working late. She nebulized him, then put him back in the cage and tried to close the door.

He wouldn't get out of the cage doorway. She picked him up and put him in the bottom of the cage, but he ran up the ramp and blocked the cage door before she could close it. So Abita just started gently pushing the door shut, but Witter wouldn't budge, and started shoving back.

It was then she remembered he should get a Wiley Treat after treatment. They're downstairs, so she grabbed some vitamin-C enriched yogurt treats (originally purchased for the guinea pigs, but they don't like 'em) and gave him those instead. Placated, Witter ran down the ramp to his eating spot and enjoyed his post-treatment yogies.

We've yet to figure out who has conditioned who.

A Lump on Witter

Witter, taken about ten minutes ago.

I discovered a lump on him Tuesday night. It's on his right side, behind his arm, and it's hard and difficult to move. This is a big contrast to the lumps Rizzo and Krycek had--they were kind of squishy, and you could move them around somewhat. However, like the lumps we've seen before, this seems to be growing fast: Nothing noticeable on Sunday, it was there Tuesday, and it felt bigger Wednesday and Thursday. Since Dr. K is off on Wednesdays, I took him in for an exam Thursday. Sadly, the news wasn't good.

As I mentioned, Abita and I observed the lump wasn't free-moving. I was concerned it was attached to his ribs, rather than muscle, and Dr. K's exam suggested the same thing. Of course, Witter's lungs are right up against his ribs, and suddenly, we had a possible explanation for his long-ongoing respiratory problems.

I did ask her if it was possible the lump was attached to muscle instead of ribs, and her answer was it was possible, but it would be easier to move it around if it were.

Surgery is an option, but it would be a majorly invasive procedure: Ribs would be removed for certain; his lung probably would be, as well. Recovery would be long, and with the apparent aggresiveness of it there's no guarantee it hasn't spread already, or that it wouldn't reoccur.

As Dr. K was telling this to us, Witter, in the travel cage, made a small bed of the blanket, layed down on it and bruxed & boggled, then went to sleep. He looked so peaceful and happy...

I did a lot of thinking Thursday night, while Witter played on my lap & peed on my hand, and I ignored Forbidden Planet. Witter is my boy who crawls out onto my arm when I open the cage door, and who tugs at my clothing without (usually) making a hole in it. He plays in my lap and crawls up my arm to my shoulder and pees on me, then licks and grooms my hand and arm before taking a quick nap.

He's about two years old. Except for him being abandoned at the vet, I suspect his life with his former humans was good--obviously, he's a well-socialized rat. His life with me and Abita has been fabulous (IMO, anyway). I think he's had a good life.

He doesn't know he's sick.

Part of being a caretaker, for any living thing, is deciding on what makes a good quality-of-life. We'd all love to keep our loved ones with us for as long as possible--but sometimes, they're in so much pain or discomfort, their quality of life is...well, not of the highest quality.

As I said, he's had a good life. I'd like the rest of it to be as good as it can, and for me, that includes his being comfortable. I don't think he'd be comfortable with stitches in his side and ribs missing.

After talking it over with Abita, I made the decision to let nature take its course. I'll continue to keep treating him for respiratory problems, because he loves taking his medicine--pina colada mix works wonders! He still enjoys eating blueberries & grapes, and watching old movies with me. He'll get more treats than usual, and I asked Abita if she thought he'd like one of his water bottles filled with pina colada mix. He'll continue to have a good life, tho it might be shorter then I'd like.

Rat Weights

I'm pretty sure I was reading the scale incorrectly. Calle does not weight 1.2 kilograms; I think I've got a more accurate reading this week. This week's weights in the extended entry.

Metro 800 g no change
Kono 820 g no change
Calle 1020 g change, but that's due to my misreading last week
Olie 880 g no change
Witter 820 g +10, but on last week's note, I have it bouncing around. First I wrote 810, then 820.

Rink Rat Weights

Dr. K thought it would be a good idea to keep track of the Fat Rat weights. I've got small, spring-loaded food scale--and after the first weight session, I have some concerns about how accurate it is. . .though I think we're looking for trends (is the rat losing or gaining weight?) rather than needing an absolute correct weight. Weights in the extended entry.

Metro: 800 g
Kono: 820 g
Calle: 1200 g
Olie: 880 g
Witter: 810 g

Checkup for the girls

Since the boys are being treated for another upper respiratory infection, I took the girls in for a checkup...all they've been doing is sneezing a bit, but better safe than sorry.

Luckily, they checked out just fine. All three were little monsters for Dr. K, putting up quite the struggle, but in good health...except for their weights. Only Leather (540 g) is where she should be, Pinky is 650 g and Schwartzy a whopping 670 g. I need to figure out a way to get their butts moving during playtime. Schwartz especially uses it as an opportunity to hide under a blanket like a lump instead of running around.

Hmmm, rattie gym ideas....

Cross your fingers for good weather next weekend for a trip to Harrisonburg. If that goes off ok, I'll have some news next Saturday.

Bob

My little old man is losing weight and, I'm sorry to report, losing interest in his favorite foods. I was able to get him to take some (not much) scrambled egg this morning, then some chocolate soy milk, and finally guacamole...but he only licked a bit off my finger and doesn't want the rest.

I remember a time when sticking my guacamole-covered finger in his face would have been a good way to lose that finger.

He's cuddled in my lap bruxing away now. His breathing is good, he's washing, and I have no idea why he isn't eating, except that he's slowing down before my eyes.

In other pet news, the dog has thrombocytopenia (low platelets) and is taking prednisone, which is causing her to drink prodigious amounts of water and leave swimming pool-sized puddles on the floor with alarming regularity. She's confused by the incontinence pads...I guess she thinks they are new rugs that she'd better not pee on. I broke down and bought her a diaper tonight, but I don't know if I can be cruel enough to inflict that on her...I guess it depends (no pun intended) on what kind of flood I come home to tomorrow.

Virus infection

Witter is sick--again. If you've read his history, you know he's had problems with parasites (Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3). Now, he's got the URI (Upper Respiratory Infection) that won't go away.

He had a URI in November, and a round of Baytril seemed to clear that up.

In mid-December, Abita noticed he was making "monkey sounds" at times, but I never heard them. He would grunt every now and then, usually when he was excited, so I wasn't that worried.

One day, the sounds got worse, and he went to back to Dr. K. Another round of Baytril later, and he was still making the sounds. Another round of Baytril...and he was still having problems. Dr. K. took some blood for a test, and we continued with the Baytril. On the plus side, his lungs sounded clear, so we felt he probably didn't have pneumonia.

We feared the results of his blood test might be skewed somewhat because he had been on Baytril for two weeks, and they might well have been. They did show he was slightly anemic, but nothing else that was cause for major alarm.

Dr. K. also consulted with another vet at the lab, and they feel he may have had an undiagnosed viral infection for quite awhile, and a bacterial infection took advantage of his suppresed immune system and settled in.

We'll be treating him for the rest of his life, probably. The thing is, is that if it weren't for the occasional grunt from him, you wouldn't know he had a problem.

In the meantime, his bedding gets changed every day. Rat pee-pee breaks down into ammonia, so by eliminating that possibility, we're helping to keep his bronchial passages not-irritated. To make that easier, he's no longer bedded on Yesterday's News. I've started putting a fleece baby blanket in the bottom of his cage, and a flannel receiving blanket to nest in.

He's getting vitamins every evening to help with the anemia, and his diet is changed slightly. We still give him Mazuri lab blocks (which he gnaws into the most *interesting* shapes) and Nutro Natural Choice Lite, but that's now being supplemented with fresh vegetables and fruit (mostly grapes and blueberries for now). He's also getting some spinach leaves to help further with the anemia.

He's also continuing with antibiotics, but this time it's Doxycycline, which he gets mixed in piña colada mix (high calorie, but it's the proverbial spoonful of sugar helping his nasty tasting medicine go down).

None of that is really new to us. What is new, however, is the nebulizer treatment.

In order to help loosen up any congestion he might have, and to help open up his bronchial passages, he's basically getting steam treatment. We were fortunate to already have the compressor; getting the tube and medicine cup was just a matter of visiting a surgical supply store. The hard part would be figuring out how to get Witter nebulized.

(In the meantime, he went into a travel cage with a water bottle, and sat next to the shower in the morning. Not as effective, but better than nothing.)

Other rat friends have had to do this, so I turned to them for help. One friend sent us this link from the RMCA (Rat and Mouse Club of America) webpage, which showed the rat being treated by waving the mist under the rat's nose. I didn't feel too confident that would work, because I didn't really see Witter, much less any rat, holding still for ten to fifteen minutes.

Another friend described her setup: She put her rat in a ten-gallon fish tank, taped the mouthpiece to the side, covered the tank with a towel, and turned it on. This one had the benefit of trapping the rat in a relatively small area with the nebulized gas.

Abita was kind enought to pick up the Doxy for me, and that gave her a chance to discuss the fish tank setup with Dr. K, who didn't like it. She explained it would take a lot of time for the tank to fill up, and she felt the large volume would dilute the mist, and therefore the treatment.

Her idea was to cut the end off of a 2-liter bottle, shove Witter into it and cover the cut end with plastic wrap, and pump the mist through the bottle opening.

It turns out the end of the nebulizer fit into the opening perfectly--we wouldn't have to seal it with plastic wrap or anything, which took that potential problem out of the equation

That setup worked--kinda. He didn't fit entirely in the bottle (!), and I held the end against my shirt to help keep the mist concentrated. Witter helped out by keeping his nose right next to the nebulizer exhaust, helping maximize its effectiveness that way. But he wasn't happy--he didn't eat a yogurt drop until he was safely in his cage.

Abita and I thought the problem through, and decided to see if we could find a plastic small animal house that he'd fit in, and then modify the plastic bottle to seal it. The only thing we could find was a chinchilla bath house, so we bought it.

It ws perfect. The cut end of the bottle fit over the opening perfectly, so again, there'd be no need to seal the junction with plastic wrap to ensure a tight seal. All I had to do was trim it down so that it looked like a big funnel, and we'd be good to go:

The hard part was putting Witter into the bath house. It took two people!

Once we got it going, though, Witter cooperated by sticking his nose right next to the exhaust:

He was in it for close to ten minutes tonight, and the reason we cut it short is because I'm still experimenting with the amount of saline to put into the medicine cup. Tomorrow we try 4 cc's.

One thing about the bath house: It seemed to be pretty air-tight (after the opening was sealed, anyway) so I drilled a small hole in the back of the house, near the top. With the compressor pumping out 8 liters or so of air each minute, I had visions of the pressure building up inside the house and blowing the bottle-funnel off the front. I kept my finger over it for the first minute, though, to help the mists get concentrated, then covered it up every now and then.

Shave and a haircut...

Well, by the time I got up this morning I changed my mind about "watchful waiting" for Bob, and he went to the vet this afternoon.

At first the doc said he agreed with me that it looked like a tumor, but he felt it and gave Bob a shave to get a better look, then said it seemed more like a wound. Since Bob lives alone and doesn't get playtime with the others, and there aren't any sharp edges on his cage, a wound seems weird...but better than a tumor, at least. Anyway, the vet decided to scrape the dark tissue, and darned if it didn't come off...making me feel like an idiot for bringing Bob in because he was dirty.

No, the vet said, there's still something going on on the skin. We've got Nolvasan and a topical antibiotic to treat it for a week, and see what happens.

It still might be a tumor...but maybe it isn't (all fingers crossed!), and now that he's shaved, keeping an eye on it will be easier.

The latest in health worries

Every time I make the mistake of thinking "I haven't had to call the vet in a few weeks..."

This evening I found a growth on Bob's back. At first I thought it was a scab, but when I cleaned it off with hydrogen peroxide it became obvious it wasn't dried bllod, just discolored skin. There's a little texture to it, but it isn't thick enough to be a lump. It looks, actually, like the pictures you see in pamphlets about skin cancer.

I'm really concerned that the poor old guy has a tumor, although I haven't been able to find much information about skin cancer in rats. Of course my frantic mind assumes melanoma...and I don't to put him through surgery at his age, especially the way he's been short of breath lately.

He's an old rat...39 months now, if he truly was 2 and a half when we got him. If I stick with what I said when I adopted him, he's in hospice now.

My plan is to watch the skin growth carefully for the next few days, and call the vet if it gets any bigger. At that point we'll discuss surgery, but I have all my fingers crossed that this is just some benign thing, some rat age spot that won't grow.

I got lucky with Curly's tumor...it grew for awhile then flaked away. I hope his brother has the same tumor-fighting genes.

Schwartz at the vet

Schwartz went to the vet today. Her lungs are clear and everything sounds good, so we'll keep her on the Baytril and gentamicin for two weeks are expect that should take care of the infection. She sounds loads better than she did Saturday.

The only thing the vet noted was, well, her rather large size. She's up to 677 grams. One of the techs assumed she was pregnant.

As I was leaving the vet suggested a few extra laps around the track. Now that I think about it, when the girls come out to play, Schwartz does have a habit of hiding quietly under the blanket rather than running about like Pinky...not that Pinky doesn't have her own chunk issues.

Well, no more spaghetti for awhile.

Monkey noises

Schwartz is now making the infamous "monkey noises" that signal an upper respiratory infection. (By "monkey noise" I mean just that...imagine a kid saying "ee ooh ahh" and pretending to be a chimp or something...that's what it sounds like.) When I got home from running errands last night I heard it for the first time, and she also had a fair amount of porphyrin around her nose. Of course this happens on a Saturday night.

I still had Baytril left from Curly's last URI as well as some Gentamicin, so I went ahead and started her on the antibiotics. She's still noisy, but none of the other critical signs, like ungroomed fur or lethergy. I'll call the vet first thing tomorrow and hope they can see her quickly.

I'm not even sure if she realizes she's sick...she's certainly annoyed by the extra attention, although she enjoys the creme de coconut I use to hide the Baytril. Poor berkblob.

Vermin update

The ectoparasite shampoo really seemed to help the scabs on Schwartz and Curly, but I gave them another Frontline spray this evening, too. Pinky never seems to be bothered by the mites (because she has such sparse fur, maybe?), but I'm not sure why Leather was spared this time. I'm still not 100% sure it even is mites and not Leather being a much-too-aggressive groomer...but they are healing up whatever it is, to my relief.

I'm also very pleased to report that Curly's necrotic lump is actually shrinking. Essentially the scabby-looking tissue seems to be falling off. There's still what looks like a flat scab, so I can't see what is underneath, but the lump itself is much, much smaller.

Victor had the good camera out during playtime last night, so we should have some pictures soon.

Vermin on the Vermin, part four

This time, it's Abita's girls & Curly. It's either vermin, or Leather is chewing up everybody. More scabs, especially on Curly and Schwartz, while Leather has a pretty good amount of porphyrin staining on her shoulder. Pinky, being practically hairless, amazingly enough has just one small scab. On a double rex darn near anything could cause a scab.

Tonight was bath night for the girls & Curly. Curly pooped like a guinea pig, Leather struggled with a strength that a rat that small shouldn't have, and Schwartz and Pinky screamed like...well, they screamed like girls.

And I can't wait to do this again in two weeks.

Sick ratties

You get to really feel for other rat owners. On our different rat lists, Person X will report a problem with their rat, and a few days later, Person Y will post a message asking Person X how their rat is doing. As Abita said before, we get to know the person and their love for their little friend, and we all share the happy times and the sad times and all the concerns in between. I, too, have cried at my desk, over the heartbreak of a friend losing a rat I've only seen in pictures.

I made friends with a girl in California, A, whose favorite rat, HA, is the Biggest Ham In The World...literally.

You think my rats are big? HA tips the scale at over a kilogram. He's a very mellow rat, who sits there patiently while A dresses him in a cowboy outfit, a doctor outfit, a tu-tu, as an Easter bunny, in a green bowler with a shamrock for St. Patricks day...you get the idea.

HA is very, very popular on the rat lists. HA has also just been diagnosed with a tumor near his genitilia. Sadly, A is visiting her father & stepmother, and will be for awhile (she's a minor). HA is with other family.

I can only imagine how frustrated the poor girl must be. Fortunately, HA is with A's aunt, a fellow Rat Person who happens to date a veterinarian. But still--you're supposed to be with your children when they're sick.

The rat lists are full of get-well wishes for HA.

Vermin on my Vermin, Part 3

Witter had a follow up with Dr. K yesterday. The only new thing to report was a large (and I mean large scab on his chin, about a fourth the size of my little fingernail) I had noticed the day before, the second time I had him out (the first was the birthday party). I immediately thought it was from him scratching; later on I thought, and Dr. K agreed, it was probably an injury of some sort--scratches normally don't remove all of the fur.

The mystery is how he did it. He's an alone rat, and I can't see anything in his cage that would do that. It's weird.

He's still looking good; any scabs are small and not really cause for concern. Dr. K's advice was to continue on with what we're doing, but if it seems to get worse, stop the treatments for two weeks (to get the poison out of his system) then we'll try ivermectin injections.

Vermin on my Vermin, Part 2

I took Witter back to visit Dr. K this morning. I was thinking he looked better--his scabs are healing, he's not scratching as much, and there might be only one new scab. In a nutshell, the topical Frontline seems to be working.

Dr. K came into the exam room, and after just a quick glance, she, too, could tell he was doing better. She felt him up again, and she thought the "new" scab was an old one.

So we talked about it, and I decided to not go thru with an Ivermectin injection. The big reason was that he had had two topicals on him fairly recently; with the scabs some of them certainly worked into his bloodstream, and I don't want to risk poisoning him. Another factor was, simply, what we were trying was already working--why mess with success?

So, I'll keep the follow up appointment on the fifteenth, unless he takes a major downturn. But I feel real good about Witter--and Dr. K. We probably have a third vet lined up, just in case.

There's vermin on my vermin.

Great fleas have little fleas upon their backs to bite 'em,
And little fleas have lesser fleas, and so ad infinitum.

So wrote the mathematician Augustus de Morgan. It's true, you know.

If you've read Witter's story, you know we adopted him because of mites (and if you don't know his story, take a moment to check out the link--we're not going anywhere).

The mites are back, seemingly with a vengeance. I noticed he was getting scabby and, on Monday, I gave him a couple of squirts of Frontline. It's what we treated everyone with in May, when they all had lice, and Witter had mites. It worked then, and I figure it would work now.

(By the way, I forgot to mention Witter was also scratching himself a lot. I don't recommend automatically squirting rats with Frontline every time you see a scab; things such as diet and injury (duh) can also result in a scabby rat.)

Tuesday, though, the area around his eye was scratched and bloody. I figure the mites migrated from his body to his face, and I can't spray there. He looked awful--like he had gone a few rounds with Mike Tyson. And he was still scratching a lot.

Abita and I decided a vet visit was in order, out of concern for his eye, and to myself, maybe treating the mites a bit more aggresively. The problem was which vet to take him to.

Our regular vet, Dr. G, is fantastic. But I'm sorry to say his office is more than five miles away, and his hours are 8 AM to 6 PM, M-F, and that's not exactly convenient for me, for what I see as a minor problem. Even on a drop-off basis, I can't get to work before 10.

There is another exotics vet available who I like (we checked her out with one of my guinea pigs, and Abita is friends with one of the vet techs there) but similar problems. Kind of difficult to get to, especially during rush hour, and limited hours.

However, walking distance from the house, is a new vet who handles exotics. I talked to the receptionist a bit on Tuesday...on Tuesdays and Thursdays their office hours are until 7 PM. Much more convenient for me.

I feel you can't have too many vets, and a minor problem is a good opportunity to see how your vet handles your pet--you get to see her in action, talk to her, listen to what questions she asks you, how she answers your questions...you walk out with an idea of how she would handle your pet in an emergency. So, I made an appointment, and we saw Dr. K tonight.

I'm happy to say I have a real good feeling about Dr. K. She gave Witter a thorough exam (no fecal test, even though he gave us plenty of samples), asked lots of questions--ones you'd think a vet would ask, such as about diet and medical history, plus a few others you might not think of, but Abita and I, as rat people, were glad to hear: What is his bedding? How big is his cage?

And she kept calling him, "Beautiful." Good sign, that.

She couldn't determine what was causing the itching, but that doesn't count as a strike against her. She tried the scotch-tape trick (Stick a piece of tape against rat; look at tape under microscope. The idea is the little vermin stick to the tape, and stay still long enough for you to figure out what they are), but while there weren't any lice or mites on the tape, that might mean there just weren't any beneath the tape where it was stuck.

Of course, it could mean Witter doesn't have mites, and the problem is something else. But...Witter is in general good health. His appetite is good, he's active, he's grooming. He doesn't look sick, which means he probably isn't.

So we're gonna treat for mites. The treatment for mites won't harm Witter (if done properly. As with any treatment, problems occur if it's done improperly); either he'll stop scratching, which means the treatment worked and the lice/mites are gone, or he'll keep scratching, which means there's something else, and we start checking other things.

I've decided on a slighly more aggresive treatment: Ivermectin injections. Basically, the injection will make Witter poisonous to whatever parasite bites him. The problem is with the dose: Too much and Witter is toast. It's a slightly risky treatment, and I know of some rat people who have lost their rats to a too-strong dose, but I'd really like Witter to be parasite-free, and I wonder just how good a job the Frontline did the first time.

Witter will get his first injection this Saturday, then again about ten days later. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Curly's vet visit

Okay, Curly's vet visit. My little old man was getting sick again...I got home from work Friday and he was sneezing constantly. I kept a close eye on him all weekend, and it was occasional but too much for my comfort.

Since Curly is 3 years old, I don't want to risk letting any respiratory infection progress to pneumonia. So, although sneezing was his only symptom (he was still grooming fine, eating like a pig, active and happy), we went to the vet. He's had several respiratory infections, unfortunately, but a round of antibiotics seems to clear them up. We've switched around the medicines: Baytril, doxycycline, and Bactrim orally, with gentamicin drops in the nose; this course we're going with Baytril and gentamicin.

The other thing that prompted Curly's appointment is a lump on his shoulder. I noticed the lump, then about the size of a baby pea, in the spring. It has grown slowly and I was hoping it wouldn't cause trouble, but now the skin has gotten kind of scabby and dry. It didn't seem like an abscess...no pus, no smell...but I wanted the doc to take a look. He said that the tissue is necrotic (i.e., dying). Normally I'd have it surgically removed, but I don't want to put Curly through anesthesia while he's sick...or at all, if we can help it, because of his age. So we are going to carefully monitor the tissue, too, in hopes that it gets no worse. Luckily Curly isn't bothered by it at all.

Here is a picture of the necrotic lump. I won't embed that picture...I've seen ickier things in dermatology textbooks, but I don't want to inflict non-cute pictures on the general readership.

Curly is getting his Baytril in cream of coconut syrup, which he loves. Last night the girls were asleep in the cuddle cup on the upper floor of the cage and Curly was in the tube on the lower floor. I thought, instead of disturbing him, I'll just give him his meds in the cage. Ha! As soon as he took his first lick, the girls zoomed down: Curly has something we don't! We want it! We don't know what it is, but if Curly has it, we must have it too!

I managed to hold them off with my right hand while feeding him with my left, but from now on, even if the girls are fast asleep, Curly comes out for his medicine.

Choking (Does the rat appear to be vomiting?)

*One in series of post to documents our experiences with a variety of health problems and how we, with our vet's guidance, treated them. This is in no way an attempt to create a comprehensive health care guide. We aren't vets, we just spend a lot of time (and money) at our vet's office...and unfortunately that is because there are a lot of health problems possible with rats. If I can give only one piece of advice to a new rat owner, it is get a good vet. Experience treating rats is good (I was quite pleased when our vet picked up Rizzo for the first time and said "These are my favorite of the pocket pets"), but so is a willingness to research and listen to what you've learned on your own.

One evening I was working on the computer when I heard a cough from Rizzo's cage. I looked up to see foamy liquid coming from her mouth. The noise she made and the stuff from her mouth looked for all the world like a dog about to vomit, but rats don't vomit. I'd heard that little tidbit for years before I had rats. As usual, this happened several hours after the vet closed, so I went to the Panicked Internet Search...where I found, and fairly quickly, instructions for assisting a choking rat.

Here's what happened...apparently Riz had something caught in her throat. Luckily she was breathing, I could see her chest move and she was not turning blue. But if she'd stopped breathing, I was getting ready to perform what's known as the "ratty fling" to dislodge whatever was stuck. Here is Debbie "The Rat Lady" Ducommun's description from the Rat Fan Club First Aid page:

Hold your rat firmly around the neck with one hand, and by the base of the tail with the other to hold her securely. Make sure there are no objects within an arm's length. Lift the rat overhead and bring her down in a rapid arc, so that at the end of the path she's tail up and head down. This can be repeated 3-4 times, then give the rat a rest, check her breathing, and see if anything is visible in the mouth. This is extremely effective in dislodging objects in the throat. However, do not use this procedure if your rat can breathe, or you might make it worse.

I spent the better part of the night practicing the rat fling (without a rat in hand, of course) and watching Riz to make sure she kept breathing. Eventually the drooling and coughing stopped. I don't think she ever coughed up the offending food, I think it dissolved sufficiently for her to swallow. As soon as she could she went back to eating. Eventually I was able to sleep, but that took longer.

I'm not sure what she choked on, either. It must have been a piece of her rat food mix, and she was eating too fast. I have seen warnings to avoid very soft and sticky foods like peanut butter and soft bread, though, because they are choking hazards.

Lumps (Tumors and Abscesses)

*One in series of post to documents our experiences with a variety of health problems and how we, with our vet's guidance, treated them. This is in no way an attempt to create a comprehensive health care guide. We aren't vets, we just spend a lot of time (and money) at our vet's office...and unfortunately that is because there are a lot of health problems possible with rats. If I can give only one piece of advice to a new rat owner, it is get a good vet. Experience treating rats is good (I was quite pleased when our vet picked up Rizzo for the first time and said "These are my favorite of the pocket pets"), but so is a willingness to research and listen to what you've learned on your own.

Lumps

Rats, female rats in particular, are prone to tumors. I'd read that plenty of times, so when Rizzo developed a pea-sized lump near her jaw, I figured it was a tumor. Another vet trip. The vet removed the lump, but in this case it wasn't a tumor, it was an abscess.

Abscesses occur when pus collects at the site of an infection. The abscess is actually the body's way of containing the infection so it doesn't spread, but it doesn't always work, and a burst abscess can spread the infection dangerously through the body. An abscess can be red or feel warm to the touch, and if it does open there is generally a foul odor. In most cases, treatment for an abscess involves draining the pus, careful cleaning, and antibiotics. In Rizzo's case, the vet removed the entire unopened abscess so further draining wasn't necessary. Calle, though, had one that we didn't discover as a lump, we thought he had a bite wound. In his case the vet left the wound open so it would drain. He had three medications: the systemic antibiotic, a solution to flush the wound twice a day, and a topical ointment like Neosporin.

Rizzo and Krycek did both develop the tumors eventually, though. Coincidentally, the first lumps appeared almost simulaneously, Krycek's on her shoulder and Rizzo's in her abdomen. Both girls had surgery. Krycek recovered uneventfully, but Rizzo chewed her sutures out overnight. On the second try the vet gave her internal sutures, which caused a little irritation but at least they kept the wound close.

To keep a rat from chewing out the stitches you can use a collar, but you have to make sure the rat is still able to drink, and you'll probably need to help her eat. I've never gone that route myself. Other people have had success using a body stocking to cover the stitches. On subsequent surgeries with our rats the vet has used combination of internal and external sutures. Rats do heal up quickly, luckily, and Rizzo is the only one who has needed multiple trips for restitching.

Krycek wasn't even through her two-week post-op antibiotic course when I found another lump. By this time she was two years old or perhaps older, and she looked so miserable with the stitches and the medicine that I decided not to put her through more surgery. The vet advised that the lump would grow and probably more tumors would show up as well, and that once the tumors were large enough to impair her quality of life we'd have to put her to sleep. It was not an easy decision to make. However, the lump did not grow as fast as I had feared, and even when two more tumors grew on her chest, she really didn't seem affected by them. Eventually she did need a ramp to get to her upper shelf in her cage, but as she got older I couldn't tell if her decreased mobility was because of the lumps or her age. She lived another seven months with the tumors. I had to put her to sleep when the abdominal tumor ulcerated and began to bleed, but even on the morning of the last vet trip she was eating yogies from my hand a building nests with the tissue paper in her cage. Rizzo's course was similar, multiple abdominal tumors. She was also put to sleep; her largest tumor began to turn black and I didn't want it to open like Krycek's did. And in Rizzo's case, two nights before going to the vet, my ever-active and exploring girl did not want to leave my lap. Never had she elected to spend an evening curled up with me instead of doing her own thing, and I felt like it was her way of telling me goodbye.

Blood or porphyrin?

*One in series of post to documents our experiences with a variety of health problems and how we, with our vet's guidance, treated them. This is in no way an attempt to create a comprehensive health care guide. We aren't vets, we just spend a lot of time (and money) at our vet's office...and unfortunately that is because there are a lot of health problems possible with rats. If I can give only one piece of advice to a new rat owner, it is get a good vet. Experience treating rats is good (I was quite pleased when our vet picked up Rizzo for the first time and said "These are my favorite of the pocket pets"), but so is a willingness to research and listen to what you've learned on your own.

Almost immediately upon bring Rizzo and Krycek home I started seeing red stains in their bedding. My first assumption was, of course, blood, although I didn't see any wounds on either of them. I hit the search engines and found that rats produce porphyrin, a red discharge, around their eyes and nose, particularly when they are ill or stressed. The question of what caused the red stains was quickly answered: I woke up one day to such quantities of red, not just on the bedding but on the walls behind the cage, that it was clearly blood. The rats, cage and all, went directly to the vet for our first panicked emergency visit. He found very small nicks on both rats, either scratches or bites, and that began the days of separate cages for the girls.

I am still not completely sure how to tell the difference between blood stains and porphyrin stains. I think that the porphyrin is lighter (looks maybe like watered-down blood) and when we've seen porphyrin staining, it's usually a fine mist pattern from a rat's sneeze.