[lucky18ea]

So today we discovered that Cheech's penis wasnt going back into his sheath. We ended up taking him to pet emergency since no regular vets were open and didnt want him to suffer with it. The vet said its fairly common in adolescent rats and they took his temperature which was normal and then took one of those cotton balls w/the wooden stick and used the cotton ball end (w/a bunch of lube) and pushed the penis back into the sheath and held it there so that the skin would unrestrict. The doc warned us that it may or may not happen again and sent us home w/3 of those q-tips on the sticks. Well, by the time we got back and went to put him in the cage, he had another erection so we let him go in the cage with his brother long enough to eat and get some water before doing what the vet had done to him not even an hour previous. We did that at around 10 (had left the ER vet at around 9) and at 11:30 Cheech had another erection. Only this time he's sore and grouchy and wont let us do it again. Should we just leave him be and let it try to resolve itself? We plan on calling our regular vet in the morning and maybe they can figure out why he keeps having this problem.

 

[twitch]

well i tried asking my boyfriend what he does when he gets raw adn sore or can't get rid of an erection but he claims this never happens and kicked me out of the computer room. perhaps asking some other guy may prove more fruitful but i can't get an answer out of my penis expert.

 

[lucky18ea]

We ended up having to take Cheech to a vet that specializes in Avian and Exotic Animal care yesterday, and the penis is the least of his worries. My poor boy has pneumonia. The vet hopes that the penis bit will clear up once he feels better, and we just have to keep it lubed and pushed back in. He's on 21 days of antibiotics and 3 cc's of a mixture of peanut butter and Ensure 3 times a day. He's already put weight on and seems to be feeling atleast a little better, although still pretty bad. Hopefully he'll be alright with some TLC.

 

[twitch]

i hope so too, good luck and keep us updated.

 

[lilspaz68]

Your boy had paraphimosis caused by the pneumonia. The abs will help with possible infection which is good. As your vet said keep him lubed

from ratguide.com
#

Paraphimosis can be a result of phimosis (inability to retract the prepuce over the glans penis), injury (trauma), infection, or congenital issues such as an abnormally shortened prepuce or an abnormally long penis. There have been reports of paraphimosis occurring after severe dehydration and/or starvation but this has not been confirmed within the scientific community. Other causes that can lead to paraphimosis are:
# Poor hygiene
# Chemical irritants (soaps)
# Conditions that result in edema (swelling) such as CHF, or nephrosis
# Bacterial infections (primarily anaerobic infections)
# Obesity
# Diabetes

Paraphimosis can be a true emergency. If left untreated, the impaired lack of blood flow to the glans can result in urinary retention, infection, and necrosis. It is important to seek help from a veterinarian as soon as possible. Prognosis is favorable with prompt treatment.

What abs did your vet give you for pneumonia? Baytril and Doxy?

 

[Shar]

I have to second what lilspaz said, and add that there are other "conditions" that can affect the poor boy, if he is not able to clean himself due to illness, obesity, or age you will have to do it for him. Not really pleasant, but necessary.