[AustinXAPMX3]

Well as some of you may know i had 2 female rats about 1 or 2 years ago. Lilly died of a tumor, And i didnt know how Ping Pong died. It has really been bugging me. So i need your help.

One rainy morning i woke up and she was laying there dead. She had some blood in here Private Part. She was acting her normal self the night erlier everything seamed fine with her. I just want to know how she died because i never figured it out.

Please could you help me figure out how she may have died.

-Thanks Austin

 

[lilspaz68]

blood? How was she acting beforehand? Did she have hunched posture, dark urine, smelly urine,etc? That could've been UTI (urinary tract infection).

discharge instead of blood could've been pyometra, an infection in her womb.

or she could've had a seizure or stroke and urinated blood when she passed.

How old was she?

 

[AustinXAPMX3]

Ya she did have a kinda hunched posture that night. Not dark urine. Maybe a little bit of smelly urin. She was about 1 year old.

So You think its a UTI or a Seizure or Stroke.

 

[lilspaz68]

Ya she did have a kinda hunched posture that night. Not dark urine. Maybe a little bit of smelly urin. She was about 1 year old.

So You think its a UTI or a Seizure or Stroke.

Sounds most likely. First signs of UTI is bloody smelly urine.

 

[AustinXAPMX3]

I feal so bad i didnt notice it earlier poor Ping Pong

 

[lilspaz68]

As I have said many a time before, rats are a Learn on the Job Training. You experience something, you learn, you research or ask questions, you can help others in the future. There's a lot of things I have never personally experienced and I often ask friends/peers who have if I am worried.

Now you will know for the future.

Right now I have a girl with possible CHF, I have never dealt with this before, so I am a bit nervous with diagnosing it with Lasix.

 

[AustinXAPMX3]

What is CHF

 

[lilspaz68]

congestive heart failure.

 

[AustinXAPMX3]

Oh, Im really sorry. Is it very fatal?

 

[lilspaz68]

I will be using lasix (a diuretic) to see if its CHF. She has not responded to abs for what seemed a respiratory problem (CHF can mimic URI). If she improves with the lasix then I will keep her on it for as long as I can. I need to research CHF myself with other owners before I decide on a long-term treatment. If CHF is untreated it can be fatal and the meds should help prolong the length and quality of life.

I have heard that my Kamali ( who came all the way from New Brunswick to Ontario on a rat train) has siblings that have had CHF and PT (pituitary tumour)...so she is more likely to have it than most.

Here is my Kamali before she got sick.

 

[AustinXAPMX3]

Oh.....She looks sweet.

 

[lilspaz68]

Oh.....She looks sweet.

She's a doll. I feel so terrible for her right now, her laboured rapid breathing, but she still stops to lick my fingers if she can.

 

[ration1802]

She's a beaut. Good luck with her.

I once had a hamster with an enlarged heart - the vet decided to experiment with dog medicine (it came in a huge bottle and had to be specially ordered). The night we got the medicine (it cost £25!), opened it, gave him his first dose - which he LOVED because it was lime flavoured - we realised that he had a strangulated hernia so had to take him back to the vet to be pts. It would have been interesting to find out what might have happened - had the heart medicine been given a chance to work.

I've never heard of much research regarding heart conditions in smaller animals. It's quite sad really. It seems that they have a condition like that and vets consider them a write-off - it's good to see people like you trying to give the poor little furballs the chance at life they deserve! Well done

 

[AustinXAPMX3]

Oh im so sorry about her.......Hang in there little girl.