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Well, it's been another sleepless night in the land of rat ownership!
Katie, my 2 year old hairless (double rex) underwent surgery on Thursday to remove 3 mammary tumours from her armpits and groin. (I chose to have the surgery done as she's getting older now - needless to say, I'm feeling quite responsible for what's happened, incase these two are connected!). The surgery went well, she was given a Baytril injection that day and a long acting non-steroidal anti-inflammatory.
Coned her Thursday and Friday nights - to stop her niggling at her stitches, and left her to her own devices during the day, giving her only OTC childrens pain meds (as my vet wouldn't give me any prescription drugs - although he did OK the OTC medicine)
And, well, last night (her first night without her cone) everything was going great. No licking, chewing...she was running around, eating, drinking - acting like normal rat. Suddenly, as I was about to go to sleep at about 12:20am, I hear this heavy breathy squeaky wheeze coming from her cage. I pick her up and she can barely breathe!!! Well, I grabbed my mum, called the emergency vetinary hospital, and rushed her there ASAP.
By the time we'd gotten there (about 1am) the hard laboured breathing had gone, but the squeaky wheeze (although quieter) was still present. The intern looked at her, listened to her chest and it seemed reasonably clear. He says it's probably a chest infection and that I should go home and administer some oral Doxy.
Got her home, in the car as we pulled up in front of our house, she starts her breathy wheeze and her breathing begins to labour again. I put her in her cage and she went for a nibble of food, and a little chew at her treat bag and even had a drink! We decided to leave her a little while - as it cleared up before - but suddenly at 3:30 (we got home at 2:45) she starts struggling for breathe (I know this, because she started breathing through her mouth), squeaking, wheezing and twice she looked as though she was trying to gag!!
Back in the car, rushing her to the vets, she turns very lethargic. I get her there and they rush her away to put her on 100% oxygen and say they're going to keep her overnight. I ask them to check to see if she had anything in her throat - he said he'd check but it would be very hard.
I went home, called again this morning (twice) and they said the first time that her breathing rate had slowed (bare in mind she's a hairless - so breathes slightly faster than a regular rat anyway) but it looks quite fast to him still. She was apparently bright eyed and alert. The second time I called back they said she's been wheaned off the oxygen and is ready to be picked up.
Now she's home again - she still doesn't appear to be ok. She's had the tiniest nibble of food, a little drink and - priority - a whole chocolate drop she found in her food bowl. She's very tired (although I'm attributing it to stress) and very wheezy when she's breathing.
Has anyone else has similar experiences? It's all just happened so suddenly! When I have her her medicine before bed at about 11:30/midnight, she was absolutely fine! She's only been displaying the symptoms for just over 12 hours - but man - what a LONG 12 hours they have been!
What should I look out for? Is there anything I can do to make her feel better?
Katie, my 2 year old hairless (double rex) underwent surgery on Thursday to remove 3 mammary tumours from her armpits and groin. (I chose to have the surgery done as she's getting older now - needless to say, I'm feeling quite responsible for what's happened, incase these two are connected!). The surgery went well, she was given a Baytril injection that day and a long acting non-steroidal anti-inflammatory.
Coned her Thursday and Friday nights - to stop her niggling at her stitches, and left her to her own devices during the day, giving her only OTC childrens pain meds (as my vet wouldn't give me any prescription drugs - although he did OK the OTC medicine)
And, well, last night (her first night without her cone) everything was going great. No licking, chewing...she was running around, eating, drinking - acting like normal rat. Suddenly, as I was about to go to sleep at about 12:20am, I hear this heavy breathy squeaky wheeze coming from her cage. I pick her up and she can barely breathe!!! Well, I grabbed my mum, called the emergency vetinary hospital, and rushed her there ASAP.
By the time we'd gotten there (about 1am) the hard laboured breathing had gone, but the squeaky wheeze (although quieter) was still present. The intern looked at her, listened to her chest and it seemed reasonably clear. He says it's probably a chest infection and that I should go home and administer some oral Doxy.
Got her home, in the car as we pulled up in front of our house, she starts her breathy wheeze and her breathing begins to labour again. I put her in her cage and she went for a nibble of food, and a little chew at her treat bag and even had a drink! We decided to leave her a little while - as it cleared up before - but suddenly at 3:30 (we got home at 2:45) she starts struggling for breathe (I know this, because she started breathing through her mouth), squeaking, wheezing and twice she looked as though she was trying to gag!!
Back in the car, rushing her to the vets, she turns very lethargic. I get her there and they rush her away to put her on 100% oxygen and say they're going to keep her overnight. I ask them to check to see if she had anything in her throat - he said he'd check but it would be very hard.
I went home, called again this morning (twice) and they said the first time that her breathing rate had slowed (bare in mind she's a hairless - so breathes slightly faster than a regular rat anyway) but it looks quite fast to him still. She was apparently bright eyed and alert. The second time I called back they said she's been wheaned off the oxygen and is ready to be picked up.
Now she's home again - she still doesn't appear to be ok. She's had the tiniest nibble of food, a little drink and - priority - a whole chocolate drop she found in her food bowl. She's very tired (although I'm attributing it to stress) and very wheezy when she's breathing.
Has anyone else has similar experiences? It's all just happened so suddenly! When I have her her medicine before bed at about 11:30/midnight, she was absolutely fine! She's only been displaying the symptoms for just over 12 hours - but man - what a LONG 12 hours they have been!
What should I look out for? Is there anything I can do to make her feel better?