RatPalace.com - Pet Rat Care and Discussion

Sun Feb 05, 2006 12:16 pm

young Ginger goes to the vet tomorrow for her lumpectomy and it couldnt come any sooner for me

the lump has grown very noticably in the last 3 days

and ginger is eating like there is no tomorrow....

ive never seen her eat so much

thats either a good thing....or not.....???

Anyway wish us luck....

ill keep you updated

smile

deb Crossed Fingers

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Rosie Ginger Gypsy Bambie Beatrice Cassie Kira Shapelle Shelley kath Kim Corby Chloe kimmies bubs: Leelee Lilly Molly Morgan Jassie Jayjay Tess n Tammy
Roxy 30/06/2004 to 28/11/2005 Relaxing on the banks of the river at Rainbow Bridge

Last edited by lotsarats on Tue Feb 07, 2006 10:40 am; edited 1 time in total

Mon Feb 06, 2006 3:10 pm

Well today was the day

i took ginger in at 8am this morning...

i rang for an update at 4pm and she had just come out of surgery and i was told to ring back at 6pm

i rang at 6pm and was told all was fine however ginger had taken quite some time to fully come out of the anaesthetic so they wanted to keep her there over night....the vet said he would be taking her home with him when they closed so she wouldnt be alone....how sweet

anyway he said there was nothing to be alarmed about and that i could pick her up in the morning
he had given her a good dose of antibiotics and pain relief and he said the lump came out quite easily it was encapsulated and didnt appear to have any connecting fibres to other structures....so that sounds good

he feels confident of it not returning

Ginger is a very mellow rattie at the best of times so im sure she will just have a really good sleep tonight

but ill still worry about her til i pick her up tomorrow....smile

My vet told me something really disturbing this morning though.....he told me that many people see rats as "a disposible pet/ replaceable pet" so instead of having surgery they would prefer to have the pet live with the lump or have them PTS.....how horrible..... i love each and every one of my girls and if i can give them a longer and happy life even if for just one day....i would do it

Isnt that horrible???

anyway...fingers crossed ginger has a good night and we have a big squishy hugs n kisses reunion tomorrow....smile

deb

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Rosie Ginger Gypsy Bambie Beatrice Cassie Kira Shapelle Shelley kath Kim Corby Chloe kimmies bubs: Leelee Lilly Molly Morgan Jassie Jayjay Tess n Tammy
Roxy 30/06/2004 to 28/11/2005 Relaxing on the banks of the river at Rainbow Bridge

Mon Feb 06, 2006 4:39 pm

Best wishes for a speedy recovery for Ginger! My stomach is always in knots when a pet is in for surgery...I can't relax until they are home safe.

Sounds like you have a good vet, too, taking her home for the night.

Of course it's horrible to treat any pet as disposable, but sometimes there are valid reasons not to put a rat through surgery for benign tumors. We've gone both routes depending on the circumstances...you just have to keep the rat's best interest in mind.

Hope to hear news of Ginger's happy homecoming soon!

_________________
~Abita and the Rat in a Box rats

In loving memory of Krycek, Rizzo, Curly, Bob, Witter, Kono, Rat, Pinky, Olie, Metro, Calle, Cinnamon Schwartz, Mr. Ratburn, Arwen, Leather, Ohana, Zoe, and Mr. Mistoffelees

Tue Feb 07, 2006 12:30 am

Sending good healing vibes to Ginger, I am sure she will be happy to be home in her mum's arms.
Vet sounds really really sweet!
Yeah for Ginger! What a relief!

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Loving Mum to my rattie boys, Zipper and Ty
Bestest Bud to Milly, the greatest horse ever

Tue Feb 07, 2006 12:42 am

Glad it went well with Ginger.

Defintely sounds like it was benign and he got it all, so hopefully that will be it and she won't have any further recurrences. Sounds like he also was taking good care of her after surgery to make sure she was fully recovered. The eating increase was probably down to the increased demands on her for energy, oxygen and nutrients by the rapidly growing tumour - so hopefully that will go back to normal now it has been removed.

As Abita said, the disposable pet attitude is horribe, but there are good reasons sometimes not to have the surgery performed - and ultimately, that isn't necessarily cruel. It's one of those decisions that is hard to make sometimes - if you have a 2 or 3 year old rat who has chronic respiratory issues, do you risk the surgery knowing it could kill them? Or if you have a rat that is old and has already had several tumours removed, only to have more pop up within days or weeks - do you keep operating even though the recovery is traumatic and hard on them? Or a rat that has a malignant tumour that can't be completely removed, and will continue to grow just as fast, even with surgery? I honestly believe that quality is more important than quantity, and sometimes surgery won't give that.

Sometimes, the kindest thing is to simply keep them comfortable and happy, and love on them lots until the time comes where the tumour is likely to be making their quality of life poor, and then have them humanely put to sleep to prevent them from suffering. I certainly can't judge someone for choosing to make that decision when the answer isn't clear - and those kinds of situations are very different from neglect or refusal to seek proper veterinary advice.... and either route is a hard decision to make. You can only do what you think is best in the circumstances.

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Andy & The Rats

~ Darwin ~ Maisie ~ Ella ~ Zak ~

~ Finn ~ Malachi ~ Azrael ~ Newton ~ Charlie ~

Tue Feb 07, 2006 4:51 am

Oh i couldnt agree more

there are always circumstances where you have to way up the pros and cons

but when my vet was telling me about this he was actually talking about people who really shouldnt have had pets in the first place, they were just negligent in the care of their pets

my vet said he has made costs for surgery for small pets as cheap as he can so people dont just opt out for the cheap option of just replacing a pet. and still people just say PTS....i think thats inexcusable

but yes ive had a very old cat and towards the end it was just a matter of keeping her comfortable, ive had an old dog....same there...i hope to have some old rats too....smile....my oldest is 2 now....we will see how she goes....smile

i had a duck who doubled the average age for a duck....not bad....smile

thats what a good life and lots of loving will achieve....smile

anyway...im heading off now to get my girl

BIG SMILE

Deb

_________________
Rosie Ginger Gypsy Bambie Beatrice Cassie Kira Shapelle Shelley kath Kim Corby Chloe kimmies bubs: Leelee Lilly Molly Morgan Jassie Jayjay Tess n Tammy
Roxy 30/06/2004 to 28/11/2005 Relaxing on the banks of the river at Rainbow Bridge

Tue Feb 07, 2006 10:46 am

We are home....smile

and very happy to be so....smile

Ginger has been a very good girl and headed straight for the food bowl when popped in her recouperation cage

she gets to spend the next week in our room in a nice big cage all on her own

shes gunna luv that....smile

the vet showed us the tumor....it was quite a big but well encapsulated one

he said he didnt even have to cut into any muscle so she should heal really well/ quickly

the wound is covered and we are hoping she doesnt chew at it for at least a couple of days......yeah right....we will see

we also have metacalm for pain relief so ill be sure to see she is comfortable

im just glad to have her back home....smile

hopefully thats the end of lumps for her....fingers crossed

smile

Deb

_________________
Rosie Ginger Gypsy Bambie Beatrice Cassie Kira Shapelle Shelley kath Kim Corby Chloe kimmies bubs: Leelee Lilly Molly Morgan Jassie Jayjay Tess n Tammy
Roxy 30/06/2004 to 28/11/2005 Relaxing on the banks of the river at Rainbow Bridge

Tue Feb 07, 2006 3:11 pm

Well she has already pulled the dressing off....that didnt last long...

i can only hope she doesnt attack the wound and open the stitches

its the most massive wound for such a little girl.....its about 8 cm long....how big is that for a little one....phew

Oh well...now we just need to get thru a few days of keeping the wound intact....smile

oh and does anyone know......someone told me....to stop rats from chewing their hammocks you can coat them with the paint used to stop people biting their finger nails....anyone heard of this....i would have thought that stuff would be toxic to such a small animal....but im only guessing...?????

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Rosie Ginger Gypsy Bambie Beatrice Cassie Kira Shapelle Shelley kath Kim Corby Chloe kimmies bubs: Leelee Lilly Molly Morgan Jassie Jayjay Tess n Tammy
Roxy 30/06/2004 to 28/11/2005 Relaxing on the banks of the river at Rainbow Bridge

Tue Feb 07, 2006 5:38 pm

I've tried using denotonium benzoate (in a spray called "Phooey" I got from the pet store) to keep the rats from chewing on computer wires and furniture...I have accidentally tasted it myself and found it to be really really *really* nasty, but it isn't toxic. The rats, however, were totally oblivious and kept right on chewing.

Our worst stitch-chewer was Kanga, and in her case we had to resort to a collar (the vet had one made for a bird, it had heavy snaps and some padding around the neck.) We trimmed it so she could drink and eat soft food with it on, and took it off every night and supervised her closely so she could eat hard food. Man, she hated that collar.

Other people have had luck using a kind of mummy wrap.

Hopefully she'll settle down now that she's home, and she won't mess with the actual stitches. Good luck!

_________________
~Abita and the Rat in a Box rats

In loving memory of Krycek, Rizzo, Curly, Bob, Witter, Kono, Rat, Pinky, Olie, Metro, Calle, Cinnamon Schwartz, Mr. Ratburn, Arwen, Leather, Ohana, Zoe, and Mr. Mistoffelees

Tue Feb 07, 2006 11:18 pm

Aye - what Abita says. Also, discomfort and pain in the incision can make them more likely to fuss and chew at their stitches, so be sure to keep her comfy with the Metacam as that may help prevent her taking out stitches as well.

My vet has always used glue for external incisions and dissolvable stitches for internal layers, but we've not had to deal with huge incisions like your girls so there might be a good reason why he preferred stitches. Either way, they can take off the skin glue as well if they're really determined. Shocked

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Andy & The Rats

~ Darwin ~ Maisie ~ Ella ~ Zak ~

~ Finn ~ Malachi ~ Azrael ~ Newton ~ Charlie ~

Wed Feb 08, 2006 12:29 am

happy to hear Ginger is okay!! heal up fast little rattie

It is so sad that people see rodents as disposable pets..I remember when I was little it was so true though..all the schools had rats and didn't know what they were doing at all..I was in a class with 2 rats name Cookies and Cream..they both got tumours and died Sad

I took them home on weekends when I was like 11 but I knew nothing about rats then.
My rat Penny was not a disposable pet.. I would have done anything for her but I always think it was my fault she's gone because I didn't have enough money to get her proper medications and my vet wouldn't let me make payments Sad

_________________
~*Allie*~
Puppy: Pepper (my big suck) Kitty: Kitterz
Birdie:Mehico aka.Cheeky
Ratties: RIP Penny...i miss you pretty girl <333
Peaches n' Cream..2 bRATS
Jibroney!! --new rescue rat

Wed Feb 08, 2006 1:51 am

We made it thru the night with no problems

i had dreams of her opening the wound etc

but this morning all is good

i gave her a dose of metcam before bed so hopefully she will leave things alone

i have a couple of pre/post pics....smile

Gingers Lump ( it grew quite large in about 3 days) nasty

Gingers War Wound ( lol i think shes quite proud of it)

I have to go to work today so ill give some more metcam before i go to keep her comfy

she has internal sutures so im sure all will be ok

the vet said if we find we are having trouble to take her back and he will glue it....but he said he only likes to do that if the animal is a bad chewer

i dont want to use an uncomfortable collar on her.....unless i have to...smile

Crossed Fingers

we dont have problems

Smile
Deb

_________________
Rosie Ginger Gypsy Bambie Beatrice Cassie Kira Shapelle Shelley kath Kim Corby Chloe kimmies bubs: Leelee Lilly Molly Morgan Jassie Jayjay Tess n Tammy
Roxy 30/06/2004 to 28/11/2005 Relaxing on the banks of the river at Rainbow Bridge

Wed Feb 08, 2006 1:29 pm

She looks well, and her incision looks nice and neat.

Glad she seems to be doing well, and Good Vibes

for a speedy and uneventful recovery.

_________________
Andy & The Rats

~ Darwin ~ Maisie ~ Ella ~ Zak ~

~ Finn ~ Malachi ~ Azrael ~ Newton ~ Charlie ~

Thu Feb 09, 2006 12:22 am

Poor Ginger...you're right that is a pretty big wound for such a little girl. But she looks like she's doing great in that picture. You are such a good owner..that's what I like to see

_________________
~*Allie*~
Puppy: Pepper (my big suck) Kitty: Kitterz
Birdie:Mehico aka.Cheeky
Ratties: RIP Penny...i miss you pretty girl <333
Peaches n' Cream..2 bRATS
Jibroney!! --new rescue rat

Thu Feb 09, 2006 1:08 am

Yay! Ginger is alright! Mr. Green

This is great news! Give her lots of love and hugs and kisses for me! She's a beautiful girl!

Thu Feb 09, 2006 2:03 am

Thanks All

Yes she is a beautiful girl....and has a beautiful nature to match....smile

_________________
Rosie Ginger Gypsy Bambie Beatrice Cassie Kira Shapelle Shelley kath Kim Corby Chloe kimmies bubs: Leelee Lilly Molly Morgan Jassie Jayjay Tess n Tammy
Roxy 30/06/2004 to 28/11/2005 Relaxing on the banks of the river at Rainbow Bridge