(EDIT: i think perhaps this is in the wrong section as it involves intestines i put it here sorry if you have to move it)
ScattieMcRattie wrote:ok so first sorry for the long post but i feel if i can give you as much informaion as possible perhaps you will be more able to help so firstly...i have 6 rats in a four/two split. the four have been living happily together for a year- 16 months until recently. all of a sudden for the last few weeks one of the four(Puck developed reall aggresssion towards all of the others for what i could see no apparent reason, hopeing this behaviour would die down as no serious harm had been done i left them to sort their own problems while i considerd castrating Puck if it didnt ease off. i decided to get him castrated just about 1 day too late.
Tuesday; evening i came home from work to find that during the course of the day Puck (i expect though i cannot be sure as i wasnt there) has fought with Shizzy, ripping through his testicals and had caused them to prolapse out...needless to say i rushed Shizzy to the emergency Vet and he was given a emergency castration. during the course of the operation they discovered that his large intestines had also been ruptured and there was already infection in the wound. they did what they could but the prognosis wasnt good and i braced myself to loose my heart rat that night.
remarkably he survived the night to mine and the vets amazement and was relatively chipper and eating the next day and came home to me on wednesday. he has Massive swelling in the operation sight i will try to get a picture if it helps but i would say he has a solid round ball about the size of a tangerine, he was put on Baytril 0.1ml twice a day and Metacam once a day. the vets did say about the massive swelling hence the metacam.
but it is sooooo swollen he cannot toilet properly it keeps getting stuck, and his anus is so stretched open i dont think he has any control to force any out.. i keep wiping away what is hanging out and recently he has started turning round and clearing it himself. he is not eating much just a nibble of this and that defo not enough to sustain him or help him get better. i have tried everything and i do mean everything food wise bt he will have a few licks or a bite nd go back to bed
thursday; he started to go down hill, he all but stopped eating the little he was, by
friday; morning he was so sunken in at th sides he looked like he'd lost half his body weight over night, he became wobbly on his back legs and wouldnt go a few steps without laying down. he was truely miserable looking and i rushed him back to the vets thinking he was dying and they were going to have to PTS to end his suffereing, thank god they didnt. he was wieghed and was almost the same as before the op so he hadnt much weight (5g i think)and he was checked over his heart was good and all other signs vet said pinted o possible recovery it was decided that the main problem was the swelling and the discomfort and inhability to toilet prop. the vet Depact his bottom and removed a lot of feaceas. he was sent home for the night to go back in the in the mornign to have it done again if neccesary, and possibly to have a steriod injection to get the swelling down asap. that night he ate more and was perky again so decided that his inhability to toilet is his main prob right now. the surgical scar thoguh was healing nicely.
saturday; went back o the vets as planned to discuss possibility of steriod injections and to depack his bottom again. there wasnt much feceas to remove this time (as he hadnt eaten much there wasnt a lot in there) the vet decided that it wasnt worth giving the steriod injection as it has no painkiller in it and will adverslly affect his ability to fight infection considering the ruptured intestines. concerned about the still large swelling though, she tested to see if it was full of feaceas this was a negative, an d she inserted a small needle to make sure it wasnt full of puss...this was also negative...so its just very swollen tissue i guess. that doesnt seem to be going down. plus overnight shizzy strated to dig at his surgical wound and opening it up and it looked a bit yellow and i was given mnuka honey to put on it two-three times a day. and i have to go back monday.
sunday;today...shizzy clearly still cannot toilet there are nearly no feaceas in the cage and what there is is smears, or tiny disks he removed when it has dried on his bottom. The swelling i think has stayed the same if not gotten a slight bit bigger... he wont leave the surgical wound alone now i guess it itches and he seems to love manuka honey and proptly licks it off. the open area is now the size of a 5p today i bathed it in hibiscrub to stop the infection as it is looking yellow before adding the manuka(i asked about bathing before and vet said no to leave it). he is eating little, but is eating, he is drinking quite a bit and i have been giving him rice milk to try and get some calories in him this is the only thing he is taking with anykind of relish. he wont even take his trusty old nurish-um paste.
i really dont know what to do now.... i have to get this swelling down so that he can go to the toilet properly, and then when he is more comfortable in that area no doubt he will eat properly but the sweeling ISN'T going down he is sooo uncomfortable and i think in pain its soo clear, the metacam is clearly helping with pain control as shortyl after it is given he is slightly more active and alert, but not the swelling. with his ruptured intestines and i have been warned that thses may not heal properly at all and i could still loose him at anytime due to internal problems. even if he gets over the surgery/swelling et all. all the stress being backed up is not going to help them heal and neither is not eating properly. if he is given the injection for the sweeling it could seriously affect his ability to heal his intestines and fight the infections. yet not giving him the injection is doing the same thng as he cant toilet i really dont know what to do or suggest to the vets i am almost at my wits end, i really cannot loose my boy, he is my heart rat, and i actually feel llike i dont want to keep rats anymore if he is not one of them. i know you understand when i say just how important this little man is to me and i cant give up on him, he has come so far and is such a fighter. he's clearly not ready to go yet so im not being totally selfish whne i say i cant let him go yet but i just dont know what to do to help him. i think he can still come round from this if we cann just get one thing taken caer of but i dont know enough about medical issues to know what to suggest or what the best course of action would be.
please please if any of you know anything that can help my boy i will be eternally grateful. ie medicines for swelling, painkillers, antibiotics, something to ease his intestines and ability to toilet food/drinks i may not have thought of to get calories into him. something i can do to make hhim more comfortable we are back to the vets tomorrow afternoon, and i'd really like to know what pah to take as we are in limbo. i think the vets are just waiting to see if he dies on his own as they keep saying to me "he could still go" at "his intestines may not heal" " he has to get over the infection" the vets have been fantastic they really have but i dint think they have faith and i jsut need something.....oh i dont know . please help. or am i being selfish should i call it a day
i did get some pictures the fist shows the side view while he was drinking some water, doesnt look to bad just looks like he still has his testicals, but as he doesnt its a very large swelling and when you go to the second picture its much clearer perhaps not for the faint hearted either, you can see both his impacted anus, and the open surgical wound as he was grooming himself. the lump is hard. and round about 5cm in diameter
thansk so very much for any help any of you may be able to give
Heather
